Exit Planning for Business: Get paid for a future without you

Trevor Stevenson-Platt

07 Nov 2025 — 4 min read

You built this thing with grit and gut feel. You carried payroll, calmed customers, and outlasted chaos. Now you’re wondering what it’s worth without you in the captain’s chair. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: buyers pay for the future, not the past. Exit planning is future-proofing in disguise.

Why this matters right now

Most founders wait too long. They push until they’re tired, revenue flattens, and then they decide to sell. That timing taxes your price and your energy at the same time.

The trap is simple: if the business depends on you, the buyer will discount. If the numbers are messy, the buyer will delay. If the story is unclear, the buyer will walk. You don’t get paid for potential. You get paid for transferability.

You don’t want a deal that steals a year of your life in diligence and then shaves a third off the price because of surprises you could have fixed in a month. You want options, not pleas.

Clean the numbers, then the narrative

A clean set of numbers is table stakes. Not perfect—just boring in the best way. Month-by-month revenue, costs, and profit that reconcile to bank statements. Clear explanations for anything unusual. The buyer isn’t looking for magic. They’re looking for trust.

Then comes the story. What does the future look like, and why should someone believe it? If you can’t explain how this business makes money and keeps money in two sentences, you’ll bleed value in diligence.

Ask yourself three questions:

Who pays you, and why do they stay?
What could break, and how likely is that?
What happens to profit if you double the customers?

If those answers are simple and supported, your story sells itself. That’s exit planning at its most practical.

Make yourself replaceable

Your value rises the day you become optional. Not absent—optional. The buyer wants a machine that runs while you’re on a beach.

Start by mapping the decisions you still make: sales discounts, hiring approvals, vendor choices, product priorities. Circle anything that needs your voice. Then build the bench to remove those circles.

Give names to roles, not tasks. Document the top ten processes that repeat every week. Set rules everyone can follow without asking you. Train a second-in-command who can run meetings, handle a crisis, and say no.

Here’s a simple test: leave for two weeks with your phone off. If revenue holds, customers are happy, and your team is calm, you’re on the right track. If you can’t do this yet, you don’t have an exit-ready business—you have a job with a logo.

Prove growth without you

Buyers pay for believable growth. Not loud forecasts—believable ones. Show that demand exists, your engine pulls it in, and the margin survives.

Show where new business comes from and how consistent those sources are. Referrals from a few key partners are fine; a broad pipeline is better. Concentration kills deals. If one customer is more than a fifth of your revenue, fix it before you sell—or expect a haircut.

Stack proof on the levers that move your model: contract length and renewal rates, average order size and repeat purchases, sales cycle time and win rate, marketing spend and leads created. Keep it plain. No fluff.

Build a simple growth plan that doesn’t require heroics. A buyer will pay more for a playbook a normal operator can run than for a moonshot only you can pull off.

Choose your buyer, design your deal

Not all money is the same. A strategic buyer wants what your business gives them immediately—product fit, customer access, capabilities. A financial buyer wants a reliable machine they can grow and later sell. Decide which story your company fits and tailor the package.

You don’t need a circus. You need a clean process. Two or three credible buyers at the same time is enough to create tension without chaos. Keep your information organised, answer fast, and control the rhythm. Momentum is value.

Price isn’t the only lever. Terms decide how much you actually keep and how free you feel after closing. Push for clarity on:

Cash at closing
What you must do after the sale and for how long
How and when any future payments are calculated

Bring a calm guide to the table. A strong deal lawyer and an experienced advisor pay for themselves. They protect your time, your upside, and your sanity.

The quiet power of small fixes

The best exit plans don’t start with a pitch deck. They start with small, compounding fixes that make the business easier to run and easier to buy. One more recurring contract. One fewer task on your plate. One cleaner report that makes the next decision faster.

Think like a buyer while you’re still the owner. Walk through the business as if you were about to purchase it with your own cash. Where would you worry? What would you ask for? Address that now, not later.

A dozen little de-risks today can be worth millions when the wire hits.

Key takeaway

You’re not selling your past. You’re selling a future that works without you. Make the future obvious. Make it transferable. The price will take care of itself. That’s the beating heart of exit planning.