How do I increase the value of my business?

Work on what buyers pay for: more recurring or repeat revenue, less dependence on you, less customer concentration, clean financials with documented add-backs, a team under you, and written systems, contracts and leases. Buyers price these through the multiple and through the terms — price cuts, holdbacks and earn-outs. Your free account shows which matter most for your business and what fixing each is worth in dollars.

What do buyers look at when they value a business?

Your adjusted earnings, and the risk behind them. Buyers look at how recurring your revenue is, how concentrated your customers are, how much the business depends on you, the depth of your team, the quality of your books and add-backs, margins, growth, working capital, contracts and leases, compliance, technology, brand and market position.

How long does it take to increase business value?

Some fixes take weeks — documenting add-backs, putting key customer agreements in writing, reviewing your lease. Others take a year or more — building a management team, shifting revenue to recurring, reducing concentration. The owners who exit best start 6 to 24 months early.

Is the buyer’s-eye review really free?

Yes. It lives in your free account, with no obligation to sell. We’re paid one way only: a success fee if you sell your business through us and the sale closes — paid from closing proceeds and agreed in writing first. $0 upfront: no retainer, no listing fee.

I’m not planning to sell. Is this still worth it?

Yes. The things buyers pay for — predictable revenue, a team that runs without you, clean books — also make a business more profitable, easier to run and less dependent on you. If you never sell, you still own a better business.

What is Buyer Simulation?

Buyer Simulation is part of your free account. Our AI works through your business the way a skeptical acquirer would — the questions they would ask and what they would discount — so you can fix issues before a buyer finds them in diligence.

What happens after the review?

You keep your account: your value range kept current, Vera to answer questions any hour, and the team when you want a person. If and when you decide to sell, we can run a confidential, competitive process — $0 upfront and a success fee only if it closes. There is no obligation to sell or to accept any offer.

How to Increase the Value of Your Business

Increase the value of your business — see it the way buyers do.

Our AI and deal team look through your business and give you the input a buyer would: what they pay for, why, how they price it — and how to improve each piece. Sell now, later or never.

Free, private account

No obligation to sell

Every fix priced in dollars

01 · Revenue & customers

Recurring & repeat revenue

MultipleEarn-out

What buyers look at: How much of next year’s revenue is already likely — service agreements, memberships, contracts, repeat customers — and how long customers stay.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Predictable revenue lets you plan hiring and equipment, and it carries you through slow months.
How buyers price it: Often the biggest single lever on the multiple. Contracted or repeat revenue is valued well above one-off project work.
How to improve it: Turn one-off customers into plans — maintenance agreements, memberships, retainers. Track renewals. Put agreements in writing.

02 · Revenue & customers

Customer concentration

MultipleEarn-out

What buyers look at: The share of revenue from your largest customers, and whether those relationships are contracted or depend on you personally.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Losing one customer should never put payroll at risk.
How buyers price it: Heavy concentration lowers the multiple and often moves part of the price into an earn-out tied to those customers staying.
How to improve it: Grow the next tier of customers, get big accounts on written agreements, and bring your team into the key relationships.

03 · Revenue & customers

Growth trajectory

MultipleEarn-out

What buyers look at: Revenue and profit over the last three years, and whether there is a credible, documented path to more.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Growth funds raises, equipment and options. Flat businesses tend to drift.
How buyers price it: Steady, explainable growth supports the upper end of the range. A decline lowers it — and invites an earn-out to bridge the gap.
How to improve it: Track your pipeline and bookings, write down where growth will come from, and avoid a dip in the year before a sale.

04 · Revenue & customers

Gross margin trend

MultiplePrice cut

What buyers look at: Whether gross margin is steady or improving, by service line, and whether your pricing keeps up with labor and material costs.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Margin pays for everything else. A slipping margin is an early warning.
How buyers price it: Shrinking margins make buyers doubt future earnings and can lower the multiple. Healthy margins by line support it.
How to improve it: Review pricing at least once a year, know your margin by service or customer, and reprice or drop work that doesn’t pay.

