How to Maximize Your Business Exit
Rob Snowden, ASA, ABV, South Park Advisors

You have a number in your head… what your business is worth.

Where did that number come from?

• A competitor’s sale?
• A rule of thumb?
• Something you read once?
• A guess?

Here’s the problem: that number might be costing you. A LOT.

Rob Snowden has valued over 2,000 businesses in his career. And one of the most common things he sees is a business owner locked in on a number that has no basis in reality. Sometimes it’s too high — and they turn down fair offers waiting for a buyer who never comes. Sometimes it’s too low, and they leave millions on the table because they didn’t understand what drove their value.

Either way, the guess costs them.

Here’s what most owners don’t realize: your business doesn’t have one value. It has different values depending on who’s buying and why.

A financial buyer pays one price.

A strategic buyer — someone who sees synergies, wants your systems, your people, your market position — might pay dramatically more. But you can’t position for that if you don’t know what you’re actually working with.

That’s where a real valuation comes in. Not a calculator. Not a guess. A professional assessment of what your business is worth, why, and what you can do to increase it before you exit.

Rob is returning to Charting Opportunities on August 12th, joined by William and John, to walk through not just what your business is worth — but how to plan for what comes after the sale.

This isn’t a lecture. It’s a conversation to help you maximize your business exit.

Come ready to ask. Rob has valued over 2,000 businesses. There’s not much he hasn’t seen.

On August 12th, we’ll discuss:

• The Number in Your Head: Where most owners get their valuation wrong before they ever talk to a buyer — and why anchoring to the wrong number is the most expensive mistake you can make.
• The Right Questions: The five questions that separate owners who maximize their exit from the ones who leave money on the table — including whether your business can actually run without you.
• The Valuation Trap: Why online calculators can swing a valuation by $7, $8, even $10 million on the same business — and what a credentialed appraiser sees that a calculator never will.
• What’s on Your Books: Non-operating assets, discretionary expenses, inflated officer compensation, and the family member on payroll who stopped showing up. What needs to come off before you exit… and why.
• The Full Picture: The valuation, the sale, the proceeds, and the life after. What to do with what you’ve built — and how Portus fits into the plan.

If you’ve ever wondered what your business is really worth — and what you can do to make it worth more — this is the one to attend.

Who Should Watch This?

This session is essential for any business owner who is:

• Carrying a number in their head that they’ve never had professionally validated.
• 2 to 5 years from an exit and hasn’t started preparing the business for sale.
• Wondering whether a financial buyer or strategic buyer is the right target, and what the difference means for their final number.
• Concerned about what happens after the sale — financially and personally.