Exit value advisory
Build a business worth 5–10× more — and ready to sell.
I help owner-operators build a company that no longer depends on them to run — together we implement the key systems that build overall value worth multiples more, and make it ready to sell, in four years.
One client: from $2M in revenue to a $32.5M sale.
Who this is for
This is built for one kind of owner.
Revenue band
Annual revenue
Substantial enough to command a premium multiple, owner-operated enough that one thing still caps the value.
The owner
Built it yourself
Not a hired CEO. You started it, you run it, and in many ways you still are it — which is exactly the thing I fix.
The timeline
Planning to exit
Far enough out that the value-building work has time to compound — the owners who start early capture the full multiple.
The industries
Where I work
Residential service, trade contractors, light manufacturing & assembly, and wholesale / retail.
Why it works
Four things most advisors don’t do.
Strategic Planning × Theory of Constraints
Every business is held back by one thing at a time. I find it, fix it in the right order, and aim the work at a defined exit number.
You pay as value is created
Implementation is milestone-based. Compensation is tied to written value milestones — you fund the work from value already in the business, never in advance.
I guide it personally
The person who writes your blueprint is the person who executes it — first diagnosis through deal close. Engagements are limited by design.
Diagnosis to close
One disciplined sequence, from a clear-eyed assessment of where you stand today to a buyer’s signature on a closing table four years out.
The engagement
One path. Four stages. Each earns the next.
You never commit to the work ahead until the stage before it has proven its worth.
Free Assessment
A 30–60 minute working session. What you’re worth, the gap, and an honest read on fit.
Diagnostic
A four-week diagnosis: current value, four-year potential, the one limit, the blueprint.
Implementation
I execute the blueprint against written value milestones, over roughly four years.
Exit
Find the right buyer and facilitate the sale on terms that protect what you built.
The guarantee
A refundable diagnostic. Milestone pricing — you pay as value appears, not before. And my personal commitment, start to sale.
The proof
$2M in revenue to a $32.5M sale.
The Service Co. transformation
Revenue, Year 0 → Year 4
Revenue grew roughly 9× over four years; net margin rose from 5% to 17%. The company sold for $32.5M. A residential-service company, anonymized.
Service Co. was profitable, growing — and unable to run without its owner. Making it a business a buyer could step into and own is what turned its performance into a premium sale.
Read the full case studyInsights
Answers to what owners are already asking.
The blueprint to sell your company: a step-by-step exit process
What the four years before a sale actually look like — in the right order.
ValuationWhy the valuation your CPA gave you is probably too low
Most owners are handed a number by someone who has never sold a business.
The one limitThe one thing capping your company’s value — and how to find it
Why working harder everywhere changes nothing — and where the leverage really is.
Free owner’s guide
The Strategic Planning Guide.
The exact process I use to take an owner-dependent business and turn it into a company that runs on a plan — from your 20-year vision down to this year’s goals, with worked examples. Yours free, no strings.
Common questions
What owners ask first.
Keystone Exit helps owner-operated businesses worth $4M–$15M become companies that sell for 5–10× their current value, then guides the sale. Over about four years, David D. Timpson finds the single thing most limiting your enterprise value, fixes it in the right order, makes the business transferable, and takes it to a premium exit.
Owner-operated companies doing roughly $4M–$15M in revenue in residential service, the trades, light manufacturing, or wholesale/retail — typically with an owner aged 50–65 planning to exit in two to five years.
Most owners cap their company's value by leaving the one thing that most limits it unaddressed — usually owner-dependence. Fix that and make the business genuinely transferable, and you raise both what it earns today and the multiple a buyer will pay tomorrow. The gain comes from method and disciplined execution, not hype.
The initial Assessment is free. The Diagnostic carries a fixed fee that is fully refundable. Implementation is milestone-based — you pay as measurable enterprise value is created, never in advance.
The value-building work takes about four years. Owners who begin three to five years before they want to exit capture the full multiple, so the best time to start is well before you need to sell.
The first step is a conversation
A 30-minute call to understand your business, your timeline, and the fit.
No cost, no obligation. Every engagement begins the same way — a direct conversation with David D. Timpson.
30-minute call · no obligation · by referral or application