The readout is an estimate, not an appraisal. This page shows exactly where every number comes from, how we tested it, and what it cannot know about your business.
Your readout values your business six ways, one per source, and shows each on a chart. Your range is where they meet: a weighted average of the sources that fit your business, with closed sales counted more heavily than asking prices.
| Source | What it measures | Closed or asking | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed sales your size | IBBA median closed multiple for your deal size | Closed | 1 |
| M&A advisor survey | Pepperdine median EBITDA multiple for your industry and size | Closed | 1 |
| Recent sales in your industry | BizBuySell Insight average multiple for your subsector, or for related subsectors combined, last full year | Closed | 1 |
| Our own sales | Closing multiples of Vanla's published sales in your industry | Closed | 1.5 |
| For sale now | Middle half of asking multiples across 26,660 BizBuySell and BusinessesForSale listings, restated at sale-to-asking | Asking, restated | 0.5 |
| Revenue method | Asking price to revenue for listings that report it, restated at sale-to-asking | Asking, restated | 0.25 |
Small deals are reported on owner's earnings and larger ones on EBITDA. Where a source uses a different measure than you chose, we convert using the gap between the two on the same listings (EBITDA multiples run about 1.15 times owner's-earnings multiples). A source is left out when it does not fit: the advisor survey for owner's earnings under $500K, BizBuySell's sales when your earnings are more than three times their typical sale, and our own sales when we have fewer than two in your industry.
The width of your range comes from the middle half of asking multiples in your industry, and the four statements you answered move it within that band. That part is our adjustment, not a measured result.
Closed sales by deal size come from the IBBA Market Pulse, 2026 Q1, a survey of 203 closed deals (source):
| Deal size | Sale price as a share of asking | Median closed multiple |
|---|---|---|
| Under $500K | 87% | 2.0x owner earnings |
| $500K to $1M | 100% | 2.8x owner earnings |
| $1M to $2M | 92% | 3.0x owner earnings |
| $2M to $5M | 98% | 4.0x EBITDA |
| $5M to $50M | 98% | 4.5x EBITDA |
The share of asking restates listings at what businesses actually sell for.
The four statements in the readout (recurring revenue, owner dependence, customer concentration, growth) move your range between the lower and upper half of your industry. That is our adjustment, not a measured result. The what-if buttons use the same rule. Profit is entered as a range, and we use a typical figure for it ($175K, $375K, $750K, $1.5M, $3.5M or $6M).
17 of 17
published Vanla sales where the sale price fell inside the readout range
0 above, 0 below
sales that fell outside the range
8%
median gap between the middle of the range and the sale price. 13 of the 17 sales landed in the lower half of the range.
The test leaves out the revenue method, because our published sales do not report revenue. When a sale is tested, it is left out of the "our own sales" source, so no deal predicts itself. The weighting was chosen on these same 17 sales. We tried three preset weightings and kept the one that tested best (counting closed sales more heavily: 17 of 17 inside, 8% gap; equal weights: 17 inside, 10% gap; asking prices heavier: 17 inside, 9% gap). An earlier version built the range from asking prices alone: 14 of 17 inside, with a median gap of 10%.
We ran each of our 17 published closed deals through the readout using the business's actual EBITDA (sale price divided by the published multiple) and its industry, and checked whether the sale price fell between the bottom of the range (none of the four statements checked) and the top (all four).
Each dot is one published sale, placed where its price fell inside the readout range. Hover for the industry.
What this does and does not show. 17 deals is a small sample, and they are deals we ran, so they may outperform a typical sale. The readout used each business's exact EBITDA; an owner who picks a profit range will see a wider spread. We will rerun this test as we close more deals.
Buyers who fit are buyers in our network with stated acquisition criteria for your industry and size (as of October 6, 2026; criteria sync nightly). Where your revenue answer straddles two of our size bands, we show the smaller count, so the number never overstates.
Engaged buyers are buyers targeting your industry who opened, clicked or replied to a Vanla listing email or newsletter in the past 12 months.
Examples group at least 3 buyers who share a buyer type, a rounded size band and a broad region. Names, firms, websites and exact criteria are never shown. Buyers on our Do Not Contact list are excluded.
Demand on our listings: across 12 listings in our deal history, a median of 13 buyers per listing signed an NDA.
For each industry we show the share of live listings that have cut their asking price: listings BizBuySell marks "price reduced", plus any cut we have seen since we began tracking every listing on September 10, 2026. Across all 44,607 live listings, 7% have cut, and the cuts we observed had a median of 17.5%. Cuts are measured from our first sighting, so they understate cuts made before we found a listing. Where an industry has fewer than 10 observed cuts, we show the all-industry median instead.
Each readout shows how many of the six sources fit your business: three to six, depending on your industry and size. Fewer sources means a less certain range, and a confidential review matters more.
| Source | What we use | Period |
|---|---|---|
| IBBA Market Pulse | Sale price as a share of asking, median multiples, offers per deal, months to close, cash at close, by deal size | 2026 Q1 and Q2 |
| Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report 2026 | Median EBITDA multiples M&A advisors reported by industry and company size | Deals closed in 2025 |
| BizBuySell Insight | Closed sales by industry: average sale multiple, count, days on market, average sale-to-asking, median sale price | 2025 |
Survey figures are what brokers and advisors report. BizBuySell's multiples and sale-to-asking are averages, and most of its sales are smaller than $2M+ revenue businesses, so we use them only when your earnings are within 3 times their typical sale, and count them no more than the surveys. Every figure is stored with its source link.
Those are what a confidential review with an advisor covers, using three years of your financials.
We do not see your name or contact details unless you send them. Like most sites, we record anonymous usage, such as which ranges people pick, to improve the page. Your browser keeps your readout so you can come back to it.
Updated October 11, 2026. Vanla Group, business brokers and M&A advisors. vanlagroup.com