You deserve to know exactly what it's worth.
It is not just what you sell for. It is what you keep after taxes, fees, and burnout. Start with a real number — built from what businesses like yours actually sold for. Ten minutes, no obligation, nothing to sign.
What's my business worth?
A valuation range built from thousands of completed transactions in your specific industry.
Run the calculator ↓ You deserve to know if you can leave.Can you cash out?
Ten questions that score how sellable your business is today, and what stands between you and a clean exit.
Score my business ↓ You deserve to see the whole board.Benchmark my company
See where your margins and size rank against the companies that actually sold in your industry.
Compare to peers ↓Most owners find out what their business is worth the week someone offers to buy it.
By then the number belongs to the buyer. The add-backs nobody documented. The customer who turned out to be 40% of revenue. The quiet fact that nothing moves without you in the building. Each one gets priced in, and every one of them was fixable twelve months earlier — when it would have been worth real money.
So here is what we think you have coming to you.
- A number you can trust. Built from what businesses in your NAICS code actually sold for, not a rule of thumb someone repeated at a conference.
- The truth about your risk. The three things a buyer's diligence team will find, told to you first, while there is still time to fix them.
- Time to change the answer. Every month between knowing and selling is a month you can spend raising the number.
- An advisor on your side of the table. One who gets paid when you do well, and whose job is what you keep after taxes — not how fast the deal closes.
- The right to walk away. From the deal, from the process, from us. Clarity before commitment, every time.
Exit planning, then brokerage
Most brokers start when you are ready to list. XP starts earlier, because the year or two before a sale is where the multiple is made. If you are not ready, we will tell you that.
Engineered, not improvised
Adam spent 15 years as a field engineer at Fortune 50 companies before becoming a CEPA. The process is documented, measurable, and repeatable — you will always know what happens next.
One quarterback
Your CPA, your attorney, your wealth advisor, and the buyer's team all pulling the same direction. Coordination is where most deals lose money quietly.
Start with the number. Everything else follows from it.
What's my business worth? ↓Looking to buy a business instead? XP M&A works with acquirers on the buy side. This site is for owners planning an exit. Visit XP Business Brokerage →
Most brokers sell your business. XP plans your exit.
A broker gets paid when a deal closes, so the work starts the day you are ready to list. Everything that decides your number happens before that day. Here is what changes when someone is planning the exit instead of processing the sale.
Plenty of good brokers close good deals. The question is not whether they can sell your business. It is whether anyone spent the year beforehand making it worth more.
See what a year of preparation would be worth on your number.
Run the valuation ↓What's my business worth?
Buyers price your business on a multiple of what it earns for its owner. This calculator recasts your profit into Seller's Discretionary Earnings, then prices it against real completed transactions in your NAICS industry. Six questions about how the business actually runs decide where in that transaction distribution you land.
Business Valuation Calculator
Loading comparable transaction data…Comparable transactions
in your industry
Your percentile position
Midpoint estimate
How we got there
Valuation methods
Each bar is one percentile of actual completed transactions. Gold marks your position.
Estimated cash to you at closing: — before taxes and fees, after paying off the debt you entered. Deal structure — earnouts, seller notes, escrow, and the working capital peg — moves this number more than most owners expect.
Asset floor: comparable sellers in your industry carried about — of FF&E and inventory at your percentile. A going concern should comfortably clear that.
Pulling you up the distribution
Pulling you down
The spread between the low and high end of your range is —. That gap is not market luck. It is the difference between a business that is ready for diligence and one that is not, and most of it is still inside your control.
This estimate applies percentile multiples from BVR’s comparable-transaction database to the figures you entered, positioned by your answers about the business. It is directional and is not a formal appraisal or a broker’s opinion of value. Comparable transaction data reflects businesses that actually sold, and the sample size varies by industry — smaller samples mean wider real-world variance than the chart suggests. A defensible valuation requires a review of your financial statements, tax returns, customer detail, contracts, and balance sheet. Do not use this output for tax filings, litigation, SBA financing, or estate purposes.
Can you cash out? How sellable is your business?
A valuable business and a sellable business are two different things. Plenty of profitable companies never close a deal because the value walks out the door with the owner. These ten questions score the same things a buyer's diligence team will look at.
