Three things most owners get wrong before they sell, explained plainly. Read it in five minutes. The diagnostic is for later, if it's even the right fit.
A valuation prices your business on paper today. It doesn't tell you whether that price would survive a bank's underwriting or a buyer's diligence. Most acquisitions are financed, so the lender has to believe your numbers before the deal closes.
Do this: ask any broker who values your business what would happen to that number if a lender reviewed it.
Owner dependence kills more deals in diligence than price does. If key customers, decisions and know-how live with you, buyers discount the business and lenders cut the loan. It doesn't show up on a P&L, which is why owners rarely see it.
Do this: picture taking four weeks off. List what would break, then name who could handle each thing.
Some businesses can go to market in months. Many need one to three years of work first: documenting add-backs, spreading customer concentration, putting a second layer of management in place. Going early rarely saves time, because the same problems surface in diligence.
Do this: take the self-check to see roughly where you are, then decide whether you're months or years away.
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