When Should I Start Thinking About Exit Planning? (Spoiler: It’s Probably Sooner Than You Think)
Exit planning is about a lot more than the act of selling the company.
One of the most common questions I get from founders is, “When should I start thinking about exit planning?” And here’s the answer I always give: a lot sooner than you think.
Exit planning isn’t something you do right before you sell your company. It’s something you do to make your company more valuable, more profitable, and more optional—whether you plan to sell it or not.
Let me walk you through three real-world scenarios I hear all the time, and how exit planning fits into each one.
Scenario #1: “Someone just approached me about buying my company.”
This one’s more common than you’d think. A founder will tell me, “I wasn’t even thinking about selling, but someone reached out and made an offer.” Then they’ll share the number the buyer threw out.
Here’s the problem: when you don’t have a clear valuation benchmark or strategy, it’s easy to be caught flat-footed. You’re reacting, not negotiating.
Buyers will often make offers based on what they think your company is worth. And let’s be honest: that number usually reflects how much risk they are taking on, not the full value of what you’ve built.
Exit planning before the conversation happens changes the game. It means you’ve already:
Clarified your company’s true market value
Identified where that value comes from (and what increases it)
Removed risk factors that buyers use to justify lower offers
Built a case for your asking price that isn’t just “because I said so”
The result? You enter that conversation as a prepared founder, not a surprised seller. You don’t need to take the first offer because you’ve built a business that can command more.
Scenario #2: “I’m not looking to sell for years—why plan now?”
This one’s fair. If you’re thinking five, even 10 years down the road, it’s easy to believe exit planning is something to file under “future problems.”
But here’s the thing: exit planning now doesn’t mean you’re leaving soon. It means you’re putting your business on a path of value acceleration.
Value acceleration is the process of building a business that’s not only more profitable, but more scalable, more resilient, and more independent from you.
This is where the real wealth-building happens. Because let’s face it—if your business needs you to run every meeting, approve every sale, and babysit every process, it’s not an asset. It’s a job.
Exit planning helps you shift from being the bottleneck to being the visionary. You design systems, empower a team, and identify what moves the needle. Your income goes up, your stress goes down and when the time to sell does come, your business is ready.
Scenario #3: “My business is in a slump—shouldn’t I fix that first?”
You’d think a dip in revenue means you should wait on exit planning. In fact, this is exactly when you need it most.
Why? Because what looks like a revenue slump today can show up years from now as a value red flag. Buyers don’t just look at your numbers—they look at trends. They want to know what’s going on behind the numbers.
If your revenue is down or inconsistent, exit planning gives you a framework to understand why, fix it strategically, and document the improvements. This is what I call value preservation—protecting your company’s long-term value by taking the right actions now.
Even just starting with a business valuation gives you critical insights. You get a benchmark. You see what’s working and what isn’t. And you develop a strategy that protects what you’ve built—even in a downturn.
Think of this like asset protection. Your business is likely your biggest asset. Wouldn’t you want a plan to protect and grow it, even when things feel uncertain?
So, When Should You Start Exit Planning?
Here’s the truth: the best time to start was yesterday. The second-best time is right now.
Whether you’ve got a buyer knocking, you’re five years out, or you're knee-deep in a rough quarter, exit planning helps you:
Make better decisions today
Earn more income and freedom now
Build a business that’s sellable, scalable, and valuable—on your terms
Because the goal isn’t just to sell. The goal is to build a company that gives you options. And exit planning is how you do that.
