Raise Your Company’s Valuations in 3 Years

You want higher valuations. You want an exit that actually pays what you deserve. I’ve raised valuations and sold 17 companies, and in this article I’ll walk you through a battle-tested, practical roadmap you can use to materially increase your company’s value in 3 years. I’m David Boim, president of DSB Management Consulting, and I’ll share real stories, hard lessons, and step-by-step tactics so you can stop guessing and start scaling toward a sellable, high-valuation outcome.

Key phrase: Valuations, this is the heartbeat of every strategic decision you make from here on out. If you want a different price at exit, you have to change the underlying drivers of how buyers calculate valuations.

Outline

• 1. Get your financial story straight
• 2. Remove single points of failure (you included)
• 3. Build recurring, contractable revenue
• 4. Invest in leadership and the right people
• 5. Use marketing and channels to scale without linear headcount growth
• 6. Embrace technology and AI as strategic levers
• 7. Bring external perspective — hire fractional experts and advisors
• 8. Understand realistic valuation math and tune EBITDA and revenue drivers

1. Get your financial story straight

If your financials don’t tell a clear, credible story, you’re unsellable. Buyers won’t wade through a jungle of spreadsheets. They want clean, audited (or audit-ready) books that show consistent growth, predictable margins, and realistic working capital. I once looked at a $32 million tire distribution company whose books were a mess — you needed 96 separate spreadsheets to tell the story. Nobody is going to do that during diligence.

Do this right away:

• Standardize accounting systems: move to one platform that produces clear P&L, balance sheet and cash-flow statements.
• Create a 13-week forward-looking cash position report. Buyers want to see that you can forecast cash, not just report it.
• Clean up inventory valuation, write-offs, and aging analysis. Inventory that’s months or years old can be worth 10 cents on the dollar if you can’t justify turnover.
• Identify concentration risk. If one customer is 50% of revenue, you’re immediately discounting your valuations.

“The financials should tell your story.” — This is literal. Use them to present the narrative you want buyers to believe: predictable revenue, healthy margins, and prudent working capital.

Every valuation model starts with the numbers. If you can’t present them quickly and credibly after a letter of intent, you will lose buyers or see low offers.

2. Remove single points of failure (you included)

Buyers don’t buy businesses that die with the founder. If you are the company — the relationships, product knowledge, operations, and accounts all live in your head — the company is unsellable at any price the market will pay. I consulted with a brilliant engineer who ran a $5M business and took on almost everything himself. He produced strong EBITDA, but there was no bench. Even a $10M offer couldn’t overcome the emotional barrier that he was irreplaceable. He couldn’t let go.

How you fix this:

• Create documented processes for every core function (sales, ops, fulfillment, finance).
• Hire or promote a second-in-command (COO, GM) and give them authority to run the business.
• Split critical responsibilities so relationships and contracts are shared rather than owned solely by you.
• Design a succession plan and practice it — have your COO run the company for a quarter while you step back from day-to-day tasks.

Buyers pay a premium for a company that can continue to operate and grow without the owner. That’s a direct driver of improved valuations.

3. Build recurring, contractable revenue

Recurring revenue is gold in valuation math. In software, “butts in seats” (users under contract) often matter more than EBITDA. A SaaS company with high retention and recurring contracts can achieve 3–5x revenue multiples — sometimes much more. Contrast that with a service or distribution business where valuations more often focus on EBITDA multiples (3x–4x typical for B2B).

What to do:

• Convert transactional revenue to recurring where possible: subscriptions, maintenance contracts, service agreements.
• Improve customer retention — small improvements in churn dramatically increase lifetime value and thus valuations.
• Document contract terms and show consistent renewals. Buyers love contract rollovers and multi-year commitments.

“When we do software companies that are SaaS, the recurring revenue is everything.” — Make your revenue look like a predictably renewing annuity.

4. Invest in leadership and the right people

Leadership multiplies outcome. I saw a 13-year-old company at $7M with almost all recurring revenue. The founders admitted they didn’t know how to scale beyond that plateau. They hired experienced executives (CRO, CTO, CFO, COO) and paid them well. They delegated. Result: three years later they hit $50M and sold for $500M — ten times revenue. That kind of multiple is possible when buyers believe they’re buying a team that knows how to scale.

How you recruit and keep leaders:

• Stop interviewing like a monologue — spend most of the time asking candidates to demonstrate prior impact. Use structured scoring across multiple question categories.
• Don’t pay peanuts for critical roles. If you want a VP of Sales and Marketing to live on $80k, they won’t move the needle. Consider equity awards, but senior talent often wants competitive cash plus performance incentives.
• Use fractional C-suite executives if full-time talent isn’t affordable. Fractional CFOs, CROs, and CMOs can deliver strategic impact without full-time payroll.
• Measure early. Expect a high churn in hires — be decisive. If someone doesn’t perform in the early months, cut them. Your batting average should be ruthlessly pragmatic; if you’re 50% right, you’re doing well.

Remember: a founder who won’t delegate will cap the valuations potential. You must be willing to let great people run parts of the business.

5. Use marketing and channels to scale without linear headcount growth

Scaling by hiring salespeople is expensive and slow. A better approach in many situations is to create channels and partner ecosystems. In one turnaround, I converted two or three direct sellers into channel managers, recruited 150 channel partners, and grew revenue from under $2M to $5M in year one and $15M in year two. Buyers love scalable growth models that don’t require multiplying fixed headcount.

