1:13
Michael D. Rubin
Your Next Season
The founder on his experience, and on how a sale with MDR is actually run.
Before you go to market
Prepare the business, and its value, before buyers ever see it
Some companies are simply not ready to bring to market. Finding that out from a buyer, during due diligence, is the most expensive way to learn it.
12–24 months out
This is the window that decides the multiple
Everything that raises the number has to be true for two or three years before a buyer looks. Starting now is worth more than any negotiation later.
Ask what to fix first →or call (855) 637-2776
5.0 from 43 Google reviewsMDR & Associates runs a consulting division that works with owners in the twelve to twenty-four months before a sale. The purpose is narrow: raise the number a buyer will pay, and remove the reasons a buyer would later reduce it.
Most of what decides a multiple is not the market. It is whether the financials reconcile, whether the revenue repeats, whether the key people stay, and whether the company can run without the owner in it. All four can be changed with enough notice — and almost none of them can be changed once a letter of intent is signed.
What increases business value
| Factor | What a buyer sees |
|---|---|
| Organized, up-to-date financials | A clean line from invoice to general ledger to financial statements to tax return. Owner perks need a provable paper trail, or a buyer discounts them to zero. |
| Sales that grow year over year | Even 5% a year tells a completely different story than a flat or falling line. Lenders and buyers both react to the direction, not just the level. |
| Key people who stay | Buyers pay for continuity. Employees who know the operation, the products and the customers are part of what is being bought. |
| Recurring and contracted revenue | Revenue a buyer can count on next year is worth more than the same revenue won again from scratch. |
| A business that runs without you | The single largest discount we see applied is owner dependence. Reducing it is the highest-return work available before a sale. |
What decreases business value
| Factor | What a buyer does about it |
|---|---|
| Customer concentration | When one customer is a large share of revenue, a buyer prices the risk that the customer leaves with you. |
| Deferred maintenance and old equipment | Capital the buyer has to spend on day one comes off the price. |
| Financial records that do not reconcile | Anything that cannot be tied back to a tax return is treated as if it does not exist. |
| Falling or erratic earnings | A sale into a decline is read as a liquidation, and priced like one. |
| Leases, licenses and contracts that do not transfer | Anything that has to be renegotiated after closing is a reason to retrade the price. |
How an engagement runs
What the work looks like
01
Assessment
We look at the company the way a buyer's diligence team will, and produce a list of what would be found and what it would cost you.
02
The plan
A ranked set of changes with the value each is worth, so you spend the twelve months on the four things that matter rather than forty that do not.
03
Execution alongside you
Financial clean-up, management depth, customer concentration, contracts and documentation — worked through with your team, not written in a report and handed over.
04
Going to market
When the company is ready, the sell-side process begins from a stronger position and a defensible number.
Related
Proof, on camera
The people this actually happened to
Owners and advisors on film, by name, saying what the process was like.
Recent transactions
Companies we have taken to closing
Published by name, with the month each one closed. Very few firms in this industry do that.
Elite Landscape
August 2026The sale and the film
Edward M. Polk Associates
May 2026
Pest Control Business
April 2026
Smith Tool & Mfg.
January 2026The sale and the film
Alliance Mechanical Services
January 2026The sale and the film
North Texas Surveying
October 2025The sale and the film
Party Time Texas
February 2025
U-Fix-It Appliance Parts
August 2024The sale and the film
Apple Garage Doors
July 2024
Bohden Contracting Group
June 2024
Blooms Landcare
May 2024
Peterson's Landscape & Maintenance
January 2024The sale and the film
No cost, no obligation
Start with a conversation, not a commitment
Three short steps, and only the last one is required. The questions before it are what let an advisor come back with a real answer instead of a call asking for one.
Or call (855) 637-2776 and speak to somebody who has sold companies.
- A reply the same business day
- Confidential — nothing reaches your employees, customers or competitors
- No obligation to list, engage or continue