I observed a business generating over £10 million in revenue receive zero offers (not a client of ActionCOACH, I hasten to add).

The founder was convinced it was worth eight figures: healthy margins, solid customer base, consistent growth. On paper, it looked like a dream acquisition.

But buyers weren’t interested. Not even close.

Why? Because once you scratched beneath the surface, it was a high-performing house of cards. The moment the founder stepped away, the whole thing risked collapsing.

Meanwhile, I’ve seen a business doing just £2 million in revenue sell for £12 million: same market, different approach. The difference wasn’t the numbers on the P&L.

It was transferable value.

What Zero Offers Looks Like

That £10 million revenue business had all the classic symptoms of founder dependency. The owner was the hub of every decision, from pricing to supplier negotiations.

Sales scripts existed only in the founder’s head. Operations ran on tribal knowledge passed down verbally. New hire onboarding was pure guesswork.

There was no KPI dashboard, no scorecard, no leading indicators. The founder “just knew” when things were off because they lived in the weeds.

Twelve direct reports. No second layer of leadership. Key customer relationships were entirely personal.

To a buyer, this screams risk. If one person holds the keys to 90% of decisions, removing them is like pulling the plug on life support.

The business had great profits but lacked the infrastructure to support succession. It wasn’t a business at all.

It was an expensive job with clients attached.

The Sarah and Tom Reality Check

Let me show you this with real numbers. Sarah’s business generated £85,000 in profit. She expected a valuation around £255,000 based on standard multiples.

She received a £0 offer.

Here’s why. Sarah paid herself a minimal PAYE salary of £12,500 but was integral to every operation. To replace her would cost £85,000 in today’s market.

When you subtract that replacement cost from her current salary, her true adjusted profit dropped to just £12,500. Suddenly, that £255,000 expectation became laughable.

Tom’s story was different. His business showed £150,000 profit and sold for £1.3 million.

The difference? Tom’s replacement cost was £0. The business didn’t need him for day-to-day operations. Eighty percent recurring revenue, strong systems, clear processes.

Buyers don’t purchase your past performance. They buy the predictability of future profit without you in the picture.

Inside the Buyer’s Mind

When potential buyers walk into a founder-dependent business, they’re not thinking about how impressive you are. They’re calculating risk.

Their mental checklist is brutal. What happens the day this founder walks out? How many people do I need to hire to replace them? How long will it take me to learn what they know?

They start building a shopping list. GM or Operations Director, £100,000 plus. Head of Sales, £80,000 plus. Financial controller, £50,000 plus.

These aren’t just hires. They’re valuation deductions.

Every key function you own becomes a cost they have to absorb or a gap they have to plug. If you’re the human CRM, sales coach, deal closer, and operations problem-solver, they’re looking at 6-12 months of handholding minimum.

That either reduces their offer, extends the earn-out, or kills the deal entirely.

Because buyers don’t want a job. Especially one that depends on someone else’s gut instinct and charm.

The Formula That Changes Everything

Most founders anchor their expectations to profit alone. “We’re doing £2 million EBITDA, so we’re worth at least £10 million, right?”

Maybe. If you were a systemised, scalable, low-risk machine.

But that multiple assumes transferability. Here’s the formula that reveals what your business is actually worth:

Estimated Valuation = Profit × Transferability Score

The Transferability Score runs from 0.5 to 5.0 based on how confident a buyer would be that your profit continues without you.

  • Fully founder-dependent with no systems? You’re looking at 0.5 to 1.0.
  • Some systems but weak leadership gets you 1.0 to 2.0.
  • Operations run independently but sales still relies on you? That’s 2.0 to 3.0.
  • Strong team, documented systems, and recurring revenue can push you to 3.0 to 4.0.
  • Scalable, brand-led businesses where the founder is optional hit 4.0 to 5.0.

So that £1.2 million EBITDA business with a 1.5 transferability score? You’re looking at £1.8 million, not the £4.8 million the founder imagined.

The Freedom Gap Solution

Here’s where this gets interesting. The gap between what you think your business is worth and what it’s actually worth isn’t permanent.

I call it the Freedom Gap. Right now, your business might be worth £3 million instead of £10 million because the value isn’t transferable.

But imagine building a leadership team, documenting core processes, shifting client relationships, and installing systems that give buyers confidence. That same business could sell for £8 million plus in 2-3 years.

The first system to build? A weekly KPI dashboard with owner-free data collection.

Track 5-10 leading indicators across sales, operations, customer experience, and finance. But here’s the key: someone other than you updates and reviews it weekly with the team.

This creates visibility without dependency. It exposes where you need other systems. It enables real delegation because you can hold people accountable to numbers, not just “doing a good job.”

Most importantly, it shows buyers a business with dashboard culture and clear metrics owned by team leaders. That’s valuation fuel.

Why Staying On Makes It Worse

I hear this constantly: “I get it, I’m the bottleneck. But I’m happy to stay on for 12-24 months post-sale to help with transition.”

Founders think this is reassuring. To buyers, it’s actually a red flag.

If you’re offering to stay because things won’t run without you, then what they’re buying isn’t a business. It’s a promise that you won’t quit on them.

That’s not transferable value. That’s temporary borrowed leadership.

Buyers worry about founder fallout. What if you get bored after three months? What if you hate working under someone else? What if culture clash turns into conflict?

A founder who’s mentally done but contractually locked in is a ticking bomb.

You don’t get paid big money to stay. You get paid big money to not need to stay.

Building What Buyers Actually Want

The businesses that sell for premium multiples share common characteristics. They have recurring revenue streams that don’t depend on personal relationships.

They have documented processes that new team members can follow without tribal knowledge. They have leadership teams that make decisions based on data, not founder intuition.

Most importantly, they have systems that generate predictable results whether the founder is there or not.

This transformation isn’t about stepping away from your business today. It’s about building the option to do so when it suits you.

Whether that’s a sale, a sabbatical, or just working fewer hours, systemisation gives you choices that founder dependency never can.

The market pays for optionality. The more your business can thrive without you, the more someone will pay to own it.

Start with that KPI dashboard. Make it visual, not abstract. Use colour-coded scorecards and trends over time, not just spreadsheet snapshots.

Give your team new identities to grow into. Shift the narrative from control to visibility. Show them they’re not losing authority, they’re building control that doesn’t depend on them.

Because the brutal truth is this: buyers don’t buy your past performance. They buy the predictability of future profit without you in the picture.

Make yourself optional, and watch your valuation multiply.