Make your business ready to sell, long before you sign anything

What "exit ready" actually means

An exit-ready business is one where a stranger can confirm what it earns, see why it will keep earning after you leave, and find the documents that prove both without waiting weeks for you to dig them up.

In practice, we look at five things:

1. Numbers that reconcile. Financial statements, tax filings and bank deposits tell the same story, and every unusual expense has an explanation.
2. Earnings that survive the owner. Customers, suppliers and staff relate to the company, not only to you.
3. Records that exist. Minute book, shareholder agreements, leases, key contracts, employment terms, permits and registrations are current and findable.
4. A route that fits. You know whether you are selling to an outsider, a family member, your managers or your employees, and why.
5. A story a buyer can test. Growth claims are backed by data, not by memory.

The exit readiness assessment scores each area and tells you what to fix first.

The most common reason deals stall

Deals rarely die over the headline price. They stall in due diligence, when the buyer's accountant finds earnings that cannot be traced, a lease that cannot be assigned, or revenue that depends on one customer or one person.

Every one of those problems is cheaper to fix two years before a sale than two weeks into one. When a buyer finds a gap, they rarely walk away outright. More often they lower the price, move part of it into an earn-out, or ask for a larger holdback. Fixing the gap in advance takes that bargaining chip off the table.

Our guide to normalized earnings walks through the arithmetic, and the data room checklist lists what Canadian buyers ask for.

How we work with your professional team

Think of us as the project manager for your readiness work, sitting beside the people who are licensed to advise you.

• Your accountant prepares the statements and tax planning. We help you assemble the support behind each adjustment.
• Your lawyer handles corporate records, agreements and closing. We help you find and organize what they need, and prepare plain-language questions about offers.
• A Chartered Business Valuator, if you need a formal valuation, works from cleaner numbers. The CBV Institute runs a public directory.
• A broker or M&A adviser, if you hire one, gets a business that is easier to present.

We give no legal, tax or securities advice, and we take no position on what your business is worth. See the services overview for how each piece fits.

Proof of method, from our HVAC work

Our track record comes from building and growing owner-led HVAC companies, and the lessons transfer directly to exit readiness: businesses grow and become more saleable when results are measured, systems replace memory, and the brand carries more weight than one person.

These are results from our HVAC work. Roma Heating & Cooling grew organic traffic 400% in 12 months. CanroHeat.ca achieved 250% lead growth, and GasBoilers.ca was built as a separate gas-boiler division for CANRO Heat, the kind of distinct, documented unit that a buyer can understand on its own. More detail is on the results page.

Coverage: all of Canada

We work with owners in every province and territory, meeting in person or by video call and keeping in touch by phone, text and email. Rules that touch a sale, such as provincial sales tax clearance and workers' compensation purchaser certificates, differ by province, so each region has its own page. Start with the areas overview or go straight to Ontario, British Columbia or Quebec.

Who is behind BusinessExit.ca

BusinessExit.ca is part of the Sedighi.ca and SAZ.ca group of companies, a Canadian group headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is led by Ali Sedighi, MBA in Technology Management, who has 17+ years of experience building and growing businesses since founding his first agency in 2007, and who has built 150+ live HVAC websites. The about page has his background.

Exit work across the group runs through Sedighi.ca, its business-sale and exit brand BizSell.ca, and the advisory practice at BusinessConsulting.ca. Pricing follows the group's consulting rates, set out on the pricing page.

Where to start this month

If you only do three things this month, do these:

• Pull your last three years of financial statements and corporate tax returns, and check that they agree with each other.
• List every customer worth more than 10% of revenue, and every task that only you can do.
• Find your minute book and confirm it is up to date.

Then call, text or email. The first 30-minute conversation is free, and we usually reply within one business day.