Marketing matters. If you don’t believe in marketing, you won’t scale. Social media alone is the ante — brand awareness helps, but you need targeted outreach to move the needle for B2B companies.

1. Ask: how many appointments will you have before a trade show? Don’t just show up.
2. Invest in targeted campaigns tied to measurable outcomes: appointments, demos, channel partner leads.
3. Use AI to determine optimal marketing budgets. Ask tools like Claude, DeepSeek, or other models to benchmark spend for your industry and target size.

Many founders underinvest in marketing — often you’re spending 10–20% of what you should. Fix that and align marketing to sales and channel strategy.

6. Embrace technology and AI as strategic levers

Technology is no longer optional. Even manufacturers must have an AI strategy. A good AI plan makes operations more efficient, unlocks better customer insights, and speeds decision-making — all of which lift valuations. Companies using AI in diligence and operations are more attractive because buyers can see a modern approach to cost control and growth.

Practical AI steps you can take now:

• Automate administrative tasks (pricing, quoting, resume screening, lead scoring).
• Use AI to generate operational forecasts and scenario plans for investor decks.
• Apply machine learning to inventory optimization to reduce carrying costs and prevent inventory write-downs.
• Run pilot projects with measurable ROI so you can point to real savings when buyers ask about technology investments.

“AI + global talent = how small biz now compete with giants.” — Don’t ignore the leverage AI provides; buyers expect evidence you’re using modern tools.

7. Bring external perspective — hire fractional experts and advisors

You can’t read the label from inside the jar. Owners live inside the company and often miss the obvious. I’ve turned companies around by bringing outside teams to focus on what the owner can’t see: broken processes, hidden operational cost leaks, or market misalignment.

Fractional experts are hugely underutilized. They let you test high-level expertise without full-time cost. Hire them for:

• Strategic financial planning (fractional CFO)
• Sales process optimization (fractional CRO)
• Marketing strategy and demand generation (fractional CMO)
• Leadership development and training

Sometimes owners resist the external voice. If you’re telling yourself, “If I could do it, I already would have,” you’re the candidate for outside help. I do 30–35 one-on-ones with entrepreneurs each week for free — many find outside input transformative. The rule I use: if I care more about your business than you do, I don’t work with you. Commitment matters.

8. Understand realistic valuation math and tune EBITDA and revenue drivers

Understanding how buyers calculate valuations is non-negotiable. For many B2B companies, a realistic multiple is 3–4x EBITDA. For SaaS with strong recurring revenue, you’re often looking at multiples of revenue (3x–10x depending on retention, growth, and margins). But the critical point is: buyers pay for what exists now, not what might be.

Examples that illustrate leverage:

• A $60M manufacturing company with 3% EBITDA (about $1.8M) improved operations and reduced manufacturing cost by 4% (from a 60% cost base). That 4% yielded about $1.4M incremental EBITDA, taking total EBITDA to $3.2M. At 4x EBITDA the valuation jumped from $7.2M to $13M — a multi-million dollar uplift for a $200k investment to drive the change.
• A SaaS company at $7M recurring revenue hired a senior team and grew to $50M in three years, selling for 10x revenue (a $500M exit). That demonstrates the multiplier effect of leadership, delegation, and relentless scaling of recurring revenue.

What this means for you:

• Do the math. Know the realistic multiple for your industry and where you stand today.
• Invest where the product of investment yields outsized increases in EBITDA or recurring revenue.
• Don’t expect buyers to pay for your hopes. They buy current results and credible paths to better results.

Quick checklist to improve valuations in 12–36 months

• Clean financials and a forecasted 13-week cash report.
• Reduce customer concentration; diversify top 10 accounts.
• Move transactional revenue into recurring contracts.
• Hire or contract fractional C-suite leaders to build scalable processes.
• Create clear, testable KPIs for hires — and act fast when they don’t perform.
• Invest in marketing strategically — prioritize measurable lead generation over vanity metrics.
• Apply AI to low-value tasks and use pilot outcomes to demonstrate ROI.
• Bring in external experts to challenge assumptions and reveal blind spots.

Final thoughts

Valuations are the result of disciplined work across finance, operations, people, and go-to-market. If you want a significantly different valuation in three years, you must act now: tidy your books, remove single points of failure, convert revenue to recurring models, hire the right leaders (even fractionally), spend smartly on marketing and channels, and apply technology and AI where it amplifies outcomes.

Stop hoping for a lucky exit. Plan for it. Execute on the levers that buyers actually value, and you’ll change not just your company’s trajectory but the multiple you can command when it’s time to sell.

If you want a practical next step: create a 90-day plan that addresses one big constraint (clean financials, leadership hire, marketing channel, or recurring revenue pilot), measure results, then iterate. That single discipline will move the needle on your valuations faster than any theoretical spreadsheet analysis.

Contact: David Boim — email dboim at dsbconsult.com — or visit dsbexitstrategy.com to schedule a conversation. If you want peer learning, join the Kansas City Business Strategy Group on Meetup for free sessions where founders share tools and real tactics.

Valuations don’t come from narratives alone; they come from measurable, repeatable business improvements. Choose the levers, invest in the right people, and build a company that any buyer would be excited to buy.

Watch the full podcast here: I raised valuations and sold 17 companies. Here’s how to do it in 3-5 years

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