You’ve sold your agency. Now what?

July 16, 2025

Filed under: Uncategorized — herringbone @ 1:48 pm

One of the most exciting paths for agency owners after an exit?

👉 Staying on to help scale what you’ve built.

More and more buyers today don’t want to just buy your business and show you the door. They want to partner with you—to add fuel to what you’ve started.

Here’s what that can look like:

🚀 Bigger growth goals

You get access to capital, resources, systems, and expertise that let you finally chase the ideas that were on your “someday” list.

👥 Expanded team and capabilities

You can offer more to your clients and more career opportunities to your team—without carrying all the risk alone.

đź’° Second bite of the apple

If you rolled equity, you’re not just helping the agency grow—you’re building toward a second payday that could be bigger than the first.

⚖️ More support, less stress

You don’t have to worry about payroll, legal, or back-office. You can focus on what you love doing—whether it’s sales, strategy, client relationships, or vision.

Selling your agency doesn’t have to be the end.

For many, it’s just the beginning of a much more rewarding next chapter—with a bigger team, bigger goals, and a partner who believes in your vision.

If you’re considering selling but don’t want to walk away, there are options.

Lots of them.

Contact me if you’d like to know more.

What is a Quality of Earnings report (or QoE)?

July 7, 2025

Filed under: Uncategorized — herringbone @ 9:25 pm

If you are thinking about selling your agency, you need to understand the role played by a Quality of Earnings report. First, what is it?

Typically a QoE is a report that is commissioned by the buyer. The report is prepared by an outside accounting firm, oftentimes ones that specialize in preparing these reports. The reason for this is because smart buyers don’t pay for revenue—they pay for reliable, sustainable profit.

đź’Ą That will hold up when scrutinized by other investors đź’Ą

This is the key for a seller. More often than not, the QoE will adjust EBITDA. Sometimes it’s up, sometimes it’s down. To be clear, the buyers are not trying to screw the seller over, using the downward adjusted EBITDA to justify a lower price.

The QoE is simply adjusting the EBITDA to ensure that it is fair, accurate and in accordance with GAAP because that’s the standard to which the buyer will be subjected to. And those standards are typically higher than what the seller has been using when managing their business.

So, if you are a seller:

1) Recognize and accept that a QoE is going to be inevitable. Buyers are unlikely to transact without one (unless the acquisition is very, very small)

2) Be prepared for EBITDA to be adjusted. It might be the same, it might even go up. But mentally prepare for it to go down.

If you have questions about QoE, feel free to reach out to us.