70% of her revenue was tied to one person. The buyer walked away.

I sat across the table from a founder a few months ago. Seven-figure business, great team, 25 years of graft. Within 20 minutes of looking under the hood, I had to tell her the business was essentially worthless to a buyer. Not because the numbers were bad — because she was the business.

When the buyer dug into due diligence, they discovered 75% of the revenue was tied to her personal relationships. The deal collapsed. And the worst part? She had no idea — because she'd been telling herself the same five lies I hear from almost every founder I work with.

In this episode I break down all five, using real examples from my advisory work. I walk through the founder revenue test, the 90-day vanish test, and why your expertise might actually be your biggest liability when a buyer comes knocking.

I also share why the founders who build truly sellable businesses always tell me the same thing afterwards — "I wish I'd done this five years ago." Not because they wanted to sell sooner, but because the business became so much better the moment they stopped being the bottleneck.

If even one of these lies sounds familiar, you've got work to do before you go anywhere near an exit.

Take my free Exit Readiness Assessment — it takes two minutes and shows you exactly where the gaps are: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com

Enjoyed today’s episode? Leave a review over on Apple or Spotify.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-business-strategist-with-adam-strong/id1518654325

https://open.spotify.com/show/4vKVMmsZ4MwVooQOlEAzrd

ABOUT THE HOST
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamistrong
Website: ⁠https://adamstrong.net⁠

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/adamstrong