Dallas–Fort Worth · Exit planning
Who can help me prepare my Dallas company for sale over the next 12 months?
A practical twelve-month plan to prepare a Dallas company for sale, the fixes that matter most, and what to avoid.
By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · September 2026 · 907 words
A sell-side M&A advisor that offers pre-exit consulting can help you prepare your Dallas company for sale over the next 12 months, working with your CPA and transaction attorney on the pieces that are theirs. MDR & Associates, a DFW firm based in Frisco, provides pre-exit consulting for the 12 to 24 months before a sale.
Twelve months is enough time to fix most of what lowers a price: messy records, owner dependence, loose contracts and surprises buyers would otherwise find on their own. Here is a practical plan and what each step does for value.
Why a year of preparation pays
Buyers pay for earnings they believe will continue, and they discount anything uncertain. For companies with $3 million to $100 million in revenue, MDR most often sees values of three to seven times adjusted EBITDA, which is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, recast to add back owner-specific and one-time costs.
Preparation works on both parts of that equation. It makes earnings cleaner and easier to believe, and it removes the risks that push the multiple down. It also shortens the sale itself, because buyers who get clear answers quickly keep moving. And it gives you time to decide what you want from the sale: the price you need, when you want to leave, and what role, if any, you want afterward.
Who does what during the year
Preparation is a team effort. Your advisor sets priorities based on what buyers in your industry pay for, and keeps the checklist moving. Your CPA cleans up the books, prepares statements that reconcile, and explains how different sale structures would affect your taxes. Your transaction attorney reviews corporate records, contracts and leases, and fixes anything that would block a transfer to a new owner. Your managers take on the responsibilities you are handing over.
Your own job is to make decisions quickly and keep the company growing. Owners who treat the year as a project, with a monthly check-in and a short list of open items, usually reach the sale with far fewer surprises.
A twelve-month plan
The months overlap on purpose; several workstreams run at once. Treat this as a starting framework that your advisor adjusts to your company. If you have more than twelve months, spread the work out; if you have less, the first three rows still matter most. Keep a simple tracker of open items so you and your advisor can see progress each month.
| Months | Focus | What gets done |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Baseline | Opinion of value, list of weaknesses, goals for price, timing and your role after the sale |
| 2-4 | Financial records | Monthly statements that reconcile to tax returns; personal expenses removed; add-backs documented |
| 3-6 | Owner dependence | Customer relationships, pricing and approvals delegated; a second in command named |
| 4-8 | Contracts and risk | Written agreements with key customers and suppliers; leases, licenses and permits current; disputes settled |
| 6-10 | Results | Steady performance; pricing fixed where it lags; no large unusual expenses |
| 9-12 | Ready for market | Recast finalized, marketing package drafted, documents organized, attorney lined up |
The fixes that usually matter most
Every company has its own list, but these five come up in almost every preparation. Most of them cost more time than money, which is why starting now matters more than starting perfectly. A longer checklist is in how to prepare your business for sale.
- Records that reconcile. If your books and your tax returns tell different stories, buyers assume the worse one.
- Documented add-backs. Every adjustment to EBITDA needs a receipt, an invoice or a clear explanation.
- Customer concentration. If one customer is a large share of revenue, even modest new accounts help.
- A second layer of management. A buyer wants to know who runs the company the day after you leave.
- A clean legal house. Corporate records, clear ownership, and contracts that allow assignment to a new owner.
What not to do in the final year
Preparation can also go wrong. Due diligence, the buyer's detailed review after an offer is accepted, tends to find anything done for show, and the common late-stage problems are in what causes a sale to fall apart in due diligence. Avoid these.
- Cutting necessary spending just to inflate one year's profit; buyers see through it.
- Starting large, unrelated projects that will not pay off until after the sale.
- Telling employees, customers or suppliers that you plan to sell.
- Letting performance slide because your mind is already on the exit.
- Signing long new leases or contracts without thinking about how a buyer will read them.
How MDR & Associates prepares Dallas companies
Our pre-exit consulting is a separate, optional service with its own price; it is not tied to the sale. When the company is ready, the sale itself runs on our ten-step process and a 100 percent performance-based success fee. Since 2008 we have closed more than 250 transactions for owners of profitable Texas companies, and that experience shapes what we ask you to fix first. National and private equity buyers look for well-run Texas companies, and they reward exactly the kind of preparation described above. If twelve months turns out not to be enough, we will say so plainly, and the plan can extend into the 12 to 24 month window our consulting covers.
We work from Frisco and meet Dallas owners where it suits them; see the Dallas page and the Dallas contact page. A first step that costs nothing is the valuation snapshot.
Where this fitsDallas business brokers and M&A advisors →