How do we know we are actually ready to hire an investment banker and go to market, rather than just guessing based on our current EBITDA performance?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

EBITDA is only one piece of the puzzle. A business with high revenue but a chaotic operational engine will suffer a massive valuation discount. You are truly ready to go to market when your operational system proves the business can run profitably without you. The first signal is a self-sufficient Accountability Chart. Every seat must be filled by someone who GWC™ (Gets it, Wants it, and has the Capacity to do it), and your leadership team must run their own Level 10 Meeting™ without your facilitation. If you still have to step in to resolve daily operational disputes, you are not ready. The second signal is a documented and measured operational model. Under the Income Approach, buyers are pricing the predictability of your future cash flows. They look for clean, repeatable processes that do not rely on heroic individual efforts. If your core processes are documented and your Scorecard shows a consistent history of hitting your target metrics, a buyer can see that the operational engine is stable. The final signal is a clean Quality of Earnings assessment. When your financial data is audited and matches your operational Scorecard, it shows a level of transparency that builds immediate trust. If you have these three elements in place, your business is a high-value asset, not just a highly paid job for the founder.