Know What You Have Before You Decide What to Do With It
Sell this year. Sell in ten. Hand it to your kids. Borrow to grow. Every one of those decisions rests on the same two facts — what your business is worth today, and how it would hold up under a buyer’s inspection. A full Cardin valuation gives you both, in writing, whether or not you ever list with us.
Confidential
Business Valuation
& Readiness Report
Prepared for the Owner
Cardin Business Brokers
3
Years of Financials Rebuilt
11
Factors Judged the Way a Buyer Judges Them
4
Directions You Can Take the Result
0
Obligation to Sell or List
Why the Free Number Is Free
Nearly every brokerage will tell you what your business is worth, at no charge, inside of one phone call. It’s worth asking why. That number costs nothing because it isn’t the product — your listing is. And the easiest way to win a listing is to name the figure an owner was hoping to hear.
We give a preliminary range on a first call too, and we label it exactly that: preliminary. A rough range from a conversation is useful. It is not a valuation, and we won’t pretend it is.
A full valuation is different work. It is built from your actual records by our accounting team, it takes real hours, and it produces a document you own. It will tell you things a sales pitch never would — including what your business can realistically bring today, even when that figure is lower than you hoped.
A House Gets an Appraisal and an Inspection. So Should a Business.
When a house is sold, two different professionals look at it. One tells you what it’s worth. The other tells you what’s behind the walls. Nobody serious buys without both — and a smart seller wants the inspection done before the buyer orders one.
Businesses are bought the same way, except almost no one offers the owner the inspection. The buyer’s accountant and the buyer’s lender perform it eventually, during due diligence, when every surprise costs you money or costs you the deal. We perform it first, privately, while you still have time to act on what it finds.
What It Is Worth
The Number
Three years of tax returns and profit-and-loss statements rebuilt into true owner earnings, every adjustment documented, and a value range drawn from what comparable businesses actually bring.
How our financial recast worksWhy It Is Worth That
Behind the Number
Eleven factors a buyer will judge — most of which never appear on a financial statement — examined one at a time, so you can see what is lifting your value and what is quietly holding it down.
See the eleven factorsOne tells you the number. The other tells you what would change it.
Every Business Can Be Sold. The Multiple Is What Changes.
Owners are often told — or quietly assume — that a company which depends on them can’t be sold. It can. Owner-run businesses change hands every day. What structure changes is not whether there is a buyer. It is the multiple of earnings that buyer can safely pay.
That is why two companies can post identical earnings and sell for very different prices.
Owner-Run
1.5× – 2.5×
of owner earnings (SDE)
The work, the customers and the decisions run through you. It sells — most often to an individual who wants to step into your seat and run the company personally. Because that buyer carries the whole risk of replacing you, the price has to leave room for it.
Hybrid
2.5× – 3×
of owner earnings (SDE)
A team handles the day-to-day, but the key relationships, the pricing and the hard calls still land on your desk. Most established small businesses sit here. More of the company transfers with the sale, and more buyers are comfortable taking it on.
Structured
3× – 4×+
of owner earnings (SDE)
Managers, written ways of doing things, and customers who are loyal to the company rather than to you. It would open on Monday without you. A buyer is paying for a company rather than a seat — and pays accordingly.
Illustrative ranges for owner-operated companies valued on SDE. Larger companies valued on EBITDA are covered further down this page. Every valuation is specific to the business.
None of these is a verdict. Each is a starting point and a price. A full valuation tells you which one you own, what it can realistically bring today, and what each step up would be worth — so the choice between selling now and building first is yours, made with real numbers.
What keeps a business from selling is seldom its structure. It is a price that belongs to a different kind of company.
The Eleven Things a Buyer Will Judge
Every serious buyer walks in with the same unspoken questions. We ask them first. For each factor, your report shows where you stand today, what it is doing to your multiple, and whether fixing it first would pay you back.
01
Financial Muscle
“Can I trust these numbers?”
True owner earnings with documented add-backs, a profit-and-loss statement checked for leaks and oddities, and books that your CPA and a buyer’s CPA can both follow.
02
Growth Engine
“Is there more here than what I’m paying for?”
The three-year revenue trend, the real size of the opportunity in front of you, and whether new business arrives by a system or by luck.
03
Key Person Risk
“Who can’t this company afford to lose?”
