The Three Assets of a Sellable Business
Command a life-changing exit by proving a staying team, recurring revenue and proprietary assets
Priestley says proper acquirers look for exactly three things, and if you can document all three you get a wildly high valuation and a life-changing, one-hit payout. First, a core team that won't leave when you leave — usually ~30 people, so the business isn't founder-dependent. Second, recurring revenue locked in contracts: subscriptions, memberships, service-level agreements. Third, proprietary assets: brand, database, intellectual property, channels to market. Package these into documents — an org chart of the 30+ staying team, a forecast of contracted forward revenue, and a list of proprietary assets — then pitch that business ~30 times, the same way you'd close 30 sales. Businesses selling for 6-35x profit rarely make the news, but they change the founder's life in a single transaction.
- Buyers pay for durability, not the founder
- A ~30-person core team proves the business isn't founder-dependent
- Contracted recurring revenue de-risks the future
- Proprietary assets are what actually transfers in a sale
- Build a staying core teamGrow to ~30 people so the business runs without you and a few departures won't topple it.WarningA founder-dependent business is discounted heavily or won't sell at all.
- Lock in recurring revenuePut subscriptions, memberships, and service-level agreements under contract so future revenue is visible.
- Document proprietary assetsCatalogue the brand, database, intellectual property, and channels to market that transfer in a sale.
- Package the three into documentsAssemble an org chart of the 30+ team, a forecast of contracted forward revenue, and a proprietary-asset list.
- Pitch the business ~30 timesTreat the sale like sales: present the packaged business to enough buyers to close a life-changing multiple.
Priestley: one of his businesses was offered 35x profit and he declined because it's still growing and hadn't hit his target number — 'imagine getting 35 years of profit in one go'.
Taught by Daniel Priestley from his own exits and work advising founders on building sellable companies.