Preparing for Exit or Succession
Build the multiple before you go to market.
Buyers and successors invest in the team as much as the business. Whether you’re planning a sale, a recapitalization or a handoff to the next generation, the strength of your leadership team will shape the price, the terms and your legacy. Martin Growth Leaders helps owners and CEOs build that strength while there’s still time to act.
What we hear from owners at this stage
- “If I stepped away for three months, I honestly don’t know what would happen.”
- “We’re a few years from a sale, and I’m not sure this team will hold up in diligence.”
- “I’m ready to hand this off, but no one is ready to take it.”
- “My partners and I don’t agree on who should lead the firm next.”
The less the business depends on you, the more it’s worth.
In diligence, buyers look past the numbers to the people who will deliver them. Founder dependency, a thin bench and key-person risk show up as a lower price, a longer earnout or tougher terms. In a succession, they show up as a difficult handoff.
Every one of these risks can be addressed before a buyer or successor sees it. We work directly with you and your leadership team to do it, using the same lens we bring to private equity due diligence.
Where we focus:
- An honest read, early: seeing your leadership team the way a buyer will, while there’s time to act.
- Founder dependency: shifting decisions, relationships and critical knowledge from you to the team.
- The bench: preparing successors and high-potential leaders for larger roles.
- Continuity: keeping the team aligned and committed through the uncertainty of a sale or transition.
Choose your next chapter on your terms.
A leadership team that can run the business without you is worth more to a buyer and easier to hand to a successor. It also gives you options: when to sell, how to structure the deal, and what role you want to keep.
Your team becomes a value driver in the deal, not a risk factor in the diligence. And what you built keeps thriving after you step back.
In Our Clients’ Words
Our work together has helped me assess my current team and new candidates for CEO, whom I expect to seize greater opportunities for the business.
“Craig has been a trusted advisor for me as both a founder/CEO and an investor. The work has allowed me to identify how to step out of my current business and hire a new CEO so I can deploy my strengths to a new opportunity where there is a big need and opportunity. Our work together has helped me assess my current team and new candidates for CEO, whom I expect to seize greater opportunities for the business. In the next phase ahead, the coaching will help me onboard the new CEO and develop a strategy for me to oversee the portfolio of businesses most effectively.”
Shaun Linderbaum
Founder, BraceAbility
Could your team lead the business without you?
If a sale or transition is on your horizon in the next few years, now is the time to start. Let’s talk about your plans and what would make your team ready.