Business Exit Planning
Most business owners leave 20–40% of their company's value on the table at exit not because their business wasn't strong, but because they weren't ready. ExitMaestro changes that.
Most owners exit once. There is no rehearsal. ExitMaestro orchestrates every phase of your exit from first assessment to final close. When the curtain falls, nothing of what you have built is left behind.
The Canadian business exit reality
in Canadian business assets will change hands in the next 10 years
Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 2023
of Canadian small business owners plan to exit within the next decade
Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 2023
have a formal succession plan in place the other 91% are exposed
Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 2023
What exit planning delivers
Exit planning is not a transaction service. It is a preparation discipline that changes what you walk away with in dollars, in certainty, and in life.
Outcome 01
A prepared business commands a higher multiple, attracts more qualified buyers, and enters negotiation from a position of strength. Buyers pay for certainty and certainty is built before you go to market.
Outcome 02
When your financials are clean, your processes are documented, and your business runs without you, due diligence is smooth. Deals close faster, with fewer conditions, fewer surprises, and no value erosion at the table.
Outcome 03
An exit without a personal plan isn't freedom it's an expensive pause. We align your financial targets, your personal goals, and your business value into a single roadmap, so the day after the close is as intentional as the day of.
of Canadian owners count on the sale of their business as their primary retirement income
CFIB if the sale underperforms, so does retirement
say finding a qualified buyer is their single biggest obstacle unprepared businesses struggle most
Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 2023
of sellers report regret within twelve months of closing often because they weren’t ready
Exit Planning Institute
is the preparation window that separates a premium exit from a discounted one
Industry consensus
The value range concept
Private equity and strategic buyers determine the multiple range available in your industry. What they do not control is where within that range your business falls. That position is determined entirely by how prepared your business is when it goes to market.
Positions 1 to 2
Very Weak
High owner dependency, minimal documentation, concentrated revenue. Buyers apply steep risk discounts. Many businesses at this level never find a qualified buyer at all.
Positions 3 to 4
Growing
Some systems, partial independence, improving financials. Buyers see potential but still discount for gaps. This is where most businesses go to market. It is also where most value is left behind.
Positions 5 to 6
Premier / Best in Class
Strong intangibles, owner-independent operations, clean financials, diversified revenue. Buyers compete. The business commands the top of the range, closes faster, and attracts fewer conditions.
Most Canadian businesses go to market sitting between positions 2 and 3. The preparation work ExitMaestro does is designed to move your business deliberately to position 5 or 6 before a single buyer sees your financials.
On a $25M business, the difference between position 2 and position 6 is not market timing. It is preparation.
Business case
Same industry. Same revenue. Same apparent valuation at $25M. One owner spent 24 months preparing with ExitMaestro. The other went to market without preparation. Here is what the numbers looked like at close.
The owner decided to sell and engaged a broker directly. The business had not been prepared for a transaction. Due diligence revealed several structural issues. The sale process took 18 months and ended with significant concessions.
The owner engaged ExitMaestro two years before planning to sell. Targeted improvements were made to the business’s operational structure, financials, and client concentration. The sale process took 5 months and closed at premium terms.
What those 24 months actually look like
This is not waiting time. It is the most valuable work of your entire entrepreneurial journey.
Those 24 months are the window in which your ExitMaestro advisor takes the time to fully understand your industry, your competitive position, and which of your assets are in highest demand from different buyer types. Strategic acquirers value different things than private equity. Family offices look for different qualities than consolidators. Your advisor maps this landscape with precision and prioritizes accordingly, so that your strongest assets are front and center when the right buyer enters the room. They do not just prepare your business. They make it shine like a diamond under exactly the right light.
This preparation period also gives your advisor time to start identifying and cultivating the right buyers long before the business ever goes to market. The result is a valuation process that feels almost personalized, because it is. You are not sold to the highest bidder in a crowded room. You are introduced, at the right moment, to the buyer for whom your business is worth the most.
This is super fine orchestration. And as the numbers above show, it pays off.
Methodology note: This comparison is constructed from composite data drawn from comparable mid-market transactions in the $15M–$35M range in Canada and the United States. Individual figures are illustrative of documented patterns multiple compression due to key-person risk, concentration discount, and the impact of clean audited financials on buyer confidence. All inputs are directionally consistent with published research from the Exit Planning Institute, Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project, and comparable M&A data. Actual outcomes vary by industry, market conditions, buyer type, and specific business context. ExitMaestro does not guarantee specific outcomes.
For financial advisors & private banking teams
For many entrepreneurs, the business exit is the largest wealth event of their lifetime often representing 70–90% of their net worth. When that moment is mismanaged, the consequences reach well beyond the transaction.
A well-prepared exit produces materially higher net proceeds and a clean close means those proceeds arrive on schedule, without conditions or contingencies that delay your planning work.
Exit planning typically begins 2–5 years before a transaction. Referring to ExitMaestro early opens a structured, multi-year conversation with your client about what comes after including where those assets land.
ExitMaestro is an exit planning practice, not a transaction broker. We do not compete with your role. We prepare the business and then stand alongside your team through the execution phase.
