**100% Upwork client success score - top rated**
**20+ positive reviews on Google - check out Washington Business Brokers LLC**
You are an expert on your business. We are experts on the process of selling a business.
Expect market knowledge, transaction / process expertise, and results. MBA, CPA, and licensed Commercial Real Estate Broker.
Hello! I am a business broker and founder of Washington Business Brokers LLC. I’m a licensed CPA, possess a top 20 MBA, licensed commercial real estate broker and have years of experience as both a financial analyst and auditor. I’m proficient reviewing financial statements, tax returns, and (importantly) identifying non-recurring expenses and add-backs that will need to be accounted for to arrive at a true understanding of the cash flows of a private business.
I can assist you with valuation multiples based on revenue, gross profit, EBITDA, discretionary earnings, and other financial metrics. In addition, I can assist you as a business owner in assessing and preparing your company for optimal value in a sale.
Business owners need valuations and market comparables for a variety of reasons beyond selling their business, including when buying out or bringing in a partner, to review eligibility for a commercial loan, private wealth & estate planning, divorce, etc. Our strategic advisor at Washington Business Brokers, Glen Cooper, has sold 500+ businesses in his career and is a nationally recognized expert and trainer in selling private businesses.
In addition to being a licensed CPA I am a member of the International Business Brokerage Association; through this membership ($500 / year) I have access to a number of valuation tools and transaction comps that may be of value to you.
I subscribe to DealStats ($1,500 / year), the gold standard used by deal experts, business brokers, CPAs, and transaction attorneys in valuing private businesses. It contains comparables on 35,000+ businesses. In addition, I have access to BizComps, another valuation tool with comparables on 14,000+ businesses. Beyond these I have access to 500+ industry guides and rules of thumb through the Business Reference Guide and a network of seasoned business brokers that have represented and sold thousands of businesses over 40+ years.
You can expect transaction expertise and market knowledge. Glad to have a quick video call to learn more about you, your business, and what you need.
Frequent questions:
Documents needed for a valuation?
• Profit & Loss (3 years - 2020, 2021, and 2022) and 2023 YTD – Excel please
• Balance Sheet (3 years) and recent for 2023 – Excel please
• IRS filings including all supplemental schedules (3 years)
• Any internal sales reporting that details breakdown of revenue by product line, channel, customer, etc. (some businesses have a mix of product vs service revenue that we may apply different valuation metrics to; this sales reporting also helps us understand the lines of business and identify appropriate comparable transactions) – Excel please
• Context on any associated real estate (if leased space, copy of current lease(s))
How long does it take?
I work on an hourly basis, once I learn a little about the business (industry, size, revenue, profitability) and the types of financial documents you possess I will be able to give you a time estimate. I can generally move quickly if your documents are organized and you are responsive to questions about the financials and operating model.
I've valued a $500k revenue gym in 5 hours and a $45M revenue professional services business in 21 hours. 10 hours is a reasonable expectation. I have multiple clients / owners that I work with at a time, some are able to easily and quickly respond to questions about the financials, others need time to get answers from their employees, CPA, etc.
What to expect and more on our background
Check out the "Business Valuation 101" and "Business Valuation 401" posts on our site (Washington Business Brokers) for what you can expect. Unfortunately Upwork will not let us link to it directly - the site is wabusinessbrokers dot com. We are easy to find online, you can read more about us at our site and/or via LinkedIn to better understand experience, credentials, and background.
In addition to the reviews here on Upwork, there are a number of positive reviews from past and current clients / owners on our Google My Business profile - simply Google "Washington Business Brokers" to find us (again, can't share a link on Upwork).
Cheers and thank you for reading!
Ryan Hemmert
CPA, MBA, Business Broker / Founder at Washington Business Brokers LLC
And finally, a couple caveats:
I do not provide tax or legal advisory services.
Valuing a pre-revenue and/or unprofitable start-up is far more of an art than a science; it is not our area of expertise.