How to use it
Mark what you know. Circle what you have avoided. Choose two questions to resolve first. This is a starting sheet, not a transaction plan.
01Start with your own outcome
Before discussing buyers or price, write down what you want the handoff to change in your life.
- When would you like your operating role to change?
- Would you stay for a defined transition?
- What financial outcome do you need, rather than merely prefer?
- Which promises to employees, family, or the community matter to you?
02Name the plausible routes
Do not force a sale decision before comparing the alternatives.
- Is there a family member who genuinely wants the responsibility?
- Could a manager or employee lead and finance a purchase?
- Would an outside buyer better fit the timing and economics?
- Would twelve to twenty-four months of preparation preserve better choices?
03Find where the business depends on you
Look past daily tasks. Follow judgment, relationships, and permissions.
- Which customers or suppliers still call you first?
- Which pricing, hiring, cash, or quality decisions cannot move without you?
- What important work lives in one person's memory?
- Who could run an unfamiliar week as well as a normal one?
04Prepare a financial outline
You do not need a sale book. You need numbers that can be explained without theatre.
- Three years of revenue and operating profit.
- Owner pay, personal expenses, and genuine one-time costs.
- Major customer, supplier, employee, or equipment concentrations.
- Debt, leases, property, and commitments a new owner would inherit or replace.
05Set confidentiality rules early
Privacy is easier to protect before an interested buyer starts asking for documents.
- Who inside the company needs to know now?
- Which information may be shared in summary form?
- What must wait until a buyer is identified, qualified, and under agreement?
- Where will sensitive files live, and who controls access?
06Choose advisers by the work
The right team depends on the route. Avoid assembling a crowd before the assignment is clear.
- Who represents your interests in the transaction?
- Who will handle legal, tax, and personal planning questions?
- How is each adviser paid, and what outcome gives them a fee?
- What relevant transactions have they handled at your size and in your industry?
When the page is marked up
Look for the question doing the most work.
It may be the successor, your own timeline, dependence on one customer, or a number you have never tested. That is usually a better first conversation than “What is my business worth?”
Compare the possible routes ↘