Partner referral programme
ExitMaestro works alongside financial advisors, private banking teams, and wealth management professionals at every stage of the exit journey. Our engagement model is designed to complement your relationship with your client never disrupt it.
A real exit story
The most important work I have ever done for a client had nothing to do with valuation multiples or buyer outreach. It started with listening to a woman who had forgotten what it felt like to sleep through the night.
The first meeting
She walked into my office exhausted. She was in the middle of a difficult divorce, she was not sleeping, and she had one request: sell my business as fast as possible. I remember the moment clearly. I looked at her and thought: this woman does not need a transaction right now. She needs to come back to herself first. I made a decision on the spot. Before we talked about buyers, multiples, or timelines, we were going to talk about her.
The work before the work
I put on my certified coach hat and we started there. We reviewed her schedule, her priorities, her energy. We worked on building back the clarity and the leadership presence that the stress had eroded. Slowly, over four or five months, something shifted. She started sleeping again. She started making decisions from a place of strength rather than exhaustion. And then something unexpected happened: she fell back in love with her business. The company she had built, the one she had wanted to escape from, started feeling like hers again.
The first look in the mirror
She was motivated and wanted to test the market. We did. She received both a Letter of Intent and an Indication of Interest, and for the first time she saw her business through the eyes of a strategic buyer. It is a humbling and revealing experience. The offers came in below her target. Buyers had identified two specific weaknesses and discounted accordingly. Rather than accepting those terms or walking away, she chose to understand what those discounts were really telling her. We chose to work with a strategic acquirer profile, one that aligned with what she wanted to do with her life after the transaction. And then we went back to work.
Eight months of targeted preparation
We spent the next eight months working on exactly the two areas buyers had flagged. Nothing more, nothing less. She is a fast mover when she is motivated, and she was. Every sprint had a clear objective. Every decision was made with one question in mind: what does the right buyer need to see here? The business became stronger, more documented, more transferable. And she became more confident in what she had built and what it was genuinely worth.
Twelve months later
We went back to market. One year after the day a devastated entrepreneur sat across from me asking to sell as fast as possible, she received an offer that was 25% higher than the number she had originally told me she needed to feel comfortable for the rest of her life. Not 25% above market. 25% above her own expectations.
Why this work matters to us
That gap between what she walked in expecting and what she walked out with is exactly why we do this work.
Every entrepreneur who has built something meaningful deserves an advisor who looks at the whole picture. Not just the business. Not just the numbers. The person behind them too. When those two things are aligned, and when the preparation has been done with precision and care, the result is not just a better transaction. It is a better life on the other side. That is what drives every ExitMaestro engagement. And that is the standard we hold ourselves to, every time.
Catherine Leclerc, Founder of ExitMaestro
Our approach
Every ExitMaestro engagement follows the Value Acceleration Methodology the global standard for certified exit planning advisors. We adapt it to the Quebec market and your specific situation.
Phase 01 · Discover
A full Business Attractiveness Assessment alongside a Personal and Financial Readiness evaluation. You learn what your business is actually worth today, what it needs to be worth to fund the life you want, and exactly what stands between those two numbers.
Phase 02 · Prepare
Your ExitMaestro leads targeted 90-day improvement sprints across the four capitals buyers evaluate: Human, Structural, Customer, and Social. Every initiative is chosen for its direct impact on your transaction multiple and terms.
Phase 03 · Decide & Execute
Grow further, or go to market? With complete clarity on your value and readiness, the decision is yours from a position of strength. When the moment is right, we bring a full team of transaction specialists into your corner.
The ExitMaestro team
Every ExitMaestro advisor is a former entrepreneur who has built, navigated, and exited a business. They bring expertise no textbook can replicate, combined with the rigour of certified exit planning methodology.
Founder & Lead Advisor · CEPA
Certified Exit Planning Advisor who has sat on both sides of the table. She has built businesses, sold them, and lived through the moments where clarity was missing. That experience drove her to build ExitMaestro.
CPA & Attorney · JURIFINANCE
Two decades advising business owners through the full complexity of a transaction from legal structure to financial optimization. A rare CPA-lawyer combination that handles every dimension of your exit under one roof.
Chartered Business Valuator · CBV
Twenty years in business valuation and litigation analysis across public and private mandates. Brings the precision to determine what a business is truly worth and the judgment to defend that number.
Certified EOS Implementer
Founded and scaled two B2B technology companies, including one successful exit. Works with 50+ leadership teams to build the operational discipline that makes a business genuinely buyer-ready.
M. Ps., PCC Executive Coach
Works with business owners navigating the personal dimension of a major transition. A successful exit is as much a personal journey as a financial one she ensures the person is as ready as the business.
Digital Strategist & Entrepreneur
Co-founded a Quebec coffee roasting company that grew from a flea market into an industry leader. Understands how a well-executed digital strategy can fundamentally change the value of a business before it goes to market.
Credentials & professional affiliations
Start with a confidential Business Attractiveness Assessment. No financial documents required. You'll leave with a clear picture of where you stand and what it would take to exit on your terms.
Book a discovery callNo commitment · Confidential
Available in English and French