The FNDRS Playbook · PB19 · Decision
The three numbers: deciding whether to sell
Three numbers decide whether to sell, build, or wait: what your next chapter costs after tax, what buyers will pay for the business as it stands, and what you keep after debt, fees, structure, and tax. The gaps between them are the strategy.
Which three numbers should you know before you sell?
What you need. What the market pays. What you keep.
Three numbers decide whether a founder should sell, build, or wait. The first is personal: what the next chapter costs, after tax, for life. The second is market: what buyers will pay for the business as it stands. The third is structural: what survives debt, fees, structure, and tax.
The gaps between them are the strategy.
The three P’s
Where this chapter sits
This chapter supports the three levers rather than pulling one of them.
Positioning
Which category. Where in the range.
Pre-emption
Find it first. Frame it first.
Process
Competition. Timing. Leverage.
The figure
What if the market will not pay the number you need?
That is the readiness gap: build, combine, or wait; if the market will pay more than you need, you have options.
- 01The number you needLife after the business, after tax. Planning with outside experts builds this.
- 02The number the market will payAdjusted EBITDA times your place in the range. The Go-To-Market Analysis (GTMA) builds this.
- 03The number you keepEnterprise value minus debt, fees, working capital, deferred consideration, and tax.
The gaps
- The readiness gapBetween the first and the second. If what you need is more than the market will pay: build, combine, or wait. If the market will pay more than you need, you have options.
- The structure gapBetween the second and the third. Closed by negotiation, choosing the right stack, and tax planning with outside experts.
How to read it
Three circles: what the founder needs, what the market will pay, and what the founder will keep. The gap between the first two is closed by building the business; the gap between the last two is closed by structure and tax.
Premium exits are not negotiated. They are prepared.
Sell, build, or hold.
More in Decision
See where your business sits
The Go-To-Market Analysis (GTMA) places your business on these frameworks with your own numbers, before a buyer does.