Business succession
The question is not what it's worth. It's who takes it on.
Valuation is the easiest part of a succession to discuss, and the least likely to decide the outcome.
Placeholder article — to be replaced with published writing
Most owners approach a sale expecting the hard part to be price. In practice price is usually settled in a handful of conversations, because both sides read the same accounts and both sides know roughly what a business of that shape is worth.
What takes longer, and matters more, is deciding who should own the company next. A buyer intending to hold a business asks different questions from one intending to resell it, and the answers shape the next decade for everybody who works there.
A more useful exercise than a valuation
Write down what you want to still be true about the company five years after you have left.
That sentence, written plainly and then tested against every buyer who comes to the table, tends to be more revealing than any multiple. It also makes the conversation easier: an owner who knows what they are protecting can hear a proposal properly.
