Let’s be honest — most agency owners don’t start their business because they love bookkeeping. Numbers feel like a back-office chore, something you review once a year at tax time.

But here’s the truth: to a buyer, your financials are the foundation of the business. 

When a buyer looks at your numbers, they aren’t just trying to calculate revenue or profit. They’re asking:

• Can I rely on this?
  
• Is this a business I can confidently invest millions of dollars into?
  
• Or are there hidden risks lurking beneath the surface?
  

Here’s the difference clean financials make:

• Speed: Organized books speed up due diligence, reducing months of painful back-and-forth.
  
• Credibility: Well-prepared financials signal professionalism and reduce the likelihood of price cuts.
  
• Trust: Buyers see you as a lower-risk seller, which makes them more comfortable offering stronger terms.
  

I’ve seen deals completely collapse because numbers couldn’t be tied out. On the flip side, I’ve seen sellers fly through diligence in record time because every invoice, contract, and P&L tied perfectly. 

This level of transparency is especially important if you are claiming EBITDA add-backs (pro-tip: add-backs listed out in an obviously hastily prepared google sheet is going to raise more questions than it answers. The more credible the underlying data is to support an add-back, the more likely that a buyer will accept it). 

And here’s a little secret: buyers value clarity almost as much as they value performance. If you can clearly show where your revenue comes from, how margins are structured, and how expenses flow, it tells a buyer you truly understand your business. That alone makes you more attractive.

So if you’re even thinking about selling in the next few years, start here:

• Clean up your books.
  
• Move beyond tax-only accounting to management-level reporting.
  
• Work with a CPA or advisor who knows how to prepare financials for an acquisition.
  

Remember: sloppy books don’t just slow things down. They cost you money.

Contact us if you’re and agency owner and have considered selling or joining something bigger.

One of the first questions agency owners ask me is: “How do I know if I’m ready to sell?”

It’s a fair question — but the answer isn’t always as simple as revenue or profit. Readiness is about much more than the numbers.
Here are some of the key questions I encourage owners to ask themselves:

Do you have clean, accurate financials? Buyers will want to see at least 3 years of P&Ls, balance sheets, and tax returns. If your books aren’t buttoned up, it’s an immediate red flag.

Does your agency run without you? If the business collapses the moment you step back, that’s a big problem. Buyers want to know they’re buying an agency, not just buying you.

Are your revenues stable (or better, growing)? Even modest growth builds confidence. Flat or declining revenues can still sell, but often at a discount.

Do you have clear answers for “what’s next?” Do you want to walk away, stay and scale, or roll equity? A buyer will ask — and you should know before the process begins
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What’s your number?  Do you have a number at which you would want to transact at? And do you know whether that number is reasonable or not? Buyers can get turned off by sellers who don’t really know what their agency is worth.

If you can answer “yes” to most of these, you’re closer to being “sale-ready” than you think.

Some owners start preparing 2–3 years in advance: cleaning up their books, tightening client contracts, building a stronger leadership team, even just documenting processes that only live in their head. All of these steps make the eventual deal smoother, faster, and more valuable.

So my advice is simple: don’t wait until you’re ready to sell to start preparing. The earlier you act, the more control you’ll have when opportunity knocks.

👉 If a buyer called you tomorrow with real interest, would you be excited to listen — or scrambling to get your house in order?

Contact us if you’re and agency owner and have considered selling or joining something bigger.

In the previous post, we talked about some of the items that can lead to higher (or lower) multiples. In this post, I wanted to dive a little deeper into 3 that really matter. .

I call it the Triangle of Value.

1. Retention – are your clients sticking around? High churn kills value. Delivering results, sticky services, and satisfied customers create recurring revenue. What’s good? Good agencies will have ~75% gross revenue retention. This means, for any given cohort of customers, at least 75% of them are still around 1 year later.
   
2. Growth – is your revenue moving up and to the right? Flat revenue is definitely a worrying sign for a buyer. Aim for growth around 15-20%, but make sure that it’s good quality growth that does not negatively impact retention.
   
3. Profitability – are you generating sustainable margins? Buyers don’t just want growth, they want efficient growth. For agencies that have predominantly US-based employees, strive for margins of 20-25%; if your agency outsources work to a low-labor cost country, those margins could push into the 30%-ish range.
   

Why does this triangle matter? Because together, these three create predictable cashflow. And predictable cashflow is the holy grail in M&A.

I’ve seen agencies with $10M in revenue but shaky retention get discounted heavily. I’ve also seen $5M agencies with strong retention and profitability get bought for premium multiples.

The takeaway: you can’t ignore any corner of the triangle. Growth without profitability isn’t sustainable. Retention without growth gets stale. Profitability without retention is fragile.

Contact us if you’re and agency owner and have considered selling or joining something bigger.