How valuation works
General education on multiples and methods. We never value your deal.
- Small business valuation: how it works, in plain EnglishHow small business valuation works: earnings multiples, the income, market and asset approaches, what moves a multiple, and who does formal valuations.
- EBITDA multiple valuation: how it works, with the arithmeticHow EBITDA multiple valuation works: enterprise value vs equity value, debt-free cash-free deals, worked arithmetic, and when small businesses use EBITDA.
- How to value a business you want to buy: the buyer's lensHow buyers think about value: verified earnings, what you can afford to pay given financing, the return on your cash, and when to get a formal valuation.
- Multiple of revenue valuation: when it works and when it misleadsWhen businesses are valued on a multiple of revenue, why it suits recurring-revenue businesses, and why it misleads buyers of low-margin businesses.
- SDE multiplier: what moves the multiple on a small businessHow an SDE multiple works, the factors that push it up or down, a scorecard to judge a listing, and why verified SDE matters most.
- Small business valuation methods: what each one is good forThe main small business valuation methods (SDE and EBITDA multiples, capitalization of earnings, DCF, asset-based, rules of thumb) and when each fits.
- Valuation multiples by industry: what actually moves themWhy business valuation multiples differ by industry, what matters more than industry, where reliable comparable data comes from, and the factors by sector.
- Valuing goodwill in a small business: what you're really paying forWhat goodwill is in a small business sale, personal vs enterprise goodwill, why personal goodwill can walk out the door, and how buyers protect it.