Exit Planning for business owners: Design the sale, set your price

Trevor Stevenson-Platt

06 Nov 2025 — 4 min read

You didn’t build this to sell. You built it to matter. That’s why this moment is tricky. The stakes are high, the clock is loud, and the smartest move is to slow down just enough to design the exit before you run it.

Here’s the bold truth: a buyer isn’t buying your past; they’re buying their future. Exit planning isn’t a checklist; it’s product design for the last and most valuable product you’ll ever ship.

If you treat the sale like paperwork, you bleed value. If you design it like a focused campaign, you set the price, shape the story, and keep your life on your terms. Miss this and the market, your energy, or one lost customer can swing your outcome by seven figures. Nail it and you walk away with clarity, dignity, and a number that lets you breathe.

Decide What a Great Exit Looks Like for You

Most founders start by asking, “What’s the business worth?” Wrong question. Start with, “What does a win look like for me?”

What number ends the money worry for good? How much do you want to work after the sale—and doing what? What legacy matters—team, brand, mission—and what are your non-negotiables?

Write your rules. Strategic or financial buyer. All cash now, or some now with a clear path to more. Stay for a season, or hand over the keys on day one. Without this, every shiny offer distracts you. With it, you filter fast and negotiate from a place of calm strength.

Your outcome drives your process. If you want a clean break, optimise for a leadership bench and turnkey systems. If you want to ride the next wave with a bigger partner, optimise for growth levers and a clear roadmap. Those choices decide what prep matters.

Make the Business Buyer-Ready, Not Founder-Dependent

Buyers pay for certainty. Show them a machine that runs without you, and the price goes up while the excuses go down.

Tighten your numbers: clean, month-over-month financials, a simple model, and clear drivers of revenue and margin.
Sharpen your revenue quality: durable customers, sensible contracts, low churn, no whale that can sink the boat.
Reduce single points of failure: document processes, cross-train roles, and put a capable number two in the chair.
Clarify your growth story: prove where the next dollar comes from with a believable plan and small wins already in motion.

Create a simple prep pack—plain, clear, and complete:

A short narrative: who you serve, why you win, what’s next
Three years of clean financials with human-readable notes
A customer view showing segments, retention, and concentration
An org chart and one page on systems, suppliers, and key processes
A list of risks and how you’re reducing them

This isn’t decoration. It’s proof you built a resilient engine. That’s what buyers pay for.

Build Your Team, Then Run a Competitive Process on Your Calendar

Great exits are team sports. Get an experienced M&A lawyer, a tax pro who lives in deals, and a wealth planner who can map your life after the wire. For smaller businesses, a strong broker can be worth gold. For larger ones, talk to a boutique investment bank that knows your sector. Pay for people with reps in the arena.

Set a timeline. Work backward from your ideal close. Plan ninety-day sprints—one to prep, one to market, one to close—with buffer for the surprises that always show up. Open a secure data room early so you’re not scrambling when diligence starts.

Create competitive tension. Don’t hang your future on one suitor. Share a crisp overview, qualify interest fast, and invite a small set into deeper conversations on your terms. When offers arrive, remember: price is the loud number; terms are the real number. Watch these closely:

Cash at close versus any earnout
What you roll into the new company and how it’s protected
Employment, noncompete, and decision rights if you stay
Working-capital targets and how adjustments are calculated
Liability caps, escrow, and clawbacks after closing

One more thing: control the calendar. Momentum is leverage; stalls are costly. You don’t need to be rude; you need to be clear. Set dates, confirm next steps, and keep moving.

Design Your Life After the Wire Before the Wire

You’re not selling to retire from meaning. You’re selling to buy choice. Plan that now.

Map your money: taxes are where deals quietly shrink. Structure the sale with your team to keep what you’ve earned, then put it in a simple plan that funds your next chapter. Test your budget for both boring bear markets and joyful big plans.
Map your time: the first month feels like a victory lap; the third can feel like a void. Decide what will pull you forward—angel checks, a sabbatical, a new company, a cause, a promise to your family. People don’t fall into holes when they’re pulled by something better.
Map your identity: for years, you’ve answered to the name of your company. You’ll need a new name to answer to. That’s exciting if you choose it in advance. Who do you want to be next?

This is still exit planning—it’s just the part no one talks about. Money without meaning gets old fast.

Key Takeaway

An exit isn’t an event. It’s a product. Build it with the same clarity, focus, and standards that built your company, and the market will reward you for giving buyers a future they can trust.