How to Sell Your Business:
The Complete Founder's Guide
Selling a business isn't a linear checklist, it's a series of connected decisions. Each choice compounds, each misstep costs. These are the 15 questions that define your exit
Introducing The Funnel
Most founders start with the question "what's my business worth?" But that's actually the third or fourth question you should ask. The Funnel is a framework that helps you think through selling your business in the right sequence—from initial curiosity to final close.
Watch Kirk Michie, Founder of Candor Advisors, introduce the framework that helps founders navigate the complexity of selling their life's work.
The Three Phases of Selling
Think of selling your business as moving through three distinct phases—each with its own questions, decisions, and risks. Knowing where you are in the funnel helps you make smarter, more confident choices.
Phase 1
Discovery & Curiosity
The 15 Questions That Define Your Exit
Each question builds on the last. Skip one, and you'll feel it later—in diluted value, missed leverage, or regret. Take them in order. Think deeply. Decide deliberately.
Phase 1
Discovery & Curiosity
Understanding Value & Timing
Before valuation, you need to understand how buyers think about multiples—and what really drives them. Before going to market, you need to know whether conditions favor sellers or buyers. And before committing to a process, you need an honest answer to a harder question: is your business truly ready, or could six months of margin improvement and risk reduction materially change the outcome? The discovery phase isn’t about collecting data. It’s about building the mental models that separate reactive exits from strategic ones. These five questions form the foundation every smart exit decision is built on.
What Multiple Will Your Business Sell For?
"How do I decode the valuation range for businesses like mine?"
Deep DiveWhen to Sell Your Company (2025)?
"Should I wait for next year or go now while things are strong?"
Deep DiveHow to Make Your Business More Valuable
"What low-hanging fruit can boost my valuation before going to market?"
Deep DiveHow to Decide If You Should Sell Now
"Is this the right market window, or should I wait?"
Deep DivePhase 2
Strategy & Planning
Building Your Deal Team
Once you've confirmed your business has material value and the market timing is favorable, you enter the strategy phase—where abstract thinking becomes operational planning. This is where founders decide whether to hire an investment banker or attempt a sale themselves, how to construct a realistic timeline, and which buyers to approach first. The strategy phase is about building your team and defining your process before you go to market. Most founders underestimate how much a structured approach compounds value: a well-run auction with competitive tension routinely produces offers 15-30% higher than a founder negotiating solo with an inbound buyer. The questions in this phase determine whether you'll enter the market prepared or exposed, supported or isolated.
Phase 3
Execution & Decision
Navigating Offers & Closing
The execution phase is where preparation meets reality. You've identified buyers, run a process, and now you're staring at Letters of Intent (LOI) that vary wildly in structure, terms, and actual value. An LOI that promises $20M with a $5M earnout is fundamentally different from $18M all cash—but founders often fixate on headline numbers instead of certainty of payment. This phase tests your ability to decode deal structures, resist buyer pressure tactics, and protect what matters beyond price: your tax liability, your team's future, and your post-close obligations. The questions here force clarity on tradeoffs most founders don't see coming until they're already locked into exclusivity with a buyer who's starting to re-trade terms.
Why Process Drives Value
An inbound offer is nothing more than a free option for the bidder
A pre-emptive bid is almost never the highest offer
The process can drive a material increase in purchase price
In a competitive auction, the winning bid is often 20% higher than the runner-up bid
The process is about much more than the highest offer
About Candor Advisors
Candor Advisors is a boutique M&A advisory firm that specializes in helping founders navigate the most important financial decision of their lives—selling the business they built.
Unlike large investment banks that treat founders as transaction numbers, we provide personalized guidance grounded in decades of deal experience. We believe founders deserve advisors who speak plainly, act transparently, and prioritize outcomes over optics.
Our approach is simple: understand your goals, build competitive tension among serious buyers, and maximize both price and terms while protecting what matters most to you—whether that's your team, your legacy, or your financial future.
Meet Kirk Michie
Founder and Managing Director of Candor Advisors, Kirk has spent two decades advising founders through complex M&A transactions. His philosophy: selling your business should feel less like a transaction and more like a strategic partnership.
Kirk believes the best exits happen when founders understand the process deeply, ask the right questions early, and have an advisor who prioritizes their long-term success over short-term fees.
Direct Contact
kirk@candor-advisors.com