Use the free business valuation calculator below to see what your company is worth. It takes about two minutes, no call is required, and you get a complimentary valuation report at the end.
The tool is AI-based. It asks a short series of questions about revenue, earnings, sector and owner involvement, then benchmarks your answers against the transaction data behind more than $1 billion in closed deal volume. The multiples reflect what buyers actually paid, not a generic valuation formula.
Treat the number as a ballpark. Every operation carries qualitative risk factors and differentiators software cannot see, and a large share of value sits in how the opportunity is presented. Firms sold in professional auction processes routinely clear 30% more than those that are not, especially when strategic buyers are bidding.
Start Your Free Valuation
Answer the questions below and your valuation report generates instantly — no call, no waiting, no sales pitch. If there’s a fit with our sell-side advisory work, we may reach out afterward, but that’s optional and never required to get your number.
// See It Before You Start
Every report includes your estimated deal value, the buyers most likely to bid on your business, and your exit options.
Take a look at a fully redacted sample before you calculate your own — the same report format you’ll receive, built from $1B+ in closed deals.
View a Sample Report →About the Business Valuation Calculator
Is the Valuation Tool Really Free?
Yes. The business valuation calculator is 100% free, and unlike most company valuation calculator tools online it does not gate your result behind a sales call. Whether we follow up to book an appointment or simply send you the report depends on whether you are a fit for our sell-side advisory work and on the size of the operation.
What the Tool Asks For
The calculator asks for annual revenue, owner earnings or EBITDA, your sector, how involved the owners are day to day, and how much of the revenue is recurring. There are no financial statements to upload and no tax returns to dig out. Most owners finish in about two minutes and see a business valuation range on the screen before the report lands in their inbox.
From there it runs a company analysis against comparable transactions in our database, applies the average valuation seen for businesses of your size and sector, and returns an estimated value. Because the tool leans on real closed deals rather than textbook theory, the result tends to sit closer to a genuine market price for a small business than the generic calculators you will find elsewhere.
What the Tool Cannot Tell You About Your Company
A free business valuation tool cannot read your financial statements, test the quality of your earnings, or judge how a buyer will view customer concentration, lease terms, or the assets on your balance sheet. It cannot tell you how much of the price arrives paid at close versus a seller note, an earnout, or assumed loans. And it cannot model what those proceeds mean for your retirement.
Those are the questions an advisor answers, and they usually matter more than the headline number. Two businesses with identical profits can trade at very different valuations depending on customer mix, management depth, and how the opportunity is taken to market.
Who Should Use It
The calculator is built for owners of small and mid-sized businesses thinking about selling in the next one to five years who want a number before committing to a process. It is just as useful if you are buying, since the same valuation logic applies from the other side of the table. Owners with clean financial reporting and steady earnings get the most reliable estimate. Businesses with volatile earnings, or with most of their value tied up in hard assets, will need a full business valuation from an advisor rather than a calculator.
How Business Value Is Determined
Like any other investment, a firm is worth what a buyer will pay for it. That is why, if you are selling, it is imperative to work with a broker or M&A advisor who knows your sector and has the expertise to run a full auction process and put the opportunity in front of hundreds of qualified buyers.
The two main methodologies are precedent transactions, meaning comparable company sales that produce a standard EBITDA multiple or SDE multiple for smaller operations, and discounted cash flow analysis.
One problem with both is that there are rarely precedent transactions that are readily available. Even when you can find records of similar firms that have sold, the terms and specific attributes are usually not disclosed.
Because of this, the most reliable way to land on the right number is to share information with a qualified broker (for small companies) or M&A advisor (companies $5m+ in revenue) and hear what they believe it will trade for.
No calculator will give you numbers as accurate as a tenured professional, nor will it outline the deal structures that potential buyers will offer.
Related Content
If you’d like to learn more about the methodologies that investors use to come up with what valuation they can pay for a business, have a look at our how to value a company article.
Discounted Cash Flow Analysis
A DCF forecasts the future net profit of a firm, applies a discount rate to those future cash flows, and discounts them back to present value.
What is the Present Value of These Future Cash Flows?
In this example, you’ll see each year’s earnings increasing by 10%. A terminal value is used for the fifth year and all cash flows are discounted at 20% per year in order to find their current value.
What Is an Earnings Multiple?
In the case above, the DCF value comes out almost exactly where a 5X multiple on cash flow would appraise it. If an M&A advisor thought it was worth more, they could increase the future growth rate, decrease the discount rate, or raise the valuation multiple they apply. All three would have the same effect.
What is EBITDA
If you’ve been in business a while, chances are you have run into the term EBITDA, short for Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization. It is the primary figure used to value privately held firms.
To calculate it, take net profit and add back interest paid, corporate taxes (including payroll), depreciation, and amortization. Because a new owner will recapitalize the business post-acquisition, what you pay in interest and taxes is really not indicative of what the potential buyer will be paying.
EBITDA Adjustments
Additionally, to capture the true level of discretionary cash flow the firm generates each year, your M&A advisor will walk you through further adjustments. Any excess compensation owners have taken for themselves is added back into EBITDA, along with non-recurring expenses such as one-time legal fees. Family members on payroll who don’t actually work there are added back too, since a new owner would not carry that cost.
Qualitative Risk Factors
Other risk factors worth addressing if you are trying to improve your valuation:
How much recurring revenue you have (more is better, since it makes growth more attainable and lowers relative risk)
How reliant on the owners the operation is
Size. One of the most predictable key drivers of value, with larger firms being more desirable for a potential buyer
Bonding, insurance and legal liability
Asset-heavy vs. asset-light sectors (most investors prefer asset-light)
Strong marketing funnel and sales team in place
Strong leadership team in place
Risk of your sector becoming obsolete
Tech enablement (if you are high tech and differentiated from competitors, that helps growth and lowers risk)
Expected sector-wide growth
Clean financial reporting
Gross profit margins (over 60% for CPG and retail industries, over 30% for human capital firms)
Net profit margins, the higher the better (most service firms should be 20%+, though those with recurring clientele can be under 20%)
What a Business Owner Can Do to Increase Value
Beyond the qualitative factors above, owners able to stay in place for a period post-close will garner higher valuations from buyers and typically receive better deal structure as well (a higher percentage of cash paid at close).
If you want a deeper look at what you could improve before an exit, contact us about our exit prep consulting. We can also introduce you to a number of qualified coaches and consultants we have had success working with.
Can I Sell for the Amount the Tool Says?
Not necessarily. We make the business valuation calculator as accurate as we can. However, the market for small businesses is inefficient, meaning that assets are not always accurately priced. The tool also cannot understand your operation and all of the qualitative risk factors that go into running it the way a qualified broker or buyer can.
Additionally, if the firm has fallen on hard times and is currently not profitable, the tool will not return a value. It may still be sellable if there are liquid assets, in which case your broker will apply an asset-based methodology.