We want to move our business from a standard industry valuation multiple to a premium strategic multiple, but we do not know what structural changes will move the needle most. How do we frame our Thinking Time questions to evaluate whether we should spend our capital on geographic expansion or vertical integration to maximize our valuation multiple before we go to market?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To shift your business from a standard industry valuation multiple to a premium strategic multiple, you must identify and eliminate the specific operational bottlenecks that suppress your company's value. You can achieve this by dedicating uninterrupted thinking time to formulate and answer high-value strategic questions. Rather than asking generic questions, frame your thinking time session around a specific challenge.

Ask yourself: How might we restructure our operational delivery so that we can double our profit margins without increasing our headcount? This framing forces you to look closely at your technology and internal systems. For example, look at where your team spends the most manual effort. If your high-value employees are wasting hours transferring data between systems, you are paying a high labor premium that reduces your overall value.

Consider how you can use automated workflows and basic artificial intelligence systems to handle these routine administrative tasks. Automating these workflows directly increases your EBITDA margins and proves to a buyer that your business is highly scalable.

Use another thinking time session to ask: How might we package our services so that a buyer views our business as an essential technology-enabled platform rather than a commoditized service provider? By systematically addressing these questions, you will identify the high-leverage changes needed to command a premium valuation.