by scottsylvan | Feb 15, 2026 | podcast
The biggest valuation haircut usually comes from risks you do not even realize you are broadcasting. Buyers do not discount what is bad — they discount what is uncertain. A missing SOP is a ding. Uncertainty in the sales process is a ding. Missing HR documents are a...
by scottsylvan | Feb 15, 2026 | podcast
You can grow revenue and still make your company worth less. Most mid-market owners never examine that idea until a buyer sits across the table and the offer lands $2 million below what they expected. Exit strategy planning is not something you do when you decide to...
by scottsylvan | Feb 15, 2026 | podcast
Owner dependency is not leadership. It is concentrated risk — and risk always shows up in price terms and time to close. If your business can’t run without you, buyers will not pay a premium for it. They will price your absence. On a $1 million exit value, a 20...
by scottsylvan | Feb 15, 2026 | podcast
Most businesses cannot be sold because they cannot be handed off. That is not an opinion — it is the reality that shows up in due diligence on deal after deal. The question every buyer is silently answering before they make an offer is simple: can this business work...
by scottsylvan | Feb 15, 2026 | podcast
Most businesses are not sellable because they are built like jobs, not like assets. That is the honest answer. If you are planning to sell your company in the next two to five years, the question you need to ask right now is not what is it worth — it is whether it is...
