Where can I get a confidential Dallas business valuation?

By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · September 2026 · 819 words

You can get a confidential Dallas business valuation from an M&A advisor that reviews your financials privately, contacts no one else, and gives you an opinion of value without starting a sale. MDR & Associates, the DFW firm based in Frisco, offers a free, confidential discovery meeting and opinion of value, and a free online valuation snapshot for a first range. Owners want a valuation kept quiet for good reasons: a partner may not know yet, employees may worry, and a lender or competitor who hears about it may start treating you differently.

This answer explains exactly who learns what when you ask for a valuation, and how to keep it that way.

Who has to know

Almost no one. A confidential valuation involves you, the advisor, and possibly your outside CPA if you want help pulling records. Your employees, in-house bookkeeper, bank, landlord and customers do not need to know. Nothing about a valuation requires contacting buyers, and nothing is marketed.

A valuation is a private opinion, not the start of a sale. You decide later, or never, whether to sell. If you co-own the company, decide with your co-owners before you begin whether all of you will be involved; a valuation discovered by a partner who was not told can do more damage than any leak outside the company.

How to gather records without raising questions

The documents an advisor needs are ones you can usually get yourself. A few simple habits keep the request from becoming office news.

• Download three years of tax returns and year-end financial statements yourself, or ask your outside CPA.
• Pull the current year's profit and loss statement from your accounting software under your own login.
• Use a personal email address and phone for everything related to the valuation.
• If your bookkeeper has to help, describe it truthfully as a planning review with your CPA, which it is.
• Meet the advisor away from your office: at their office, by video, or somewhere private.

What happens to your numbers

Ask any valuation provider, including us, three questions: who at the firm will see your financials, whether the firm will sign a confidentiality agreement with you, and what happens to your documents if you decide not to go further. The answers should be short and specific. Hesitation on any of them is worth noting.

You should also know whether you are getting a free opinion of value or a paid, formal valuation report. A formal third-party valuation, used for partner buyouts, estate planning or lender requirements, is a separate service described on our business valuation page. It may involve more people and a written report, which is right for its purpose but not necessary if you only want to know what buyers would pay.

What you get back

A useful valuation gives you a low-to-high range, not a single flattering number, with an explanation of what drives it. The core is adjusted EBITDA: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, recast to add back the owner's personal expenses, above-market pay and one-time costs. That figure is multiplied by a market multiple.

For companies with $3 million to $100 million in revenue, MDR most often sees three to seven times adjusted EBITDA. Where yours sits depends on growth, margins, customer concentration and how much the company depends on you. It should also tell you what the range assumes, such as your own salary being replaced by a market-rate manager, so you can see how the number was built. The fuller explanation is in what is my business worth.

Signs a valuation is less confidential than it looks

Some offers of a free valuation are really the first step of a listing pitch. A trustworthy valuation should feel like a private conversation, not a sales process. Be cautious if you see any of these.

• The provider wants to call your customers or suppliers to verify figures.
• You are asked to sign a listing or exclusive agreement to receive the number.
• Reports are sent to your general company email or mailed to the office.
• The provider asks to tour the business during working hours with staff present.
• No one can tell you who else at the firm will see your files.

How MDR & Associates keeps it private

We have valued and sold Texas companies since 2008, with more than 250 closed transactions, so the range we give reflects what buyers actually pay. A valuation with us does not start a sale: no buyer is contacted unless you later sign an engagement letter to sell. If you do, buyers see only a blind profile until they sign a confidentiality agreement and prove they can fund the purchase.

We are based in Frisco and meet Dallas owners at our office, by video or somewhere discreet; see the Dallas page and the Dallas contact page. The quietest first step is the valuation snapshot, which you can complete from home.

Where this fitsDallas business brokers and M&A advisors →