Commercial Growth
Taking commercial load off a founder without hiring a director
One day a week of senior commercial leadership: pricing, margin and new business given structure, owners and a reporting rhythm.
Exit
Don't start preparing your business for exit when you're ready to sell it.
Build a better business before you build an exit. The work that increases enterprise value is the same work that makes a company better to own.
What is business exit planning?
Business exit planning is the work of making a company able to operate, grow and hold its value without its founder, so that a sale, succession or step back becomes a choice rather than a scramble. It is commercial and operational preparation, not a transaction process.
Enterprise value is what a business is worth as a whole to an owner or buyer: quality and predictability of earnings, how concentrated the client base is, how much depends on the founder, and how well the company is run and evidenced.
Almost everything that increases it also makes the business better to own in the meantime, which is why the work is worth doing whether or not a sale ever happens.
What buyers and investors actually look at
A successful exit usually begins years before a transaction, and rarely turns on turnover. Value sits in the quality and predictability of earnings, and in how much of the business depends on its founder.
- Strong EBITDA and healthy margins
- Predictable earnings
- Recurring or repeatable revenue
- Low customer concentration
- Strong management and limited founder dependency
- Clear financial reporting
- Scalable operations
- Defensible client relationships
- A credible growth story
Where a business is usually weak
We assess the business honestly against those measures, then build a practical improvement plan and help implement it. Founder dependency, leadership depth, margin, revenue predictability, client concentration, pipeline, management information, process, contracts and intellectual property.
A well-run business is a more transferable one
Buyers and investors price risk. A company with strong management, low founder dependency, good retention, clear governance, a healthy culture, documented processes, responsible employment practices and predictable performance is not simply a better place to work. It is a more resilient asset, and one that is easier to hand over.
That is why the responsible-business and organisational-health work belongs in exit preparation rather than alongside it. We don't make claims about multiples; we do know what makes a due-diligence conversation shorter.
Exit and succession work
- Exit strategy and business exit planning
- Business sale preparation
- Succession planning and management transition
- Founder transition and reducing founder dependency
- Preparing for investment or acquisition
- EBITDA improvement and commercial reporting
- IPO readiness
How ready is your business for life without you?
A short, structured review of the areas that determine whether a business can operate, grow and hold value beyond its founder. It usually takes a few conversations and a look at the numbers, and it tends to change what leadership teams work on next.
The objective is not simply to make a company easier to sell. It is to make it a better business.
ANDvisory does not provide regulated investment, tax, legal, accounting or corporate finance advice. Where specialist transaction, legal, tax, accounting or corporate finance expertise is required, we work alongside your existing professional advisers or appropriate specialists.
Questions founders ask
How early should you start preparing a business for sale?
Realistically two to three years before you want the option. Earnings history, client diversification, reduced founder dependency and clean management information all take time to establish, and none of them can be created in the months before a transaction.
Should you prepare for an exit even if you never intend to sell?
Yes. The same changes that make a business attractive to a buyer make it more profitable, more resilient and less dependent on the founder. Preparation buys optionality; it does not commit you to anything.
What does an exit planning consultant actually do?
Assesses the business as an owner or buyer would, identifies what is suppressing value, and then works through it: earnings quality, client concentration, founder dependency, management structure, reporting and succession.
ANDvisory does the commercial and operational preparation, and works alongside your corporate finance, legal, tax and accounting advisers on the transaction itself.
Related work
Better businesses perform better.
Commercial performance and organisational health reinforce one another. It is the philosophy that runs through everything ANDvisory does. Read why →
Advice action.
The work that increases enterprise value is the same work that makes a company better to own.