05 · You & your team

Owner dependence

MultipleEarn-out

What buyers look at: What happens if you’re gone for a month: who sells, who prices jobs, who holds the key customers and licences.
Why it matters beyond a sale: A business that needs you every day owns you. One that runs without you gives you time and options.
How buyers price it: High dependence lowers the multiple and often means a longer transition, an earn-out, or employment terms for you after the sale.
How to improve it: Hand off sales, estimating and key relationships. Take real time off and note what broke. Put a second person on every critical task.

06 · You & your team

Management team depth

Multiple

What buyers look at: Whether capable managers sit under you, with clear roles — and whether they would stay after a sale.
Why it matters beyond a sale: A bench lets the business grow past what one person can carry.
How buyers price it: A team in place widens the buyer pool and supports the multiple. “Mostly me” narrows both.
How to improve it: Promote or hire a strong #2, give managers real responsibility for results, and consider incentives that reward them for staying.

07 · You & your team

Key-employee retention

MultipleEarn-out

What buyers look at: Tenure, turnover, and whether licensed or hard-to-replace people are likely to stay through a change of ownership.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Turnover is expensive, and it shows up in service quality.
How buyers price it: Retention risk can lower the multiple, and buyers may tie part of the price to key people staying.
How to improve it: Pay competitively, build career paths, and plan retention arrangements for key people with your advisers.

08 · You & your team

Systems & SOPs

Multiple

What buyers look at: Whether the way work gets done is written down — scheduling, estimating, quality, onboarding — and lives in software, not in heads.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Systems make results repeatable and training faster.
How buyers price it: Documented systems reduce perceived risk and integration work, which supports the multiple. Undocumented ones add risk.
How to improve it: Write down the ten processes that matter most, run them in one system of record, and review them with your team.

09 · Books & contracts

Quality of financials & add-backs

Price cutHoldbackDeal risk

What buyers look at: Clean, timely books; statements that tie to your tax returns; add-backs — owner pay above market, personal and one-time costs — that are documented.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Accurate numbers mean better decisions, better bank terms and fewer surprises.
How buyers price it: Messy books or unsupported add-backs get removed in diligence — lowering the earnings the multiple applies to — and can trigger re-trades or a walk-away.
How to improve it: Close the books monthly, keep personal costs separate, and keep a documented add-back schedule. Consider a quality of earnings review before a sale.

10 · Books & contracts

Working capital

Price cut

What buyers look at: Receivables, payables, inventory — and the normal level the business needs to run.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Tight cash control funds growth without borrowing.
How buyers price it: Most deals set a working-capital target. Deliver less than the target at closing and the price is adjusted down.
How to improve it: Bill promptly, collect faster, manage inventory — and know your normal level before anyone negotiates the target.

11 · Books & contracts

Contracts & leases

Deal riskHoldback

What buyers look at: Customer and supplier contracts, your lease term and renewal options, and whether agreements can transfer to a new owner.
Why it matters beyond a sale: A secure location and solid agreements protect the business from surprises.
How buyers price it: A short lease or contracts that need consent to transfer add risk — they can delay a deal, reduce the price or become a condition of closing.
How to improve it: Add renewal options to your lease, review assignment clauses, and get key relationships on paper.

12 · Books & contracts

Supplier concentration

Multiple

What buyers look at: Dependence on one supplier, distributor or platform, and how easily it could be replaced.
Why it matters beyond a sale: A single supplier controls your costs and your availability.
How buyers price it: Dependence adds risk that can weigh on the multiple, especially if terms could change after a sale.
How to improve it: Qualify a second source, put supply terms in writing and keep an eye on pricing.

13 · Durability & position

Compliance & licences

HoldbackDeal risk

What buyers look at: Licences, permits, certifications and regulatory history — and who holds them.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Compliance gaps can stop operations or bring fines.
How buyers price it: Gaps usually lead to escrow, holdbacks or special indemnities. Serious issues can stop a deal.
How to improve it: Audit your licences and who holds them, fix open issues now, and keep the records organized.

14 · Durability & position

Technology & data

MultiplePrice cut

What buyers look at: The software you run on, the quality of your customer data, and basic cybersecurity.
Why it matters beyond a sale: Good data shows you which customers and services actually make money.
How buyers price it: Clean data speeds diligence and supports your story. Outdated systems may be priced as a cost the buyer must fund.
How to improve it: Keep your CRM and job or scheduling system current, clean up customer records, and secure access and backups.

