A Free Field Guide · 12 Pages · 60 Checks
Thinking about
selling your
business?
The 60-point readiness checklist for owners with a 6- to 24-month horizon to a sale. Sixty things the most prepared sellers do — and the deal-killers that quietly subtract a million from the price.
What's inside
Twelve categories.
Sixty checks.
Every item is one we've seen move a deal — up or down — across more than five hundred Main Street transactions. Ordered the way a buyer will scrutinize them, with the deal-killers in plain sight.
§ 01
Why timing matters
The six- to twenty-four-month window is the work — long enough to fix the big things, short enough to stay motivated.
§ 02
Valuation drivers & multiples
Real SDE multiples by sector, plus the five drivers that lift them and the five drags that quietly cut your price.
§ 03
Financial cleanup · QoE
Eight items to defend your EBITDA bridge. The single highest-ROI use of your time before listing.
§ 04
Owner dependence
Seven moves to make the business runnable without you — the single biggest determinant of multiple.
§ 05
Customer concentration
The 30% rule, the trend chart buyers will draw in their head, and five steps to flatten it.
§ 06
Operations & legal hygiene
Ten items across SOPs, vendor lists, IP, leases, and the paperwork no one wants to do until it's worth a million.
§ 07
Tax & personal readiness
Ten items spanning entity structure, asset vs. stock modeling, estate planning, and life after the wire hits.
§ 08
The deal-process timeline
Engagement through close — month by month — so you know what to expect and when to expect it.
§ 09
Deal-killers & advisor
The nine ways a deal dies after the LOI — and the five questions to ask before you sign with any broker.
Why this checklist
Built on five
hundred closings.
We've been brokering Main Street transactions since 2008. Every check in the guide is one we've watched separate the prepared from the discounted.
500+
Businesses sold
Across home services, light manufacturing, B2B services, and specialty trades since 2008.
2008
Year founded
Seventeen years of Main Street sell-side advisory across two full market cycles.
$1–10M
Sweet-spot revenue
Privately held companies in the band where preparation moves the multiple the most.
90 min
Free readiness review
For every owner who downloads the checklist — in person or remote, no commitment.
Your advisor
Val Pidgeon, Senior Broker
We don't get paid to sell your business. We get paid to make your business worth selling. Most of that work is done before we list.”
Val Pidgeon360 Biz Brokers · Senior Broker
One free download · No commitment
Know where you stand,
before a buyer does.
Twelve pages. Sixty checks. The most thorough free readiness review for Main Street owners thinking about selling in the next two years.
Get the checklist