Start With the Price, Then Decide
Owners come to us for different reasons. Some are close to retirement. A partner may want out. Others took a call from a buyer and could not tell whether the offer was fair.
All of them need the same first fact, which is what the company is worth to an outside buyer. Aim too high and the listing sits. Aim too low and the buyer keeps the difference.
A broker who sells East Bay companies can give you a realistic range and show you what moves it up or down.
What Buyers Pay For
Buyers pay for profit they can prove. Revenue gets attention, but price follows earnings, and a company with seven million in sales can still sell for far less than that figure suggests.
When the owner works in the business every day, brokers usually measure seller's discretionary earnings, often called SDE. That is the profit one working owner could take home, with pay, insurance and perks counted.
Bigger companies with managers in place are priced on EBITDA, which treats a fair salary for every role, the owner's included, as a real cost.
Most Main Street and lower middle market companies change hands at roughly two to three times cash flow. Where yours lands depends on risk: how much rests on you, how spread out the customers are and how clean the books look.
Our owner benefit and SDE explainer shows how those earnings get rebuilt.
The East Bay Economy Decides Who Buys
Oakland has a working port, a food and drink scene that spreads from Jack London Square to Temescal, and a lot of contractors, mechanics and light manufacturers. Neighboring cities add labs, warehouses and professional offices.
That mix points a broker toward the right buyers. A trucking firm may attract a larger fleet. A restaurant often sells to an operator already running one nearby.
The trades we place pages cover what buyers check first in each line of work.
Signs You May Be Ready
- Your yearly sales run about a million dollars or more
- Your tax returns and your books tell the same story
- The company keeps running when you take a week off
- No single customer supplies a big share of your sales
- Your lease has years left and a clear path to assignment
If a few of those are missing, that is useful to know early. A broker can tell you which gaps cost real money and which ones buyers shrug off.
How Long a Sale Takes
Plan on seven to nine months from signing with a broker to closing. Six months is quick. Owners often feel the process crawls even when it is moving at a normal pace.
Keep the company performing the whole way through. A dip makes buyers nervous, and a sudden spike right before listing makes them suspicious. Steady results sell best.
Paperwork California Adds
A sale in California brings state and city steps that a buyer or an attorney will ask about, from sales tax clearance to closing an unemployment account. We cover each one on the California exit forms pages.
Your Details Stay Private
We send your answers to one brokerage partner, which may pay us a referral fee. Nothing about your company is shown to buyers without your say, and the call carries no commitment.