Map the jobs, not just the salary
List the owner’s responsibilities: winning work, delivering projects, managing staff, negotiating suppliers and controlling key systems. Identify which duties could transfer to the existing team and which may need additional resources. Removing an owner’s pay from an earnings calculation without considering replacement work can leave the analysis incomplete.
Show what the business can sustain
Evidence might include recurring contracts, documented processes, delegated responsibilities and customer relationships held across the team. Be clear about the difference between arrangements already operating and improvements planned for the future. A valuation should not quietly treat an intended handover as completed.
Test a handover scenario
Illustration only: a founder currently handles sales and delivery, while the proposed plan adds a senior employee and reduces the founder’s role over time. Prepare a schedule showing the additional cost, timing and assumptions about customer retention. The point is to make the change reviewable; it is not to claim that one staffing plan produces a particular valuation uplift.
Connect preparation to the brief
An owner asking “what is my business worth?” may need an initial view and a separate plan for improving information before sale. Agree which deliverable is being commissioned. Neither a preparation plan nor a valuation guarantees a buyer’s offer. The eventual transaction will also reflect its terms, evidence and negotiation.
Prepare for the conversation
- List the owner’s actual responsibilities.
- Distinguish existing continuity from planned improvements.
- Include replacement resources in the financial discussion.
General preparation guidance, not a valuation opinion or legal or tax advice. Any assignment is subject to an agreed scope, suitability and intended-use review. Examples are illustrative, not client cases.