Livmo

10/08/2025

The best exits aren’t emotional decisions.
They’re informed ones.

Learn early. Prepare often.
Because the right time to understand how to exit your business…
is day one.

The right time to learn about exiting your business? Day one. Most founders think about M&A in one of two extremes. Scenario 1: Business is thriving. Revenue is climbing. Your team is crushing it. The future looks bright. Why would you even think about selling? Scenario 2: You're burned out. Growth....

10/03/2025

$73K sounded huge.

I got a contract to dismantle 1,400 cubicles for Countrywide.
Trucks. Labor. Storage. Chaos.

Margin? Razor thin.

Lesson learned:
👉 Digital scales. Physical doesn’t.
👉 High revenue ≠ high profit.
👉 Complexity kills.

Focus on margin & scalability.

I got a check for $73K to dismantle 1,400 cubicles and it taught me more about business than my Economics degree. 2008. Real estate market collapses. Countrywide goes bankrupt. I own OCOfficeFurniture.com. We sell and refurbish office furniture in Orange County. Ranking well for "office furniture Or...

10/02/2025

Built a media co. to $12M/year.
Watched it die.

We had an 8-figure offer at the peak. We said no.

Lesson:

Supply-side > demand-side efficiency

You can’t optimize out of a commoditizing market

When someone offers you 8 figures at peak—take it

Built a media company to $12M/year. Watched it die. Here's what buyers saw that I didn't: 2013. Brett K. pulls me aside and says: "I know how to make money with content." We launch Amilli Media. The model is simple - buy traffic for $0.03 per user, show them ads worth $0.07-$0.08. Scale it. We creat...

09/29/2025

If your business falls apart without you, it’s not worth what you think it is.

I once met a founder who hadn’t taken a real vacation in 8 years.

Great business.
Happy clients.
Seven figures in revenue.
But he couldn’t take his phone off silent for more than a few hours. Ever.

He called it commitment.
Buyers called it chaos.

The entire operation revolved around him—his decisions, his relationships, his judgment.

He wasn’t the CEO.
He was the engine, the steering wheel, and the brakes.

And when he tried to sell, the buyer looked at the numbers… then looked at the org chart… and walked.

Not because they didn’t want the business.
But because they’d never be able to run it without rebuilding it first.

Founder dependence doesn’t make you a hero.
It makes you a liability.

What buyers want isn’t genius.
It’s continuity.

They want to know the business keeps running when you’re not around.
That clients stay. That staff stays. That momentum stays.

Because when they buy your company, they’re not buying you.
They’re paying to replace you.

You can be admired.
Or you can be exitable.

Pick one.

09/26/2025

Most founders talk revenue & profit.
Buyers talk EBITDA & weighted earnings.

Show up unprepared → you lose leverage.
Show up with weighted EBITDA → you speak their language.

Leverage wins deals.

I'm about to show you why most business owners get crushed in M&A negotiations. It all comes down to one financial metric they completely ignore. You spend years building your business. You watch revenue grow. You celebrate profit milestones. But here's the reality check: When it's time to sell, buy...

09/25/2025

Owner dependence kills deals.

Buyers see risk when the business relies on you. That risk cuts EBITDA—and your valuation.

Fix it step by step:
1️⃣ Admin
2️⃣ Onboarding
3️⃣ Marketing
4️⃣ Sales

Here is the order of things you should delegate away to reduce owner dependence. I know this can be hard... but there is an order you can do it in. I've started and scaled multiple companies, so I get it. It's hard to build a system that allows you to step away. But I can't be more direct about this...

09/24/2025

Your valuation isn’t just a number.
It’s a roadmap.

Our Market Value Assessment shows you:
✔ True sale price
✔ Buyer perceptions
✔ Risk gaps
✔ Cash at close

We created a report that basically gurantees your business will be sold for the value you want. However you have to do what this report say.... So I figured, why not just show you everything that's inside our Market Value Assessment? This is the report that takes us 4-6 weeks to create. It's incredi...

09/23/2025

Should I sell now, or build more value first?”

Most owners ask this at some point.

The truth: many businesses don’t sell—not because they aren’t good, but because expectations don’t match the market.

That’s why we focus on value enhancement.

✅ Pinpoint your current value
✅ Show how reducing risks increases it
✅ Put a dollar amount on the changes you can make
✅ Give you a 6–18 month roadmap for the best possible exit

Selling isn’t just about today’s revenue.
It’s about creating the business the market wants to buy.

This part of our report is for the owner asking: "Should I sell now, or can I increase my company's value first?" It's a really valuable question. