Exit Acceleration · for owners who will sell one day
Sell it for what it is actually worth.
Most owners find out what their business is worth at the worst possible moment. This path starts years before a buyer shows up, for the owner who already has a number in their head.
Free. 33 questions, about nine minutes. Your score shows on screen, and nobody sees it but you.
The number in your head
What sets the price? How much runs without you.
A buyer prices your business as a multiple: your yearly earnings times a number. That number rises with how much of the business runs without you. If everything depends on you, a buyer sees a business that needs you, and pays much less for it, whatever the year looked like.
For most owners, making a business run without you takes several years. So the expensive mistake is waiting until you are ready to sell before you start that work.
Business one · needs its owner
$400,000× 2.5=$1.0M
The owner closes every sale, and two customers bring in a third of revenue.
Business two · runs on its own
$400,000× 4=$1.6M
A manager runs the day to day, and half of the revenue repeats on its own.
$600,000The gap, on the same profit
An illustration, not a quote. Real multiples depend on your industry, your size and the 11 factors below.
Selling in the next six months? You need a broker, and we will tell you so rather than sell you this path.
Selling is usually kept quiet
Everything on this path is confidential.
The biggest financial decision of your working life usually gets made alone, on nights and weekends. Every piece of this path is kept confidential, so you do not have to make that decision alone.
- Your score stays yoursIt shows on your screen, and we never ask for an email to show it.
- The agreement comes firstA confidentiality agreement is signed before you send us one figure.
- Two readers, no moreOnly Craig and Jessica open your statements and your full assessment.
- Competitors kept apartName your competitors to us, and they are never seated alongside you.
- Your name stays privateWe never publish or share who works with us, and we never post about you.
- No broker moneyWe take no referral fee from any broker, before or after you sell.
What sets the multiple
11 factors decide the multiple.
The multiple is the number a buyer multiplies your yearly earnings by. Two businesses with the same profit sell for very different prices, and these 11 factors are why. The free score asks three questions on each one.
- 01Financial MuscleWhether your books survive a buyer’s accountant and show what drives profit.
- 02Growth EngineWhether the business is still climbing, with room left in the market ahead of it.
- 03Key-Person RiskWhat happens when one employee, one client or one supplier walks out the door.
- 04Cashflow GradeWhether growth costs you cash or makes it, and how long you last without sales.
- 05Revenue PredictabilityHow much of next month’s revenue is already decided before the month starts.
- 06Market DominationWhether you win work on something real that a buyer can see, or you win on price.
- 07Retention StrengthWhether your customers stay, and whether they would recommend you without asking.
- 08 · usually the lowestIndependence ScoreHow much of the business runs without you. This factor usually sets the price.
- 09Team StrengthWhether your people stay after a sale, and are good enough that a buyer wants them.
- 10Systems & ProcessesWhether the work is written down, or lives only in somebody’s head, often yours.
- 11Due Diligence ReadinessWhat a buyer’s lawyer finds once they start turning over the rocks in your records.
- Where do you score on all 11?Get Your Readiness Score
Sell it, or keep it
A business that runs without you is worth more to a buyer and better to own if you keep it.
The work that raises what a buyer pays is the same work that raises what you take home while you still own the business. Plenty of owners fix what the score shows and then decide to keep what they built.
The years ahead, laid out
From the first score to the day you sell.
Four stages, each one built on the one before. The score is free and takes nine minutes. Craig walks you through the paid steps on a confidential call.
- This weekFree · about nine minutesExit Readiness Score33 questions across the 11 factors, and a score out of 100 that shows the band a buyer would put you in today.
- Month one30 days, in confidenceThe Exit RoadmapYour exit interview, your real earnings worked out, all 11 factors scored, a valuation range, a 12‑step roadmap.
- From month twoRescored every quarterThe Exit AdvisoryA small, confidential group of owners getting ready to sell, with a private session with Craig once a month.
- When you chooseYour callSale readyThe goal: a higher multiple on the same profit. You pick the broker, and we take no referral fee. Sell, or keep it.
The Exit Roadmap is your first 30 days in The Exit Advisory. At day 30, you stay and work the plan, or you leave with it.
No sale date in mind yet
Raise the profit first.
A buyer’s price starts from your profit. Pick how much help you want while you raise it.
