Assess Your Exit Readiness Assessment
Plan Your Exit with Confidence.
Protect Your Legacy. Maximize Your Value.
Exit Planning Starts with Knowing Where Your Business Stands
Before you decide when to sell, understand what your business could be worth, who may buy it, and what financing and deal terms could mean for your exit.
Lion’s Market Readiness Assessment gives you a practical starting point for business exit planning. It combines a business valuation completed by a senior advisor with a buyer landscape analysis, preliminary financing feedback, and a consultation about your next steps.
A practical starting point
What Is Business Exit Planning
Why Evaluate Your Business Before Planning an Exit
Your desired sale price and retirement date are important goals. A buyer will also consider the earnings they can support, the team that stays, customer risk, and how the acquisition can be funded. Evaluating those factors early helps you see whether your expectations align with a realistic transaction.
Know what a potential sale could mean before you commit to one.
The Market Readiness Assessment
What your assessment includes
The assessment brings the main sale-readiness questions into one coordinated engagement. Your written scope identifies the included analysis, fee, and expected timing.
01
A Business Valuation Completed by a Senior Advisor
Understand a realistic market value range based on your business’s financial performance, supported earnings adjustments, relevant market factors, and material risks. The valuation gives you a basis for discussing potential sale expectations before choosing an asking price.
02
A Buyer Landscape Analysis
Understand the types of buyers most likely to fit your business, what they may prioritize, and how their approach could affect an offer. The analysis considers potential transaction terms, including cash at closing, seller financing, contingent payments, or retained ownership where relevant. Potential fit does not mean a buyer has expressed interest.
03
A Financing Feasibility Review
We coordinate an SBA lender pre-flight or conventional bank lending analysis, as appropriate to the potential transaction. Preliminary feedback explores possible acquisition borrowing capacity, likely conditions, and financing obstacles. It helps you understand how financing could shape the buyer pool and transaction structure.
Lender feedback is preliminary. Final approval depends on the specific buyer, transaction terms, and full lender underwriting.
04
A 60 Minute Advisor Consultation
Discuss the conclusions with the Lion advisor who would guide a potential listing. Consider whether to go to market now, address specific issues first, or change your timing. The valuation findings are also reviewed with the senior advisor.
For qualifying larger businesses
Quality of Earnings
A Quality of Earnings report is included for businesses reporting more than $15,000,000 in annual revenue, confirmed during assessment underwriting using the last completed fiscal year. Businesses reporting less than $15,000,000 receive a Broker Opinion of Value or a Advanced Broker Analysis and other assessment services without an included QoE report.
A QoE examines the financial support for earnings, revenue, cash flow, and working capital within its agreed scope. It complements the valuation; it does not determine business value. A separate QoE engagement is available when appropriate.
Your next exit decision
Useful before you’re ready. Useful now.
Your timing changes how you use the findings. Start with a current picture of the business, then decide where to focus.
If You Are Considering a Sale Soon
Compare your expectations with the estimated value range and likely terms. Identify issues that may affect financing, buyer confidence, or diligence before committing to a sale process. A business does not have to be perfect to sell; the important question is whether its risks and limitations can be understood and addressed in a realistic transaction.If You Plan to Sell Later
Use the findings to focus your preparation. Supported earnings, less owner dependence, transferable contracts, and a more durable customer base can matter for different reasons. Discuss which issues deserve attention in your business and which would require additional analysis. A current assessment is a baseline for planning, not a forecast of a future sale price.From evaluation to decision
How the assessment process works
Understand the scope, complete the engagement, and review the findings with the advisors responsible for the work.
01
Tell Us About Your Business and Goals
Share your company information, approximate annual revenue, expected timing, and the main decision you want help making. We explain the engagement scope, required records, fee, and process.
02
Sign the Engagement and Pay the Invoice
Review and sign the written engagement, then pay the QuickBooks invoice in full. Lion begins professional review and analysis only after full payment clears.
03
Provide Records for the Assessment
Your Lion advisor coordinates the information needed for the agreed analysis. Expect requests for historical tax returns and financial statements, current results, owner compensation, proposed adjustments, and relevant business records. Delivery timing depends on the agreed scope, complete records, and lender availability.04
Review the Findings and Choose Your Next Step
Receive the written assessment and discuss the conclusions with your advisors. You may decide to explore a listing, prepare specific areas before selling, or continue operating with clearer expectations. A listing requires a separate agreement; an assessment does not authorize marketing or buyer outreach.
If value is your main question
Explore standalone business valuations
A business valuation answers what your company could reasonably be worth. A Market Readiness Assessment adds buyer landscape and financing feasibility analysis to help you evaluate taking the business to market. If value is the main question you need answered, a standalone valuation may be the appropriate next step.
Broker Opinion of Value
An initial market value range supported by a three-year earnings recast, market context, and likely buyer categories.
