By the time you are in diligence the number is largely set. The work that moves it happens years earlier, and almost nobody does it. We are glad to be useful long before there is a deal.
None of these are exotic. All of them are fixable in two years, and the same work makes the business better to own in the meantime, which is why it is worth doing whether or not you ever sell.
One retailer at forty per cent of revenue is a discount on your price, not a strength. Buyers price that risk before anything else.
Personal expenses in the P&L, no clean monthly close. Every hour a buyer spends untangling your numbers comes out of what they pay you.
No contract with your co-packer, no second source, price set by goodwill. That is a single point of failure a buyer has to underwrite.
If every key relationship runs through the founder, the buyer is not buying a company. They are buying a job, and they will pay accordingly.