Sellability Score
0 of 10 answeredWhere you stand by category
Your weakest area is .
Benchmark my company
Buyers do not evaluate your business in isolation. They compare it to everything else on their desk. See where you sit against the peers you will be measured against, and what closing the gap is worth in enterprise value.
Peer Benchmark
Loading comparable transaction data…You vs.
Margin and size percentiles come from — actual completed transactions in your industry. Rows marked BVR are transaction-derived; the rest use standard broker thresholds.
| Metric | You | Industry median | Your standing |
|---|
Clarity before commitment
Four steps. You can stop after any of them.
A 30-minute conversation
What you built, where you want to end up, and what your timeline looks like. No pitch, no pressure. Most owners leave this call knowing more about their options than they did going in.
Opinion of value and readiness review
We recast your financials properly, benchmark you against real transaction comps, and score what a buyer's diligence team would flag. You get a written number and the reasoning behind it.
Value creation plan
The specific, sequenced moves that raise your multiple, with the dollar value attached to each one. Some owners run this for six months. Some run it for three years. You decide the pace.
A competitive, confidential process
Positioning, a curated buyer list, controlled information release, and real competitive tension. Then negotiation on structure and terms, coordinated with your CPA and attorney through closing.
What owners ask first
How do I figure out what my business is worth?
Most lower middle market businesses are valued on a multiple of earnings. Start by recasting your profit into Seller's Discretionary Earnings — pre-tax profit plus owner compensation, owner perks, depreciation, amortization, interest, and one-time expenses. Then apply the multiple businesses in your industry actually sold for. The calculator above does exactly that using BVR comparable-transaction data across 169 NAICS industries, and six questions about how your business runs place you within that real distribution.
What multiple do businesses sell for?
It varies more by industry than most owners expect. Median SDE multiples in the lower middle market commonly run between about 2x and 4x and EBITDA multiples between about 3x and 6x, but your industry has its own curve — plumbing contractors and veterinary practices are nowhere near each other. What moves you within that curve is owner dependence, customer concentration, recurring revenue, financial quality, and growth. The calculator shows your industry's actual percentile distribution rather than one average.
How long does it take to sell a business?
A well-prepared lower middle market business usually takes six to twelve months from listing to close. Preparation before going to market often takes longer than the sale itself, and it is where most of the value is created. Owners who start one to three years ahead consistently keep more after tax.
Do I have to be ready to sell to talk to you?
No. Most owners who run these tools are two to five years out. Knowing your number early is what gives you time to change it. There is no obligation attached to the tools on this page or to a conversation.
Will my employees or competitors find out?
Confidentiality is structural, not a courtesy. Buyers sign NDAs before they see anything identifying, information is released in stages, and your team learns on the timeline you choose. Discretion protects your value as much as your peace of mind.
How accurate is the valuation calculator?
It produces a directional range, not a formal appraisal. It applies percentile multiples from BVR's database of completed transactions in your NAICS industry, then places you in that distribution based on how the business actually runs. Accuracy depends on how many comparable sales exist for your industry, and the tool flags when that sample is thin. A defensible opinion of value still requires reviewing your financial statements, tax returns, customer detail, and contracts — that is what we do on the call.
What does XP charge?
The first conversation and the opinion of value are free. Engagements are structured around a success fee at closing, with a modest retainer on advisory work when the plan runs before a sale. Everything is laid out in writing before you commit to anything.
Let's talk about your number.
Thirty minutes with Adam. Bring whatever you have — a rough revenue figure is enough to start. You'll leave with a realistic value range, an honest read on what a sale would look like for you, and a clear next step whether or not you ever hire XP.
- A realistic value range for your business today
- The two or three things most limiting your multiple
- What the after-tax proceeds would actually look like
- A timeline that fits what you want, not a listing quota
Adam McMurtrey
Founder · CEPA, MBA, CMRP
Chemical engineer, 15+ years of field engineering at Fortune 50 companies, now a Certified Exit Planning Advisor helping Utah owners exit on their own terms.
Prefer the phone? (801) 210-0075 · Hello@XPBrokerage.com