Why estimate your business value?
You don’t need a formal valuation to get a useful number. A quick estimate helps with planning: pricing for sale, bargaining with partners, lending conversations, or retirement planning. This method is simple, repeatable, and uses information you already have.
Overview — three approaches to combine
Use three short methods and then compare results. That gives a range instead of a single number.
- Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) multiple — good for small owner-run businesses.
- Asset-based check — useful for asset-heavy businesses (equipment, inventory).
- Rule-of-thumb / industry multiple — quick cross-check.
Step 1 — Gather the numbers (action: collect these)
Checklist (find these for the last 12 months):
- Net profit (after taxes) or owner’s take-home pay
- Adjusted earnings: add back one-time items and owner’s non-essential expenses (explained below)
- Revenue (sales)
- Current book value of major assets (equipment, vehicles, inventory)
- Outstanding business debts
Example: Your café last 12 months: Revenue $300,000; Net profit $35,000; Owner salary taken $50,000; One-time remodeling expense $8,000; Equipment book value $40,000; Business debt $20,000.
Step 2 — Calculate Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE)
SDE = Net profit + Owner salary + Owner perks + One-time expenses + Non-business personal expenses run through business.
Action: Start with net profit and add back owner salary and any personal or one-off items.
Example (café): SDE = $35,000 + $50,000 + $8,000 = $93,000.
Step 3 — Choose a reasonable SDE multiple
Decision rule: Pick a multiple between 1 and 4 for most small local businesses. Use higher when the business has steady growth, low owner dependence, and clean systems. Use lower when sales are unstable or heavily owner-dependent.
Quick guide:
- 1.0–1.5: Very owner-dependent, unstable sales, low margins.
- 1.5–2.5: Typical for small service or retail businesses.
- 2.5–4.0: Strong brand, recurring revenue, transferable management.
Example: Café is owner-dependent and local, choose 1.5–2.0. Using 1.7: Value by SDE = $93,000 × 1.7 = $158,100.
Step 4 — Run an asset-based check
Action: Total tangible business assets and subtract business debts. This gives a floor value—what someone would get if they bought assets only.
Example: Assets $40,000 (equipment) + $10,000 inventory = $50,000. Subtract debt $20,000 → Asset-based value = $30,000.
Step 5 — Use a revenue or industry rule-of-thumb as a cross-check
Action: Find simple industry multiples (online or from peers). Common examples:
- Small retail/food: 0.3–1.0 × annual revenue
- Service business: 0.5–1.5 × annual discretionary earnings (or same SDE approach)
Example: Café revenue $300,000 × 0.3 = $90,000 (low-end). This sits between the asset floor ($30k) and SDE estimate ($158k).
Step 6 — Compare results and pick a sensible range
Action: List the three results — SDE-based, asset-based, revenue-rule. Use the middle as a working estimate and the low/high as your negotiation range.
Example results: Asset-based $30,000; Revenue-rule $90,000; SDE-based $158,100. Working estimate: $90k–$158k. Reasonable asking price: near $158k if you can justify SDE and show stable cash flow; realistic expected sale might be near $110k.
Step 7 — Adjust for factors that move value
Use simple +/– adjustments to the SDE multiple to refine the top-line estimate. Add or subtract 0.2–0.5 to the multiple based on each factor.
Checklist of adjustments (apply to your chosen multiple):
- Customer concentration: If one client is >25% of revenue, subtract 0.3
- Growth trend: If revenue grew 10%+ annually for 3 years, add 0.3
- Owner dependency: If business can’t run without you, subtract 0.4
- Recurring revenue or contracts: add 0.3–0.5
- Clean books & processes: add 0.2
Example: Café had stable customers, small growth, but heavy owner dependency. Start 1.7, subtract 0.4 → adjusted multiple 1.3. New SDE value = $93,000 × 1.3 = $120,900.
Step 8 — Quick checklist before you call a broker or buyer
- Do you have 12 months of clean P&L and cash flow? (Yes/No)
- Can you document and explain owner add-backs? (Yes/No)
- Any major one-time costs or pending equipment repairs? (List)
- Are customer contracts transferable? (Yes/No)
- Do recurring customers or subscriptions exist? (Yes/No)
Practical next steps
- If your estimate is below what you want, focus on lifting SDE: increase margin, reduce owner-only tasks, lock recurring revenue, and clean books.
- If selling soon, get 2–3 years of organized financials and a simple one-page operations manual to raise your multiple.
- For borrowing, use the conservative (lower) number and present SDE with documented add-backs.
One-page summary you can use now
1) Gather last 12 months: Revenue, Net profit, Owner pay, One-offs, Assets, Debts.
2) Compute SDE = Net profit + Owner pay + one-offs.
3) Pick base multiple (1.0–4.0) and adjust ±0.2–0.5 for key factors.
4) SDE value = SDE × adjusted multiple.
5) Asset check = Assets − Debts (floor).
6) Cross-check with revenue rule-of-thumb. Use range for decisions.