SuccessionMarket Sell your business
Free · 60 seconds · No obligation

What's your business
actually worth?

Pick your industry, set your earnings, and see the range buyers are paying, instantly. Twenty industries priced, from the trades to practices, agencies and manufacturers. Own something else? Choose Other and we build your estimate by hand from your statements, still free.

Or pick your industry
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$180,000profit + owner salary + perks
New to SDE? See exactly what counts ↓
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
+
Unusual costs
Real expenses that will not repeat next year
=
SDE
The earnings a buyer is actually buying
$0
Fill in what you know and this adds it up. Nothing is sent until you submit the form above.
How the range is built

Buyers' multiples. Your numbers. No fluff.

Step 01

Your earnings, restated

SDE is what the business truly pays its owner: profit, plus your salary, plus the perks that ran through the business. It is the number every serious buyer prices from.

Step 02

Your industry's range

We keep our own table of what buyers are paying, industry by industry, and review it as the market moves, so your range reflects businesses like yours right now.

Step 03

Then we go deeper

We review your statements and narrow the range to a working asking price for your sale package. That review is free, and it starts with one conversation.

Inside the range

What moves your multiple up or down.

Two businesses with the same earnings can sell for very different prices. The difference is how much of the business a buyer can actually keep when you leave.

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
  • A lease renewing month by month 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 conversation worth having 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 an estimate from industry multiples, and even the full free estimate is a pricing opinion for selling, not a certified appraisal. For most private business sales that is exactly what is needed. If a lender or a court requires a certified valuation, we will tell you so.
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. A closer look at your statements narrows it to the asking price we would take to market.
What do you need for the closer estimate?
Two or three years of financial statements, and one conversation about how the business actually runs. You get the number and a straight answer on whether it will sell, free, whether or not you list with us.
Will you just tell me what I want to hear?
No, and it is in our interest not to: we only take on businesses priced to sell, because our fee only exists at closing. If your expectation and the market disagree, we show you the gap and what would close it.