You have an offer
Someone wants to buy your business.
The headline price is not what lands in your account. See what the offer pays you after tax, debt, fees, and structure, and what the buyer will look for before closing.
A partner is coming or going
Someone has to be bought out. What is the business worth to both of you?
A buyout fails on two things: a number one side does not believe, and terms one side does not understand. Exit OSx gives you a three-method valuation with every input and weight in the open, grades the business the way an outside buyer would, and lets you model the payout before anyone calls a lawyer.
Free · Six questions, about 90 seconds · No account needed.
Why partner buyouts turn into partner disputes.
- Two numbers, no method
- The departing partner remembers the best year. The staying partner remembers the debt. Neither has a method the other can check, so the argument is about trust instead of facts.
- The buy-sell agreement is older than the business
- Many agreements name a formula written when the company was a quarter of its size, or call for an appraisal nobody has ordered. The gap between the formula and reality is the fight.
- Nobody has modeled the payout
- A buyout is a deal with terms: cash now, a note, a period of payments, who carries the tax. The price everyone argues about matters less than the structure nobody has looked at.
What you get
One number, one structure, one set of records. In the open.
A valuation both sides can read
EBITDA multiple, discounted cash flow, and public-company comps, blended with weights you can see and change. The multiple is itemized driver by driver. Argue about an input, not a conclusion.
The outside buyer's view
How a strategic, a private equity sponsor, or an individual buyer would grade the business and what they would pay. The most useful reference point in any buyout is what a stranger would offer.
The structure, modeled
Cash at close, a seller note and its interest, payments over time, and who carries the tax under an asset or stock treatment. See what each side actually receives and when.
What the departing partner leaves behind
If the partner who is leaving holds the customer relationships or the licenses, the business is worth less the day after. The diligence read shows where the dependence is and what it costs.
A shared workspace
Invite your partner, your CPA, and counsel. Everyone sees the same inputs, the same records, and the same number. The argument gets shorter when the spreadsheet is shared.
Something to hand the appraiser
If your agreement requires a certified appraisal, bring this to the appraiser. A business that has already gathered its records and graded its own risks gets a faster, cheaper appraisal.
Which buyout is this?
A partner is retiring
A known date, a known buyer, and a number nobody has agreed. Start a year out and the buyout funds itself from cash flow instead of a loan.
A partner wants out now
The clock is theirs, not yours. A valuation you can produce in two weeks beats an appraisal you can order in two months.
You are bringing a partner in
The price of a new partner's stake is the same question in reverse. Set it on a method both of you can revisit when the next partner arrives.
The buy-sell agreement has triggered
Death, disability, divorce, or a departure clause. The agreement names a method; Exit OSx shows what that method produces against what the business is worth to a buyer today.
Questions partners ask.
- Is this a certified appraisal?
- No. It is a three-method valuation with every input shown, built to show what an outside buyer would pay and why. If your agreement, your lender, or a court requires a certified appraisal, you still need one. Bring this to the appraiser and the work goes faster.
- Can both partners use the same workspace?
- Yes. Invite your partner and your advisors. Everyone sees the same inputs, records, and results. If you would rather each run your own first, you can do that too and compare.
- What if we disagree about an input?
- Then you have found the real disagreement. Change the input and watch the number move. Most buyout arguments shrink to two or three inputs once the method is shared.
- Does it handle the tax side?
- It models the planning estimate: asset versus stock treatment, federal and state rates, and what each side receives after tax under the structure you choose. Confirm with your CPA before you sign anything.
A different situation?
You plan to sell within 18 months
You are going to market. Buyers will look.
Run the checks a buyer's team will run, see what each finding does to your price, and get a verdict: go to market, fix something first, or wait.
You advise owners
Your clients are going to market. Run the buyer's diligence first.
Grade every client the way a buyer will, under your brand, before an unprepared seller costs you a dead deal or a re-trade.
Settle the number before it settles the partnership.
Six questions for a value range. Two weeks for a valuation you can both read.