Advanced Broker Analysis
A detailed preliminary valuation explaining normalized earnings, valuation methods, multiple factors, scenarios, sensitivities, and expected deal structure.
Strategic Market Valuation
A valuation with additional industry and M&A analysis, competitive positioning, a named potential-buyer map, and a quantified value-gap roadmap for owners evaluating a future exit.
Your broader exit plan
Connect business readiness with your personal goals
Business value is only one part of an exit plan. Debt, taxes, transaction expenses, deferred payments, and your future role affect what an exit means for you. Your assessment can inform discussions with your CPA, attorney, and wealth advisor. They address tax, legal, estate, and personal financial planning within their respective roles.
Lion’s assessment focuses on readiness for a potential third-party sale. Family succession, employee ownership, or other transfer strategies may require separate analysis and specialist advice.
Start with a confidential conversation
Request your Market Readiness Assessment
Tell us about your business and what you want to understand before your next move. We will explain the assessment scope, fee, and steps to begin. Requesting information does not put your business on the market.
Lion Business Advisors works with owners of privately held businesses across Texas and beyond, including founder-led companies in services, trades, manufacturing, and related industries.
Questions and answers
Before you plan your business exit
Understand the assessment, what it includes, and how it supports your next decision.
When should I start business exit planning?
Start when a future ownership transition becomes a meaningful consideration. Beginning before you need to sell gives you time to evaluate value and address issues that take more than a few months to change. If you are already considering a sale, an assessment can still help you make a better-informed decision now.
What is a Market Readiness Assessment?
Lion’s Market Readiness Assessment evaluates a business before a potential sale. It includes a business valuation completed by a senior advisor, buyer landscape analysis, preliminary financing feasibility review, and a 60-minute advisor consultation. A QoE report is also included for businesses reporting more than $15 million in annual revenue, confirmed during assessment underwriting using the last completed fiscal year.
How is an exit readiness assessment different from a valuation?
A valuation estimates what the business could be worth. An exit readiness assessment considers the practical context of a potential sale, including likely buyers, financing feasibility, and possible deal terms. Lion’s Market Readiness Assessment includes a senior-advisor valuation, so you do not need to purchase a separate valuation first.
Do I need to commit to selling my business?
No. You can use the assessment to explore your options and decide whether a sale makes sense. It does not authorize public marketing or buyer outreach. A listing with Lion requires a separate agreement and mutual agreement to proceed.
What if my business is not ready to sell?
The findings can help you distinguish issues that may be manageable in a transaction from issues worth addressing first. That may involve supporting earnings adjustments, clarifying contracts, reducing dependence on the owner, or resolving financing questions. Recommendations depend on the facts; an assessment does not require you to delay a sale.
Does the financing review approve my business for an SBA loan?
No. The review provides preliminary lender feedback about potential acquisition financing capacity and obstacles. It does not approve a loan or an unidentified buyer. Final decisions depend on the buyer, equity contribution, transaction terms, applicable lending requirements, and full underwriting. Conventional bank analysis may be more appropriate for some transactions.
Does every assessment include a Quality of Earnings report?
No. Every assessment includes a business valuation completed by a senior advisor. An included QoE report applies only when annual revenue is greater than $15,000,000, confirmed during assessment underwriting using the last completed fiscal year. At exactly $15,000,000 or below, QoE is not included. A separate QoE may be purchased when needed.
Will the assessment tell me how much cash I will receive?
It helps frame potential value and deal structures, but business value is not the same as cash at closing or net proceeds. Debt, working capital, seller financing, contingent payments, transaction expenses, and taxes can affect the amount and timing of what you receive. Your CPA and other advisors can help evaluate your personal outcome.
How much does a Market Readiness Assessment cost?
Lion provides the fee and written scope before you commit. The fee depends on the business and the analysis included. Full payment is required before professional review or work begins. The engagement defines the deliverables and payment terms.
Does the assessment fee apply if I later list with Lion?
If you and Lion sign a separate listing agreement within 90 calendar days after delivery of the completed written assessment, the separate initial listing engagement fee is waived under the assessment agreement. This does not waive the success fee or other agreed listing charges, and it does not obligate either party to enter a listing engagement.
Can I start with a free business valuation estimate?
Yes. Lion’s free calculator provides a directional estimate based on your inputs and general assumptions. It can help you begin exploring value, but it does not include an advisor-prepared valuation, buyer landscape analysis, or lender feedback. Request a Market Readiness Assessment when you want those questions evaluated together.
How do I get started with exit planning at Lion?
Request a Market Readiness Assessment and tell us about your company, approximate revenue, timing, and goals. We explain the scope, fee, and required information. Once the engagement is signed and full payment clears, we begin the professional review and coordinate the agreed analysis.
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