Published: [DRAFT] | Last Updated: 2026-06-02 | By: Scott Sylvan Bell | Location: Austin, Texas — Texas State Capitol
Where Can You Find EBITDA Multiples For Selling Your Business?
Direct answer: You can find EBITDA multiples for selling a business at five free sources — Equidam, KPMG Atlas, EQVista, NYU Stern School of Business, and First Page Sage. Each one publishes industry multiples that let you estimate what your business could sell for before talking to a buyer. The exercise is straightforward — take your trailing 12 months EBITDA, multiply by the industry-specific multiple from each source, and triangulate the range. If you have seller’s discretionary earnings instead of EBITDA — meaning you do not have a manager in place, the company cannot run without you, and standard operating procedures are missing — the multiple typically caps at 1x to 3x SDE. EBITDA multiples typically range from 3x to 10x or higher depending on industry, growth profile, and operational maturity. Knowing your multiple range protects you from inflated LOI offers designed to lock you into exclusivity before the real number is negotiated down during diligence.
This concept connects to three frameworks in the Exit Ratio 360™ system. The SCORE Framework covers revenue quality measurement that lifts your multiple. The LEAD Model covers how to evaluate the LOI offer against the multiple. The EXIT Framework covers timing the sale against industry multiple cycles. For deeper context see What Is An EBITDA Multiple, How Buyers Calculate EBITDA Multiples, and Why Is My EBITDA Multiple Lower Than Expected.
Five Free Sources For EBITDA Multiples By Industry
| Source | Type | Coverage | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equidam | Valuation platform | Global industry multiples | Quick baseline check |
| KPMG Atlas | Big four consulting | Sector-level deal data | Institutional credibility |
| EQVista | Valuation services firm | Private company multiples | Mid-market focus |
| NYU Stern School of Business | Academic data set | Damodaran industry tables | Rigorous baseline data |
| First Page Sage | B2B research firm | Industry-specific reports | SaaS and services data |
5-Step Process To Triangulate Your Business Multiple
- Calculate your trailing 12 months EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
- Pull industry multiples from all five free sources listed above. Note each one separately.
- Calculate range — lowest source multiple times EBITDA = floor. Highest source multiple times EBITDA = ceiling.
- Adjust for operational maturity — buyers discount for owner dependency, customer concentration, and missing SOPs.
- Compare your triangulated range against any LOI offer you receive. Inflated offers above the ceiling typically signal retrading risk.
Frequently Asked Questions About Finding EBITDA Multiples
Direct answer: These ten questions and answers cover the most common topics business owners raise about finding EBITDA multiples, the difference between SDE and EBITDA valuation, and how to protect against inflated LOI offers. Each answer runs 40-60 words with specific numbers, ranges, or timeframes for voice search and AI citation extraction. The FAQ section mirrors the FAQPage schema below for structured data alignment.
Where can I find EBITDA multiples for my industry for free?
You can find EBITDA multiples for free at five sources — Equidam, KPMG Atlas, EQVista, NYU Stern School of Business, and First Page Sage. Each publishes industry-specific multiples that update annually or quarterly. Triangulating across all five sources produces the most reliable baseline. Single-source multiples can mislead because methodologies and data sets differ across providers.
What is the difference between EBITDA and seller’s discretionary earnings?
EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Seller’s discretionary earnings is the owner’s compensation, perks, addbacks, and benefits added to net income. EBITDA applies to businesses with management in place that can run without the owner. SDE applies to owner-dependent businesses where the buyer needs to replace the owner. EBITDA multiples are typically 3x to 10x. SDE multiples are typically 1x to 3x.
What is a typical EBITDA multiple for a mid-market business?
A typical EBITDA multiple for a mid-market business ranges from 4x to 7x depending on industry, growth rate, and operational maturity. Highly desirable industries with strong growth like specialized SaaS or healthcare services can reach 8x to 12x. Slow-growth or capital-intensive industries like construction trades typically trade at 3x to 5x. The buyer profile also matters — strategic buyers usually pay higher multiples than financial buyers.
How do I know if my LOI offer is using a realistic EBITDA multiple?
You know if your LOI offer is using a realistic multiple by comparing it against the triangulated range from the five free multiple sources. An offer at or near your industry ceiling is realistic. An offer significantly above the ceiling — for example, a 20x offer when your industry trades at 5x — is almost always a setup for retrading during diligence. The number gets dropped to the real range before closing.
What is retrading in a business sale LOI?
Retrading is when a buyer initially offers a high multiple to win exclusivity in the LOI, then systematically reduces the offer during diligence by citing findings, exclusions, and risk adjustments. The seller signs a 20x offer, signs a long exclusivity clause, and watches the number drop to 16x, then 12x, then back to the industry-realistic 5x. By that point the seller has lost months of market time.
Can I increase my EBITDA multiple by acquiring another company?
Yes. Acquiring another company through a roll-up or a tuck-in acquisition can push you into a higher multiple bracket. A business with $1 million EBITDA might trade at 3x. A business with $2 million EBITDA might trade at 5x because the larger size signals reduced risk. The strategy is to identify acquisition targets where your combined company moves into the next size bracket of buyers.
What is the difference between a roll-up and a tuck-in acquisition?