15 · Durability & position

Brand & reviews

Multiple

What buyers look at: Your reputation online, review ratings and volume, how customers find you — and whether the brand depends on your personal name.
Why it matters beyond a sale: A strong reputation brings in work you don’t have to pay for.
How buyers price it: A strong, transferable brand supports demand and the multiple. A brand tied to you personally is harder to hand over.
How to improve it: Ask happy customers for reviews, answer every review, and build marketing that doesn’t rely on you.

16 · Durability & position

Market position

Multiple

What buyers look at: Your niche, local share and competitive edge — and how the business fits a particular buyer’s strategy.
Why it matters beyond a sale: A defensible position protects your pricing.
How buyers price it: Strategic fit can lead a buyer to pay more than a purely financial buyer would. Competition between buyers is what moves price.
How to improve it: Know what makes you different and document it, strengthen your niche, and learn which buyers want what you have.

Every business weighs these differently — an HVAC company lives on service agreements, an accounting firm on client retention. Your free account scores the drivers that matter most for your business and prices each fix in dollars.

Find what a buyer would discount. Before they do.

Our AI works through your business the way a skeptical acquirer would — the questions they’ll ask and the discounts they’ll push — so you fix problems while they’re still cheap, not in diligence where they cost you money.

What would a PE buyer challenge?

What would a strategic discount?

What will diligence uncover?

Where does it depend on you?

Which customers concentrate risk?

Which add-backs won’t survive scrutiny?

What could trigger a re-trade?

What would make a buyer walk?

Whatever you decide, it still pays.

Sell now

Know what to fix fast — and what to explain.

Some issues can be fixed in weeks. Others are better explained up front, with the numbers, than discovered in diligence. You go to market knowing what buyers will see — so the price you’re offered survives scrutiny.

Sell later

Time to fix the big-ticket items.

A team under you, recurring revenue, less concentration — the fixes buyers pay most for take time. Start now and every year of profit is priced on a stronger business when you sell.

Never sell

You still own a better business.

Predictable revenue, a team that runs without you, clean books — buyers pay for them because they make a business more profitable, easier to run and less dependent on you. That pays whether or not you ever sell.

The review is the start. Your account keeps working.

Your value range, kept currentUpdated as market benchmarks change, so you can see where you stand.

Your Exit Profile, rememberedYour drivers and fixes stay in your account — you never start over.

Vera, any hourAsk about value, buyers, terms or timing — answers grounded in your business.

A free read of any offerUpload a letter of intent and see what it really says before you sign.

The team, when you want a personA senior member of the deal team, whenever you want one.

And when you’re ready: a better saleA confidential, competitive process. $0 upfront — a success fee only at close.

See your business the way buyers will. Then make it worth more.

Open your free, private account. Our AI and team look through your business and show you what buyers would value, what they would discount — and what fixing each piece is worth.

Your value drivers, scored

Buyer Simulation — what a buyer would discount

Your fixes, ranked and priced in dollars

Your range, kept current

Vera any hour, and the team

No obligation to sell, ever

The price isn’t one number. It’s earnings, risk and terms.

Sixteen things buyers pay for. And how to improve every one.

Revenue & customers

You & your team

Books & contracts

Durability & position

Recurring & repeat revenue

Customer concentration

Growth trajectory

Gross margin trend

Owner dependence

Management team depth

Key-employee retention

Systems & SOPs

Quality of financials & add-backs

Working capital

Contracts & leases

Supplier concentration

Compliance & licences

Technology & data

Brand & reviews

Market position

Find what a buyer would discount. Before they do.

From “what’s it worth?” to selling from strength.

Know where you stand

Quick wins

Structural fixes

Sell from strength — or don’t

Whatever you decide, it still pays.

Know what to fix fast — and what to explain.

Time to fix the big-ticket items.

You still own a better business.

The review is the start. Your account keeps working.

Value range kept current

Exit Profile

Your fixes priced in $

Vera any hour

Offer read

Your team

Our AI does the work. The team answers for it.

See your business the way buyers will. Then make it worth more.

Create your free account

Start wherever you are. Everything leads to a better exit.

Increasing business value: your questions.