The employees, customers and vendors the business leans on too heavily, and what keeps each of them in place through a change of ownership.
04
Cash Flow Grade
“Does the profit ever turn into cash?”
How quickly you collect, how you pay, how long money sits in the cycle between the two, and how many months of expenses you hold in reserve.
05
Revenue Predictability
“How much of next year is already booked?”
Your revenue sorted into one-time, repeat and contractually recurring — and what it would take to move more of it into that last column.
06
Market Domination
“Why does this company win?”
Your position against competitors, your ability to hold your price, the strength of the name, and whatever makes you hard to copy.
07
Retention Strength
“Do the customers stay?”
Retention and churn calculated from your own records, the real reasons clients leave, and whether anything warns you before they do.
08
Independence Score
“What happens when the owner goes home?”
Where your hours really go, which decisions only you can make, and whether the company has ever been tested by your absence.
09
Team Strength
“Are the right people already here?”
Who your strongest people are, whether there is a true second-in-command, and how steady the team would be through a transition.
10
Systems & Processes
“Is any of this written down?”
Which procedures exist on paper and which live in someone’s head, along with the accounts, logins and credentials a new owner would need on day one.
11
Due Diligence Readiness
“Can they hand me what I ask for?”
Corporate filings, contracts and whether they can be assigned, intellectual property, and how quickly a complete data room could be assembled.
12
Your Read-Out
Eleven factors on a single page. What is strong, what is exposed, and the short list of changes that would move your value the most.
A low mark on any of these does not stop a sale. It shows up in the price. And not every factor carries the same weight in every company — part of the work is telling you which ones matter most in yours.
Size Changes the Method — and the Buyer
The size of your company changes the earnings measure we use, the questions that matter most, and above all who is likely to be sitting across the table.
As a rule, multiples climb with size as well as with structure. A larger company is a safer purchase and draws more buyers, and it earns a higher multiple for both reasons.
Roughly $500,000 to $1 Million
- Measured on
- Seller’s Discretionary Earnings — the full financial benefit to one working owner.
- The central question
- Can a new owner step into your seat and earn what you earn?
- Who is likely buying
- An individual buying a company to run, very often with SBA financing — which means your numbers have to satisfy a lender, not only a buyer. This is the busiest part of the market.
- Where multiples tend to sit
- 1.5× to 3× SDE — set largely by how much of the business runs through the owner.
Roughly $1 Million to $3 Million
- Measured on
- Seller’s Discretionary Earnings, with structure weighing heavily on the result.
- The central question
- How much of this runs without you? A $1 million company and a $3 million company are rarely built the same way, and the difference shows up in the price.
- Who is likely buying
- Experienced operators, companies in your own industry looking to expand, and well-funded individuals.
- Where multiples tend to sit
- 2.5× to 4× SDE — the range where added structure shows up most plainly in the price.
$3 Million and Above
- Measured on
- EBITDA. The owner comes out of the analysis altogether — we ask what it would cost to hire a chief executive or general manager in your place. The earnings figure is usually lower. The multiple applied to it is often higher.
- The central question
- Is there a management team a buyer can keep?
- Who is likely buying
- Private equity groups, strategic acquirers and family offices. The field of buyers widens considerably at this level.
- Where multiples tend to sit
- 4× to 6× EBITDA — and higher for exceptional companies.
Illustrative ranges. Industry, earnings trend and market conditions move every one of them.
Your report is written for the tier you are actually in — and, where it’s close, shows what it would take to reach the next one.
A Written Report, Not a Number on a Napkin
As Filed vs. Recast
Eleven-Factor Read-Out
Illustrative layout. Every report is built from the owner’s own records.
- 01
Recast financial statements
Three years, set beside the figures as filed, so anyone can follow how one became the other.
- 02
An add-back schedule
Every adjustment listed, explained and supported. It is the page a buyer’s accountant turns to first.
- 03
Your true earnings figure
SDE or EBITDA, whichever fits your company, stated conservatively.
- 04
A defensible value range
The multiple we applied, why we applied it, and the market evidence behind it.
- 05
The eleven-factor read-out
Where you stand on each one, in plain language.
- 06
A priority list
The few changes that would raise your value the most, in the order we would make them.
Then We Walk You Through It
When the report is finished, we go through it with you on a video call, page by page — with your CPA or attorney on the line if you’d like them there.
