How this business valuation calculator works
- Start with your profit. If you leave it blank, we estimate it from your revenue and typical margins for your subsector.
- Pick the method. Below $300,000 of owner earnings we price the SDE itself; from $750,000, EBITDA after a market salary for whoever replaces you; in between, a blend of the two.
- Pick and adjust the multiple. We start from the published multiple range for your industry and subsector, then move both ends for your size, owner involvement, growth, largest customer, and revenue type.
- Multiply and round. Earnings times each end of the multiple, rounded so the range never looks more precise than an estimate can be.
See the full methodology, the multiples by industry, and every source
Business valuation calculator FAQ
For most privately held businesses, about what a buyer will pay for its profit, times a multiple for your industry. Larger businesses are priced on EBITDA after paying someone a market salary to run the business; smaller ones on seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE), which is profit with the owner’s pay still in it. That multiple moves with your size, how much the business depends on you, growth, customer concentration, and how dependable your revenue is. The calculator above puts those together into a ballpark range in about two minutes. It is a starting point, not a price: it could be worth more, or less.
It is a directional starting point, not a formal valuation: our best mapping of your answers to published industry multiples. A calculator can weigh a handful of inputs; a real buyer evaluates a hundred. It could be worth more, or less, and we won’t know until we talk with you. Use this range to get oriented, then talk to us for a number grounded in your actual financials and buyer landscape.
Because the same business can sell for very different prices depending on how it is sold. The low end reflects a typical negotiated sale. The high end is where businesses land when several buyers compete for them, and getting owners there is our job, though nobody can promise it. The midpoint we show is simply halfway between the two, not a prediction of where you will land.
It depends on your industry and, even more, on your subsector. The table of multiples by industry on our methodology page lists the starting EBITDA and SDE ranges this calculator uses for every industry it covers, before any adjustment for your answers, and the sources behind them are listed there by industry with their dates. Pick your subsector in the calculator to see the range for your niche.
Yes. Jack and Connor personally review every submission. We do not sell your information, and we never disclose it to buyers, lenders, or other market participants without your permission. Like any business, we use a small number of vendors to operate the site, including our form provider Formspree, which delivers and stores your submission for us. Our Privacy Policy names each of them.