"I think we're worth 5x. Maybe 6x?"
The number came from a podcast, a peer, or a broker's cold email. Nobody has looked at your actual books the way a buyer will.
Exit Readiness Assessment
You only get to sell your agency once.
Find out what your agency is worth today, what a buyer will discount, and what it would take to sell at a premium. Before you take a single buyer call.
For founders of $1M to $20M agencies thinking about selling in the next one to three years.
$20M → $200M+
Revenue growth Corey helped lead as CMO at Scorpion.
Former CMO, Scorpion ($20M to $200M+)
Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®)
Author, Anyone, Not Everyone
The problem
Most agency owners learn what their agency is worth from the buyer.
You've built something real. Maybe you're getting inbound interest. Maybe you're tired. Maybe you just know the next few years are your window.
But when you picture the sale, the details get fuzzy. Here's what I hear from founders at this stage:
"The agency runs fine. Mostly."
Then you look closer. The biggest clients call you. New business closes when you're in the room. A buyer isn't paying for your calendar, and they'll discount every dollar that depends on you.
"Our top client is a big chunk of revenue."
One or two accounts carry the agency. To a buyer, that's not a strength. It's a risk they'll price in.
"Our financials are... fine."
Your P&L is built to lower your tax bill, not to show what the agency really earns. Buyers notice.
"I'll figure out what's next after the deal."
Founders without a plan for life after the sale are the ones who get cold feet halfway through diligence.
"My partner and I are on the same page."
Until you each say your number out loud.
None of this means you can't sell. It means you'll sell on the buyer's terms, at the buyer's number.
According to the Exit Planning Institute, most businesses that go to market never sell. The ones that do sell well rarely got there by accident.
The solution
See your agency the way a buyer will. Before a buyer does.
The Exit Readiness Assessment is a four to six week diagnostic for agency founders and owners who are thinking about selling. I look at your agency the way a buyer would: your real earnings, your risks, and your readiness. Then I show you exactly what's holding your value down and what it would take to fix it.
What you walk away with
Your real number
Your earnings recast the way a buyer will look at them, not the number on your tax return.
Your value range today
Where your agency likely lands in the market right now, and why.
Your three gaps
The distance between where you are and where you could be.
- The profit you're leaving on the table every year.
- The distance between today's value and best-in-class value.
- The gap between what you have and what you need for life after the sale.
Your best-in-class value
What agencies like yours are worth when they're built to sell.
Your readiness scorecard
How you score on what buyers pay a premium for: client concentration, recurring revenue, founder dependence, leadership, systems, and your own personal readiness.
A prioritized plan
The handful of moves that will raise your value the most, in the order to make them.
A clear decision
Grow and build value, prepare to sell, or sell now. With the numbers to back it up.
It starts with a 30-minute conversation. No commitment.
Schedule a Strategy CallHow it works
Four to six weeks. About eight hours of your time.
Strategy call
A 30-minute conversation about your timeline, your number, and whether an assessment makes sense right now.
Kickoff and data
We talk about what you want from a sale and life after it. You send three to five years of financials plus basic client and team data. Missing pieces are useful information too.
Your real number
I work through your financials with your CPA to rebuild your earnings the way a buyer will see them, and benchmark you against peer agencies.
Confidential interviews
One-on-one with each owner. Partners are interviewed separately, because the best insight is often where you see the agency differently.
The results session
We walk through your value range, your gaps, and your plan. You leave knowing your options and what to do in the next 90 days.
Who it's for
Built for founders with a window, not a fire sale.
This is a fit if
- Your agency does roughly $1M to $20M in revenue.
- You're thinking about selling in the next one to three years, or you're getting buyer interest and want to know where you stand.
- The agency still leans on you more than you'd like a buyer to see.
- You have partners, and you want everyone working from the same numbers.
This isn't a fit if
- You need a certified valuation for a tax, legal, or estate filing. That's a job for a credentialed appraiser, and I'm happy to point you to one.
- You want a broker to list the agency next month.
- You're not open to hearing what a buyer will actually think.
About Corey
Why founders work with me on this.
I've spent more than two decades inside agencies. As CMO at Scorpion, I helped scale it from $20M to over $200M in revenue. Today I advise founder-led agencies, hold board advisory seats, and own equity in agencies I work with. So I think about value the way an owner does, because I am one.
I started my career as a financial advisor. That's why I don't stop at the agency's number. I want to know whether the number funds the life you want after the sale.
I'm a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®), trained in the Exit Planning Institute's Value Acceleration Methodology. My job is to be in your corner before a buyer is in the room.
20+
years inside agencies
10x
growth at Scorpion
CEPA®
certified exit planner
FAQ
Straight answers.
Have a question that isn't here? Ask it on the strategy call.
Not a formal one. You get a strategic value range based on your real earnings and how agencies like yours trade. It's built for making decisions, not for court or the IRS. If you need a certified valuation, I'll help you find the right appraiser.
Find out where you stand before a buyer tells you.
Book a 30-minute strategy call. We'll talk about your timeline, the number you need, and whether an Exit Readiness Assessment is the right next step.
No pitch deck. No pressure. Just a straight conversation about your agency.
Schedule a Strategy CallConfidential. For founders of $1M to $20M agencies.