We Have Learned How to Ask
The hardest part of a valuation is not the analysis. It is the document request — the long list that lands in an owner’s inbox and gets closed again, because there is a business to run.
Years ago we sent lists like that. One owner told us that opening ours gave him chest pains. We changed how we work.
In stages, never all at once
We begin with a short list and build from there.
Every request comes with a reason
What we need, why we need it, and where you are likely to find it.
Send it however you have it
Scans, exports, photos of paper, a box of statements. Nothing has to be organized first. Sorting it is our job.
We will work with your accountant
If your CPA or bookkeeper holds the records, we are glad to go to them directly, with your permission.
Expect Questions
A relative on the payroll — what do they do? A vehicle on the books — how much of it is personal? One answer tends to raise another. That isn’t suspicion. It is the same questioning a buyer’s accountant will put you through later, done now by people on your side.
Each time you send something, we review it, usually within a business day, and tell you exactly what is still outstanding. Once the records are in, the work itself is a matter of weeks, not months.
One Report. Four Directions.
A valuation doesn’t commit you to anything. It replaces guessing with knowing — and from there, owners generally go one of four ways.
Sell Now
You are ready, and now you know the realistic price. A company at any level of structure can go to market when it is priced at the multiple it has earned. The financial work in your valuation carries directly into preparing the business for sale, so that part is already done.
How a sale worksBuild First
You could sell today. But the report shows how much more the company could bring with added structure, and you have the time to build it. Our Growth Program exists to close that gap before you sell.
The Growth ProgramFund the Business
New equipment, a key hire, a second location. Lenders ask for the same clear financial picture a buyer does, and you will already have it.
Financing optionsHold and Measure
You aren’t going anywhere yet. Now you have a baseline — a number and a read-out to measure next year against, and the year after that.
Whichever you choose, the report is yours.
You Don’t Have to Be Selling
An offer arrived out of nowhere, and you have no idea whether it’s fair.
You run the business yourself every day, and you’ve assumed that means it can’t be sold.
Retirement is three to five years out, and you want to use that time well.
A partner, a key employee or a family member wants to buy in — or buy you out.
You’re weighing an ESOP, a family transfer and an outside sale, and need one honest number to compare them against.
Your CPA, attorney or financial planner told you it’s time to know.
Most of your net worth sits inside the company, and you have never seen it measured.
We Work Alongside You, Not Around You
Many of our valuations begin with a referral from the professional an owner already trusts. If that is you, here is what to expect.
We work from the returns and statements you prepared, and we bring our questions to you when your client can’t answer them. We don’t give tax, legal or investment advice, and we don’t try to replace the people who do. Your client comes back to you with a clearer picture of their largest asset — which makes your planning work easier, not harder.
Before You Call
No. A first conversation with a Cardin broker is free, carries no obligation, and ends with a preliminary range based on what you tell us. A full valuation is a separate, paid engagement built from your actual financial records by our accounting team, and it ends with a written report.
It depends on the size and complexity of the company, so we quote it after a short conversation rather than publishing a figure that would be wrong for half the owners reading this. You will have the exact fee in writing before any work begins.
Yes. Companies that depend on their owners are bought and sold all the time, usually by an individual who intends to run the business personally. What changes is the multiple: an owner-dependent business prices at the lower end of the range, because the buyer takes on the risk of replacing you. A full valuation tells you what that realistic price is — and what added structure would be worth, if you decide you would rather build first.
No. The report is yours to keep and to use however you like — including taking it somewhere else. We would rather earn the listing than trap it.
No, and the difference matters. This is a market valuation — what a real buyer would likely pay, and why — prepared for planning and for sale. Divorce, litigation, estate and gift tax, and certain IRS matters call for a certified appraisal from a credentialed appraiser, which is a different document. If that is what you need, we will tell you so at the start.
No one. Your records are handled under the same confidentiality practices we apply to every sale, and nothing about a valuation signals to employees, customers or competitors that anything is changing. the same confidentiality practices.
It’s common, and it is one of the things a valuation is for. We can work from imperfect records. If the books are holding your value down, the report will say so — and say what to do about it.
Start With a Conversation
Tell us about your business and what you are trying to decide. We’ll tell you honestly whether a full valuation is worth doing now — and if it isn’t, what is.
Talk to Us About a Valuation