Business valuation services

A valuation is only worth what it survives. The number matters far less than whether you can explain, under pressure, why the discount rate is 12.4% and not 9%, why the comparable set excludes the two companies that would have flattered it, and what happens to the answer when terminal growth moves fifty basis points.

The work here is built around that conversation. Three methods, each run properly, reconciled into a range with the weighting stated and defended rather than implied.

Discounted cash flow

The DCF starts from the operating model, not from a separate set of numbers invented for the valuation. Unlevered free cash flow is derived from EBIT, tax, depreciation, capex and the change in working capital — each traceable back to a driver.

The WACC build is explicit: risk-free rate with its source and date, equity risk premium, a levered beta derived from a named peer set and re-levered at your capital structure, a size or stage premium where it is justified, and the after-tax cost of debt. Every input sits in a labelled cell with a note. A discount rate that appears as a single hardcoded number is the fastest way to lose an investor call, and it is the first thing a diligence analyst looks for.

Terminal value is calculated both ways — perpetuity growth and exit multiple — and the two are reconciled. If the perpetuity growth implied by your exit multiple is 7%, the model says so, and the assumption gets fixed rather than hidden.

Trading comparables and precedent transactions

Comparable selection is where most valuations quietly break. The set is chosen on business model, growth rate, margin profile and scale — not on sector label — and the rejected candidates are listed with the reason for rejection. That list is often the most useful page in the memo, because it is the page that anticipates the pushback.

Multiples are calculated on a consistent basis: calendarised, adjusted for non-recurring items, and stated as both EV/revenue and EV/EBITDA where both are meaningful. Precedent transactions carry a control premium that is quantified rather than asserted, and stale transactions are aged or dropped.

Sensitivity, not false precision

A point estimate invites a fight about the point. The deliverable is a range, supported by a grid across WACC and terminal growth, plus one-way sensitivities on the two or three operating drivers that actually move the answer. In most companies, two drivers account for the majority of the spread — knowing which two is worth more in a negotiation than the midpoint itself.

What you receive

A working valuation model you keep and can re-run, a written memo of ten to fifteen pages covering methodology, assumptions, comparable selection, sensitivities and conclusion, a football-field chart, and a live walkthrough with your board, investor or counterparty. Turnaround is typically two to three weeks from receipt of data, and fees start at $4,000.

Where the underlying model is not yet solid enough to value, the honest answer is a model audit or a rebuild first — valuing an unreliable forecast produces a precise-looking number with nothing underneath it.

Scope and limitations

Valuation analyses are prepared to support fundraising, planning, transactions and 409A option pricing. They are not fairness opinions and should not be relied upon as such.