The Price Comes From the Buyer's Spreadsheet
Most owners arrive with a number. It came from a competitor who sold, a private equity email, or a multiple someone mentioned at a conference.
Buyers don't start there. They start with what the company earns, adjust it to what a new owner would actually keep, and apply a multiple that reflects how risky those earnings look.
A broker's estimate is built the same way, so the figure you get is one you can hold up in front of a buyer and their lender.
A buyer is paying for the next five years of your profit. The last twenty only count as proof.
What Seattle Buyers Pay More For
The Puget Sound market has plenty of capital and plenty of buyers who have done this before. They reward the same few things, over and over:
- Financial statements that tie to the tax returns without a story attached
- No customer above about 15% of sales
- A second in command who already makes daily decisions
- Contracts, service agreements or repeat orders, not one time projects
- A lease with enough term left for a lender, or a building the buyer can also buy
Our business valuation page walks through SDE, EBITDA and the add backs that change the result.
Washington Closings Have Their Own Paperwork
Washington has no personal income tax on wages, so owners sometimes assume a sale is simple here. It isn't. The state taxes gross receipts, charges sales tax on used equipment in an asset sale, and has a capital gains tax on large gains.
A buyer will also hold back part of your price until the Department of Revenue confirms your excise taxes are paid. Seattle has its own business license tax account to close.
We explain each one in the Washington filings section, starting with the tax clearance a buyer will ask for.
Who Is Buying Around Puget Sound
Individual buyers with SBA loans of up to $5 million look for steady service, trade and distribution companies. Many are former managers from the region's large employers who want to run something of their own.
Competitors buy for crews, routes, licenses or a foothold on the Eastside. Private equity groups look for platforms and add ons in fields like healthcare, engineering and logistics.
Each of these buyers values a different part of your company. A broker who knows which ones are active in your field can put several in front of you at once.
Is Your Company the Right Size?
Our partner mostly works with companies doing about $1 million or more in yearly sales. Below that, the cost of a full brokered sale can take too large a share of the result.
Above it, a quiet, competitive process usually beats the first unsolicited offer by more than the fee.
Brokers are paid a success fee at closing. BizQuest puts the common rate near 10% on deals of $1 million or less, with larger deals on a sliding scale.
Read the process first if you want to know exactly what happens to the details you send.
Companies and Cities We Cover
We have pages for marine services, coffee roasters, physical therapy clinics, engineering firms, freight forwarders, tree care companies, optometry practices and specialty food makers.
The same approach works for other fields, and for owners from Everett to Kent and across the lake in Bellevue and Redmond.
Start with the price check form at the top of this page, or call (206) 555-0171. Asking is confidential and doesn't commit you to selling.