Do dealson your terms

“Not yet. Multiples are down.” “Let’s wait until the market’s hot.” It sounds sensible. It’s also how founders postpone the only thing that actually changes outcomes: buyer confidence. Markets move, but windows don’t save you if the business can’t survive scrutiny. The best exits aren’t timed, they’re engineered. This post explains the timing trap, what “good timing” really looks like inside a buyer room, and how to build optionality so you can move when opportunity appears, instead of hoping it arrives on schedule.

A lot of agencies look great from the inside: full pipeline, busy delivery, strong client list, healthy revenue. Then a buyer arrives, and the temperature changes. It isn’t because the work isn’t good, it’s because the business doesn’t feel ownable under scrutiny. Exit readiness isn’t a vibe. It’s a set of proofs. This post shows the five reasons agencies get discounted even with strong topline, and how to shift from “busy and successful” to buyer-grade and underwritable.

Due diligence isn’t a document hunt. It’s a pricing mechanism. Every gap becomes a term. Every delay becomes doubt. Every inconsistency becomes protection. The goal isn’t to look perfect, it’s to remove uncertainty faster than the process can convert it into discounting. This is the buyer-grade way to run diligence: how to read what buyers are really testing, how to respond with proof not context, and how to keep momentum so the deal stays confident instead of cautious.