- Do it yourself. The Profit Room, our online community of owners fixing profit, for $97 a month or $697 a year. See The Profit Room
- Closely with us. The Profit Roadmap: a benchmarking assessment and a roadmap built for your business. See The Profit Roadmap
- With a local group. The Owners Council · Northern Virginia, with chapters recruiting now in Alexandria and Fairfax. See The Owners Council
A date in mind, or the end coming
Start with the score.
Take the free score this week. It shows which of the 11 factors costs you the most.
- This week. The free Exit Readiness Score: 33 questions, about nine minutes, a score out of 100. Get Your Readiness Score
- Closely with us. The Exit Roadmap: your valuation range and a 12‑step roadmap, in 30 days. See The Exit Roadmap
- Rather talk first? A confidential call with Craig about where your business stands today. Book A Confidential Call
Above Exit Acceleration and every other path sits The Boardroom: Craig working with you 1:1 as part of your leadership team, with a weekly 60-minute call and access by email, Loom, Voxer or text between calls. Craig carries no more than five Boardroom clients at any given time, and each seat runs on its own signed agreement. $7,497 a month or $74,970 a year.
The Exit Advisory guarantee
Two quarters with no gain, and your private session goes weekly.
We rescore you every quarter. Show up, do the work we prescribe, take the action. If your readiness score has not gone up after two quarters, your monthly private session becomes weekly at no extra cost, for up to 12 weeks. No refunds, no discounts, no pauses. Also no contract, and you can cancel it yourself any month.
12Weeks of weekly private sessions, at no extra cost
Why sessions and not a refund: a refund ends the work. More time with Craig keeps the work going.
- Quarter oneRescored on all 11
- Quarter twoRescored again
- No gainWork done, score flat
- Then, up to 12 weeksWeekly sessions
- You show up. Every session and every rescore.
- You do the work we prescribe. In order.
- You take the action. That is what moves the score.
Who is on your side
See it the way a buyer will, before any buyer does.
Know what a buyer would pay years before one makes an offer, while there is still time to raise it. Craig Laughlin Jr, CEAE
Every buyer who looks at your business does three things. They work out what it really earns, score how much of it depends on you, and multiply the earnings by what that dependence allows. We go through it with you first, and help you fix what would lower the price while there is still time.
Craig runs every exit interview. Jessica Laughlin, PMP®, runs delivery: onboarding, your documents and the final check on everything we hand you. We are not brokers, and we earn nothing from the broker you choose.
- CEAECertified Exit Acceleration Expert
- 16Years as a business owner
- 250+Owners a year as Director of Coaching
- PMP®Jessica’s project management credential
Questions owners ask
Before the first score.
What if I might sell in 10 years?
Start with the free score. A decade is plenty of time to change what a buyer would pay, and the work that raises that price also raises what you take home in the meantime. If selling feels far off, raise your profit in The Profit Room first.
What if my score comes back low?
Then you found out years before it could cost you money. If you score below 30 out of 100, a buyer is not buying a business yet. They are buying a job with your name on it. We will tell you that plainly and point you at the work that changes it.
What if I am not sure I want to sell at all?
Then the score is still worth nine minutes. A business that runs without you is worth more to a buyer and better to own. Many owners fix what the score shows and then keep the business.
Why does The Exit Roadmap cost money when the score is free?
The score is 33 questions about how the business runs. The Roadmap works on your actual financials: your add-backs (your own pay, personal costs and one-time costs a buyer adds back to profit), an exit interview, a valuation range and a 12-step roadmap. The score is a self-check; the Roadmap is Craig working through your business with you.
Do you take a fee when I sell?
No. We are not brokers, and we take no referral fee from brokers either. When you are ready for one, we help you choose, and we earn nothing from the introduction.
Is the valuation range a certified valuation?
No. It is a working range built the way buyers and brokers think about a business like yours, which is what you need to plan. If a bank, a court or a partner buyout needs a certified appraisal, we will point you to someone who does that work.
Several years feels like a long time.
The factors that set your multiple are about how the business runs, and that kind of change does not happen in a quarter. Owners who start early have more choices when the time comes.
Free · about nine minutes · nobody sees it but you
See what a buyer would see today.
The score shows the band a buyer would put you in today, and which of the 11 factors is costing you the most right now. It shows on screen, and you do not need to give an email to see it.
Rather talk it through first? Book A Confidential Call With Craig.
- 11Factors a buyer checks
- 33Questions, three per factor
- 100The highest score