S→SuccessionMarket Sell your business
Free · 60 seconds · No obligation

What's your business
actually worth?

Most owners have never had a real answer. Pick your industry, set your earnings, and see the market range instantly, built on real Canadian trade-business multiples.

$180,000profit + owner salary + perks
Private. No spam. One follow-up from a real person.
How the range is built

Real multiples. Your numbers. No fluff.

Step 01

Your earnings, normalized

SDE is what the business truly pays its owner: profit plus owner salary plus personal perks. It's the number every serious buyer prices from.

Step 02

Industry multiple bands

We maintain our own database of what Canadian buyers actually pay per industry, tuned deal by deal, not copied from a US textbook.

Step 03

Then the real work

The free full valuation reviews your actual books and pins the exact defensible number, the one we'd take to market. Start on the Sell page.

The number that matters

What exactly is SDE?

Seller's discretionary earnings: what the business truly puts in its owner's pocket in a year. It's the number every serious buyer prices from, and it's usually bigger than the profit line on your tax return.

Net profit
The bottom line on your statements
+
Owner salary
What you pay yourself, any form
+
Personal perks
Vehicle, phone, travel run through the business
+
One-time costs
Unusual expenses that won't repeat
=
SDE
The earnings a buyer is actually buying
Inside the range

What moves your multiple up or down.

Two businesses with identical earnings can sell for very different prices. The difference is transferability: how much of the business a buyer can actually keep.

Pushes the multiple up
  • Recurring revenue: maintenance contracts, repeat customers
  • Staff and systems that run the business without you
  • Clean books: statements and filed taxes that match reality
  • Owned equipment in good repair, documented
  • A diverse customer base; no single client dominating
  • A lease a buyer can take over, or owned premises
Drags the multiple down
  • Everything depends on the owner personally
  • One customer making up most of the revenue
  • Messy or informal books; cash that never hit a statement
  • Aging equipment with deferred maintenance
  • Month-to-month lease on an essential location
  • Declining revenue with no explanation ready

The good news: most of the left column can be built, and most of the right column can be fixed, before you go to market. That's a real conversation to have a year before you sell, not the week of. It starts with one call.

Valuation questions

What owners ask about the number.

Is this a formal appraisal?
No. The instant range is a market estimate from industry multiples, and even our full free valuation is a pricing opinion for sale purposes, not a certified appraisal. For most sales under $2M, that's exactly what's needed; if a lender or court requires a certified valuation, we'll tell you and point you to the right professional.
Why a range instead of one number?
Because the market pays a range. Where your business lands inside it depends on transferability: customer mix, staff, books, and how much of the operation leaves when you do. The full valuation pins the defensible number we'd take to market.
What do you need for the real valuation?
Two to three years of financial statements and tax returns, plus one conversation about how the business actually runs. You get the number and an honest read on sellability, free, whether or not you list with us.
Will you just tell me what I want to hear?
No, and it's in our interest not to: we only take mandates priced to sell, because our fee only exists at closing. If your expectation and the market disagree, we'll show you the gap and what would close it.