Journal · Sell-Side
Twelve Months to Market: A Seller Readiness Calendar
The year before a process is where multiples are made. A month-by-month desk calendar for owners who refuse to improvise.
Kevin ROCK Reiss · · 1 min read
If you want to be on the market next autumn, the work starts this autumn. Not with a listing. With the boring files that make a CIM honest.
Months 12–9: books, entity, and the bench
- Reviewed or audited financials, not a shoe box.
- Add-back ledger started now, with invoices behind it.
- A manager who can run a week without the founder.
- Personal and corporate spending finally divorced.
Months 8–5: concentration and contracts
Renew the top leases. Write down what is handshake. Diversify if one account is the company. Buyers pay for transferability. Handshake empires do not transfer.
Months 4–1: thesis, teaser, and the list
This is when Business Broker Group writes the teaser, the CIM outline, and the buyer universe. You will hate some of the questions. Those questions are cheaper now than in a quality-of-earnings call.
Owners who skip this calendar still sell. They sell for less, slower, and with more regret. The desk would rather meet you at month twelve than at month panic.
