Business Advisory

The best time to start is well before you intend to exit — typically 3 to 10 years out. That lead time is what gives you the ability to build transferable value, diversify personal finances, and choose your exit path rather than having circumstances choose for you.

Owners who wait until they are ready to sell often find the business is worth less than expected, personal finances are unprepared, and the transaction process itself is stressful without a plan. Starting earlier expands every option.

Business valuation determines what your company is worth — and more importantly, what drives that value. Common methods include earnings multiples (EBITDA × industry multiple), discounted cash flow, and asset-based approaches. The right method depends on the business type, size, and intended use of the valuation.

Beyond the number, we focus on the value drivers: recurring revenue, owner dependency, customer concentration, team depth, proprietary processes, and market position. These are the levers you can actually move before a transaction.

We provide preliminary valuation guidance as part of the planning process. Formal certified valuations for transactions or legal purposes require an independent business appraiser — we can facilitate that referral.

There is no single right answer — it depends on your financial goals, timeline, what matters to you about the business legacy, and your family situation. The main paths are:

Third-party sale (M&A): Typically achieves the highest price from a strategic or financial buyer. Requires preparation and a competitive process.
Private equity recapitalization: Sell a majority stake, take liquidity now, and retain equity for a potential second event. Good for owners who want to stay involved and participate in future growth.
ESOP: Sell to employees through a qualified plan structure. Significant federal tax advantages, but requires planning lead time and structural complexity.
Family succession: Transfer to children or family members. Requires clarity on roles, fairness, estate planning, and often owner financing.
Management buyout: Sell to existing leadership. Often involves seller financing or earn-out structures that carry ongoing risk.

We model the financial outcomes of each path given your specific situation before you commit to any direction.

An M&A advisor or investment banker runs the transaction process: positioning the business, running a competitive auction, negotiating with buyers, and closing the deal. That work is essential — and we work alongside those professionals when the time comes.

Business advisory at Clexperus is what happens before and alongside the transaction. We are the personal financial and planning layer: ensuring your retirement is funded whether or not you sell, modeling which exit path fits your goals, aligning estate and tax strategy, and making sure your personal plan is ready for what comes after the close.

M&A advisors are paid at closing and focused on deal execution. We are paid as your ongoing advisory partner — responsible for the whole picture, not just the transaction.

A buy-sell agreement is a legally binding contract between business co-owners that governs what happens when a triggering event occurs — death, disability, divorce, a partner wanting to exit, or business distress. It specifies who can buy the departing owner’s interest, at what price, and how the transaction is funded.

Without one, a triggering event can result in an unexpected partner (an heir, a divorcing spouse, a creditor) or a prolonged dispute over value. A properly structured and funded buy-sell agreement is one of the most important protective documents a business with multiple owners can have.

We review existing agreements and identify gaps; your business attorney drafts and updates the documents.

An ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) is a qualified retirement plan that owns stock on behalf of employees. As a business owner, you sell some or all of your shares to the ESOP trust — which creates a built-in buyer and can provide significant federal income tax advantages for C-corporation sellers (Section 1042 rollover) and eliminates federal income tax on profits for S-corporation ESOPs that are 100% employee-owned.

ESOPs work well when the owner values preserving company culture and rewarding long-term employees, the business has stable cash flow to service the acquisition debt, and there is management depth to run the business after the owner steps back. They are not ideal for owners seeking maximum sale price or a fast exit.

Structuring an ESOP requires an ESOP attorney, a trustee, and an independent appraiser. We coordinate the financial planning around the transaction — not the legal or trustee work.

Yes — coordinating your advisory team is central to how we work. Your CPA handles tax compliance and returns; your attorney drafts legal documents and structures. Clexperus sits at the intersection — building the financial model, surfacing trade-offs, and keeping every advisor working from the same plan and priorities.

We do not provide tax preparation, legal advice, or business brokerage. We are the coordination layer that makes sure those professionals have what they need — and that the personal financial plan stays aligned with what the business is doing.

It begins with a confidential conversation — where you are in your timeline, what you have built, what you want to protect, and who is already on your advisory team. From there, we outline an engagement that makes sense: discovery, gap analysis, Value Acceleration planning, and ongoing coordination aligned with your situation.

We will share scope and fee structure directly in that conversation — not on a public pricing page.