Succession & Exit
Exit on your terms, years in the making
Every ownership story ends in a transition: a sale, a successor, or the next acquisition. The owners who exit well start preparing years before the exit.
Owners wait until they are tired to prepare, and sell a business that runs on them personally, at a discount, to the first credible buyer. 92% of U.S. small business exits end in closure, not a sale.
The best exits are built years early.
Exit value is created in the operating years: management depth, clean reporting, a business that runs without you. Phase 05 is the deliberate version of that work, started before the market ever asks.
Preparing the exit: seven expert categories
Exit planning should begin two to three years before your target date. Every expert here can execute and be held accountable. Every expert in the network is matched to a phase; these are the categories that work Phase 05.
Exit Planning Advisor
Exit Roadmap · EBITDA Optimization · Business Preparation
Builds the exit roadmap, optimizes EBITDA, and prepares the business for sale, years before the process starts.
Sell-Side M&A Advisor
Sell-Side Process · CIM · Buyer Outreach · Deal Management
Runs the sell-side process: the CIM, buyer outreach, and deal management through to close.
M&A Attorney
Sell-Side Purchase Agreement · Negotiation
Negotiates the purchase agreement on the sell side. The last contract matters most.
Tax Advisor
Exit Tax Structure · After-Tax Proceeds Optimization
Structures the exit for maximum after-tax proceeds, before the deal shape is locked.
Wealth Advisor
Post-Exit Financial Planning · Investment of Proceeds
Manages post-exit financial planning and the investment of proceeds. The exit is a beginning too.
Succession Planning Advisor
MBO · Family Succession · Employee Ownership
Management buyout, family succession, and employee ownership structures, compared and executed.
Business Valuation Specialist
Independent Valuation · Exit Planning · SBA · Partner Transactions
Independent valuation for exit planning, SBA requirements, or partner transactions: the number, established before the market tests it.
Membership includes the coordination: matching you to the right category and the right expert for your phase. The engagements themselves, hourly or fractional, are booked and paid separately at each expert’s listed rate.
Sessions, playbooks, and the room
Exit-readiness frameworks
What buyers pay premiums for and what they discount, assessed early.
All live sessions
The Expert AMA and Deal War Room, now on the sell side of the table.
Phase 05 community
Owners preparing exits, comparing paths.
The next deal
For owners going again, the system loops back to Phase 02.
Included with membership. Engaged when you need depth.
Included with full membership
- Exit-readiness frameworks and templates
- All live monthly sessions and community
- Coordination across the sell-side bench
Expert engagements
- Valuation and QoE preparation with financial experts
- M&A legal engagement at counsel’s rates
- CEO placement, no fee until placement
All expert engagements, hourly or fractional, including LOI & deal review, are booked and paid separately at each expert’s listed rate.
Start free. The system is already running.
Free membership opens the community and the playbook. Full membership, $295 a month or $2,950 a year, puts the whole coordinated system behind your deal.