Business owner exit planning: Design leverage, not luck

You built this thing out of late nights and stubbornness. You turned a blank page into a company people count on. Selling it might be the first time you truly get paid for all of it.

Here’s the trap: most founders only think about the price. Buyers care more about the story, the risk, and how clean the handoff will be. That’s why exit planning isn’t a formality—it’s your leverage.

Why this matters now

Time is your friend until it’s not. Markets cool, buyers get distracted, and momentum fades. You don’t want to be the founder who sells in a hurry, signs a painful earn-out, and spends the next two years rebuilding the thing you just sold—now with a boss.

One decision early can be worth ten decisions late. A year of focus can shift your valuation a full turn, protect your team, and cut your tax bill in half. If you want to exit on your terms, start acting like a seller long before you are one.

Know your number, and what it must do for your life

Price is noisy. Outcomes are quiet. Your walk-away number lives after fees and taxes—not on a headline offer. Do you know what you need for life after the deal, for your time freedom, for your next bet, for your family?

Decide what you want to keep. Do you want a clean break, a short glide path, or an advisory role? Would you accept an earn-out if the milestones are in your control? What’s non-negotiable for you, for your team, for your customers?

Plan with your calendar, not just a calculator. If you have seasonality, time the sale right after a strong quarter. If your roadmap lands a sticky feature in six months, sell eight weeks after it ships and the metrics show it. Exit planning is about designing the arc that makes your best story true.

Make the company transferable, not just profitable

Buyers buy confidence. They pay more when they believe they can run your machine without you in the chair. Reduce founder dependency—and prove it with simple signals.

• Your calendar isn’t the control panel. Sales close without you on the call. Key vendors don’t only answer your texts. Hiring and onboarding run from a playbook.
• Customers love the product, not just the founder. Top accounts have multiple relationships inside your team. Churn is explained and controlled.
• The company runs on numbers, not instincts. Weekly metrics have owners. Forecasts track actuals within a sane range. Your story lines up with your data.

If any of that stings, good. Fix it now while you control the tempo. You don’t want to solve these gaps under exclusivity with a buyer’s clock ticking.

Tell a simple story a buyer can repeat in the room next door

Power lives in the narrative. Your buyer champion must sell your deal to an investment committee and a boss with veto power. Write it for them.

• Why now: a market shift, product proof, or distribution edge.
• Why you: a unique data asset, a cost advantage, or a brand moat.
• Where growth comes from: three clear levers with timelines and math.
• Where the risk sits—and how you reduced it—with proof.

Strip jargon. Replace adjectives with numbers. If you claim a pipeline, show conversion by stage for the last four quarters. If you claim stickiness, show cohorts and net revenue retention. The goal is a story that holds its shape when you leave the room.

Stack the numbers in your favour before they see them

Diligence doesn’t reward hope. It rewards clean books, boring systems, and a few brave decisions made early.

• Commission a Quality of Earnings ahead of the buyer. You’ll find the issues anyway; better you find them first.
• Normalize earnings with discipline. Be honest with add-backs. Recurring means recurring. One-time means one-time. Buyers will check.
• Set a reasonable working-capital peg based on seasonality and history. Don’t give away cash because you were casual with definitions.
• Tighten revenue recognition, shorten invoice cycles, and collect faster now. It moves cash flow and signals control.

This is also the moment to be thoughtful about tax. The right entity, the right holding period, the right jurisdiction, and the right allocation can be the difference between a nice exit and a life-changing one. Bring a tax pro in early. Exit planning without tax planning is just a donation to the government.

Choose your path to market with intent

There are only three lanes: quiet conversations with strategic buyers, a targeted process run by an investment banker or broker, or founder-led outreach to a curated list. Each has a cost, a speed, and a different ceiling on price.

If you want to maximise value, competitive tension is oxygen. Build a buyer map. Who benefits most if you win—or if you vanish? Who has gaps your product fills? Who has deals in your space that hint at appetite and price discipline?

Run a clean process. Short list. Sharp materials. Clear timeline. Consistent data room. Protect your time, protect your team, and keep running the business like you’ll own it forever. Nothing kills a deal faster than a flat quarter during diligence.

Protect your people and your legacy on purpose

Money matters. So do the humans who got you here. Decide in advance how you’ll take care of them.

Retention packages and stay bonuses buy stability and goodwill. A simple communication plan reduces rumours and churn. Choose the buyer who respects your culture and your customers—even if another offer waves a slightly bigger check. A good deal pays you in money and sleep.

The takeaway

You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you design. Exit planning is how you make your best outcome inevitable, not accidental. Plan early, tell a simple true story, make the company transferable, then let competition do the rest.

A question to move you forward

If a serious buyer called tomorrow asking for your story, your numbers, and your first-100-days plan, could you send it the same day, and be proud of it?