If You Want to Exit One Day, Build Like You’re Leaving Tomorrow
Most first time founders build for financial freedom. But they think that comes from hitting the highest MRR possible.
And that’s a good way to get rich, for sure.
However… it’s easy to forget that by selling your business one day you can get a life changing amount of money deposited into your bank account and never have to work again (if you don’t want to).
Here’s the thing though - you don’t just sell a business…
You have to plan for your exit years in advance.
How? By building something that survives without you.
That’s why most exits fail, stall, or come with brutal earn-outs (gross).
Fear not… I just interviewed Alex Arnot, who has been through 56 exits.
Here’s are my notes from what he taught me about exiting for an offensive amount of money:
The Stuff Buyers Actually Care About (That No One Tells You)
Alex broke it down into six things he sees over and over again —
the real drivers of valuation, leverage, and freedom post-exit.
I’ll give you my notes below feel free to watch the full thing for the nuance:
1. “Company in a Box” beats hustle every time
Buyers pay for repeatable, predictable businesses—not founder dependency.
The “Company in a Box” model:
Break down every component of the business (people, sales, marketing, finance, delivery).
Run cross-functional team reviews to optimise each.
Create documented, repeatable processes.
This boosts valuation AND reduces your earn-out risk.
Action: Build a living blueprint of how your business works—so a buyer knows it can run without you.
2. Build Your Data Room Early (Exit Health Check)
A data room tells you what you need to improve and in what order.
Doing this years early:
Surfaces red flags
Improves business performance along the way
Gives leverage in negotiation
Action: Start tracking your numbers across the business the moment you think an exit could be in your future, even if that’s 5 years out.
3. Build a Scalable Management Team (So You Aren’t Tied Down)
Weak SLT → long earn-out
Strong SLT → founders can exit sooner with higher upfront payouts
Develop people 12–24 months before an event
Examples of upgrading roles (COO, Sales → MD)
Action: Build a leadership team that can run the business without you, even if you don’t plan to leave yet.
4. Incentivise the B-Suite Correctly (Avoid F–Off Money)
EMI schemes often misconfigured
Typical flaw: B-shareholders get a lump sum at exit → they take the cash and disappear
Fix = 50% paid 6 months post-close & 50% paid 12 months post-close
Buyers LOVE this because it protects performance.
Action: Build incentives that keep your top people in the business after the deal. It will increase buyer confidence and boosts valuation.
5. Align Stakeholder Expectations (Including Your Own)
Misaligned valuation expectations kill deals
Founders often massively overvalue their business
Good practice:
Get 2-3 independent valuations
Align board, shareholders, SLT early
Prevents emotional implosions right before the finish line.
Action: Get realistic valuations from 2–3 sources and align everyone YEARS in advance.
6. Proactively Cultivate Buyer Relationships (Be Bought, Don’t Sell)
List 5–10 strategic acquirers
NED or founder builds quarterly contact rhythm
Share wins, milestones, and progress
Sometimes becomes a JV first
When the exit moment comes, they already trust you.
Action: Build relationships with acquirers 1–3 years before you want to sell.
If you found this useful, you’ll love the full episode because this is just a snapshot.
On the full podcast we go deep on:
How to actually increase your multiple
What buyers look for behind the scenes
How founders accidentally trap themselves in earn-outs
What to start fixing now, not “later”
If you’re scaling anything beyond yourself, this could be the difference between a 2 or 5x multiple. At $1M+ ARR, that’s a life changing amount of money.
Don’t miss this one:
In a bit,
Sam
Ps. Thank you to Scripe for bringing you this edition of Success Clues.
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