You can probably describe your business in detail: the revenue, the margins, the customers you love working with. But can you say who is most likely to buy it one day?

Owners who know who will buy their business, and what that buyer will pay for, build differently. They make better decisions every day, long before they plan to sell.

According to Value Builder Analytics, owners who scored 80 or higher on the Value Builder Score and received an offer were offered an average of 6.5 times earnings. Owners scoring between 41 and 60 were offered 3.3 times. High scorers were also nearly twice as likely to receive an offer at all (26.4% vs. 13.9%). The figures come from 30,166 owners who completed the Value Builder Score assessment between January 2021 and December 2025 and reported whether they had received an offer, and at what multiple.

The Value Builder Score measures how attractive a business is to an acquirer. Owners who know their score know what to work on.

How Stuart Faught Built 20 Companies to Sell

Stuart Faught starts tiny software businesses that fill a small niche in the market. He has started and sold twenty of them. Before he builds anything, he thinks about who the most likely acquirer will be. His ideal buyer is a first-time business owner, tired of corporate life, looking for a software company already generating between fifty and a hundred thousand dollars in annual recurring revenue.

Once Stuart knew that profile, everything else followed: the type of product he builds, the niche he targets, the price he charges, and the way he positions the business. Even the name he chose, Ready to Scale SaaS, was built around making the acquirer the hero of the story.

Stuart's companies typically find a buyer within 30 to 45 days. He aims for a price of four times annual recurring revenue. He doesn't always get it, but he builds every company with that number in mind.

It Is Not Too Late

Most business owners do not build their company with a specific buyer in mind. They build it because they saw an opportunity, had a skill to offer, or wanted to be their own boss. You can still ask the question now.

Who is the most likely acquirer of your business? A private equity firm looking for a platform to roll up competitors? A strategic buyer in your industry who wants your product, your customer base, or your team? A first-time entrepreneur looking for a proven system to step into?

The answer changes what you should be working on right now.

A private equity firm will want clean financials, recurring revenue, and a management team that does not depend on you. A strategic buyer will want your customer relationships, your market position, or a capability they do not have. A first-time entrepreneur will want simplicity, systems, and proof that the business runs without its founder.

Each of those buyers is looking for something different, and every decision you make in the next twelve months will move you closer to what they want or further away.

Start With Your Buyer

Take an hour and get specific about your most likely buyer. If you expect a strategic or private equity acquirer, a useful filter is the 5-20 rule: the most natural buyer for a business is usually 5 to 20 times its size.

Then look at your business through that buyer's eyes. What would they love about what you have built? What would give them pause? The gap between those two answers is your value building roadmap.

Your Value Builder Score is a good place to start. It shows how your business looks to an acquirer today and which drivers of value to work on first.