Resources for owners thinking about a sale.
Plain-English guides and tools on value, preparation, taxes and buyers. Start where you are: most owners begin with the first group and work down.
Thinking about selling
How buyers put a price on a business, what they look for, and the mistakes that cost owners the most.
- What Is My Business Actually Worth? How buyers value a lower-middle market business: EBITDA, multiples by industry, add-backs, and the factors that push your price up or down.
- What Buyers Actually Look For How private equity, strategic acquirers and individual buyers evaluate a lower-middle market business, the red flags that kill deals, and how to close the gaps.
- 5 Mistakes Owners Make When Selling a Business The avoidable errors that cost business owners the most when they sell: going to market unprepared, misreading value, signing the wrong LOI, tax surprises and letting the business slip.
- Get your Sellability Score in 4 minutes Eighteen quick questions across the seven factors buyers check first. Your score and your weakest areas, free and confidential.
Getting ready
The preparation that protects your price: a readiness checklist, a realistic timeline and the tax decisions to make early.
- The Seller Readiness Checklist A 24-month checklist for preparing a business for sale: financial cleanup, legal housekeeping, owner dependency and everything a buyer will ask for in diligence.
- The Exit Planning Timeline What to do, and when, in the 24 months before selling your business, so you are not scrambling in the final months before closing.
- The Tax Trap: What to Know Before You Sign Asset versus stock sale, purchase price allocation, non-competes and installment sales: the tax decisions to understand before you sign anything.
- See your valuation range A quick range for a business like yours, built from your earnings and industry.
Ready to go
Who is buying right now and what you would actually take home from a sale.
- Inside Vanla's Buyer Network Who is actively acquiring through Vanla Group, the buyer mandates we are working on now, and how we match owners with the right buyers.
- Net Proceeds Calculator Turn a headline price into what you would actually take home after debt, fees and taxes.
- Get a free valuation from our advisors A real range from comparable sales and your financials. Free, confidential, no obligation.
Downloads
Printable checklists to work through on your own time. Tell us where to send it and the download starts right away.
Exit Readiness Checklist
A printable checklist to find the gaps in your financial, legal and operational readiness before a buyer does.
Your download is ready.
Download the PDFNext step: see how buyers would rate your business. Get your Sellability Score in 4 minutes
More from our insights
Articles on valuation, industries, deal structure and what is happening in the market.
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