What is my business worth?

Most owners find out what their company is worth at the worst possible moment: after someone else has named a number. This report gives you your own number first, along with the reasoning you will need when that number is challenged.

#Who this is for

• Founders preparing an exit, who need a number before the conversation starts
• Investors sizing an opportunity without waiting on a formal report
• Anyone in acquisition talks who wants an independent view on the asking price
• Owners planning succession, where the transfer price has to be defensible
• Shareholders settling a buy-out between themselves

#What you upload

Whatever you already have. Nothing needs to be cleaned, renamed or fitted to a template first.

Input	Why it is needed	Formats
Profit & Loss	The earnings being valued	XLSX · XLS · CSV · PDF
Balance Sheet	The asset floor and the debt adjustment	XLSX · XLS · CSV · PDF
Revenue history	Narrows the range — three years is ideal, one is enough	XLSX · CSV
Your own assumptions (optional)	Anything the figures do not show	Plain text

#What you receive

#How it works

Five steps, in the order they happen. No black box.

1. Reads the data. Your file is parsed as it is. Line items are matched to a standard chart of accounts, and anything that cannot be matched is listed rather than silently dropped.
2. Normalizes the figures. One-off costs, owner compensation above or below market rate, non-operating assets and intercompany items are separated out, so the earnings being valued are the ones a buyer would actually inherit.
3. Applies three methods. An earnings multiple benchmarked to your sector and size, a discounted cash flow, and an asset-based floor. Each produces its own number.
4. Compares the assumptions. Where the methods disagree, the report names the assumption causing the gap — growth rate, discount rate, working capital — instead of averaging the difference away.
5. Explains the reasoning. Every figure traces back to a line in your file or to a stated assumption. Disagree with an assumption and you can see exactly which number it moves.

Two people rarely disagree about the arithmetic. They disagree about the assumptions underneath it — and those are usually invisible.

#What it is, and what it is not

#Learn the method first

If you would rather understand the calculation before buying anything, the whole cluster is free to read.

• How to value a business — the seven-step process end to end
• EBITDA multiple explained — what sets your multiple specifically
• SDE vs EBITDA — which earnings figure applies to your business
• Common valuation mistakes — nine errors and what each one costs
• Preparing your business for sale — the twelve months beforehand

Start with how to value a business, or browse every question we have answered about what a business is worth.