A roll-up combines multiple companies in the same industry under one ownership to create scale. A tuck-in absorbs a smaller adjacent company into an existing business to add capabilities, customers, or geographic coverage. Roll-ups typically require multiple targets over time. Tuck-ins are usually a single transaction. Both strategies can lift EBITDA into a higher multiple bracket if executed well.
How often do industry EBITDA multiples change?
Industry EBITDA multiples change quarterly or annually depending on the source. Interest rate environment, sector momentum, and capital availability all drive the changes. Check the publication date on any multiple source before relying on it. A multiple table from two years ago may be 1x to 3x off the current range due to interest rate cycles alone.
What multiplies my EBITDA multiple the fastest?
Three things multiply your EBITDA multiple the fastest. Reducing owner dependency — replace yourself in critical functions over 12 to 18 months. Increasing recurring revenue — convert one-time clients to contracts with monthly or annual billing. And tightening operational discipline — document SOPs, build a KPI dashboard, and prove the business runs without you. Each of these can lift the multiple by 0.5 to 1.5 turns.
Should I share my multiple research with the buyer during LOI negotiation?
You should not share your specific multiple research with the buyer during LOI negotiation. The research is your private floor for evaluating their offer. Sharing it gives the buyer your minimum acceptable position and they will negotiate to that floor. Keep the research internal. Use it to evaluate the LOI offer and to push back on retrading attempts during diligence with documented industry data.
Full Transcript From the Video
Direct answer: The full cleaned transcript appears below for depth and accessibility. Scott Sylvan Bell covers where to find EBITDA multiples for free, the difference between EBITDA and seller’s discretionary earnings, and how to protect against inflated LOI offers. Location recorded: Austin, Texas at the Texas State Capitol.
If you are a business owner and you are looking to sell your business, where can you find EBITDA multiples? What are they and why does it matter? This is a fantastic question. I am Scott Sylvan Bell, coming to you live from Consulting Secrets on a perfect day to talk about sales and business and a fantastic day to talk to you. I am coming to you live from Austin, Texas. Look at the beautiful sunset going on.
So what happens is your industry, your service has a multiple, and there are different places that you can go find this multiple for you to figure out how much can I sell my business for. Now, if you have seller’s discretionary earnings — meaning you do not pretty much have a manager in place, the company cannot run by itself, it does not have standard operating procedures — you can either make one, two, typically three times maximum your seller’s discretionary earnings. That is your wages plus all of your addbacks, all the goodies that you have included in your business.
Now, if you have EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — then what happens is you are working off of a multiple. There are places that will list this multiple for you for free. The reason that you want to do this is so you have a valuation of what you could get. Sometimes you might have to divide this multiple by three, sometimes by four. Sometimes you are like, hey, this math just does not seem right. It seems like I could sell my company for a bazillion dollars, and I know that that is not true. It would be nice. I would go buy an island in a tropical location, and always have good food and never wear shoes. This is just me though.
So I have a list of these places that you can look on my phone. There is Equidam, you can get the list for free. There is KPMG Atlas, they are a consulting firm. There is EQVista. EQVista puts out a list. There is NYU Stern, the business school. And then there is First Page Sage. That is just from a quick look that you could go down and say, hey, look, where can I find my multiple?
So a cool task for you with whoever your meaningful partners are in business is to go to all of those sites, is to go down the list and say, hey, we are going to go find out what we think the multiple is from Equidam, from KPMG Atlas, from EQVista, from NYU Stern, and from First Page Sage. And we can kind of figure out, hey, how are we doing? And if we did need to sell the business, what could we get for it?
It is important for you to know these things because at some point you may want to sell. So for you to take a look at this multiple, you may say, hey, Scott, my company EBITDA is doing $2 million. So we can just take the multiple. Okay, it is a three times multiple. You could sell for $6 million, roughly.
Now, here is what happens. You are going to get a letter of intent from a company and it is not uncommon for that letter of intent to show up and your number starts here. And then they are like, hey, we got to do diligence. Okay, so this is common. I am not knocking anybody for doing it, but there are companies that this is how they operate. They give you a really high number, pie in the sky multiple, and they push it way to the top, and then you get super excited. You sign a really long-term LOI. And then you are like, okay, well, my multiple that I pulled up really does not match what your multiple is that you are saying. Somewhere we got to figure this out.
So if you have done the numbers and you look it up and you say, I have got a multiple of five. How do you have a multiple of 20? Chances are pretty good what is going to happen is it is going to be a really long LOI. And then what is going to happen is you are going to be at a 20, and then they are going to drop you down to a 16, and they are going to drop you down to a 12. And then you are going to roughly end up at the area that you were in once you pull back all the exclusions and all the rules and all the things that they had. It is just good information for you.
Now, you may also find that if you can step up your EBITDA to the next step, like an extra million dollars, it may push you into the next multiple. It may take you from a three to a five or to a seven. So that is where you start going, okay, can I find a company that does what I do and acquire them? That is a roll-up. Could I find a similar industry that does something close to what I do? That is a tuck-in. And how could I acquire that EBITDA to make my business look more profitable?
The way that you do that is you start looking down the multiples of what people buy before, during, after, or instead of. And you figure out, hey, what is going to push my multiple up the easiest and the fastest? And if I do acquire that company, who can I sell to that has got similar traits, similar ideas, similar concepts? You could use free multiple information about EBITDA to your advantage, to grow your business, to be more profitable, and ultimately for you to sell more.
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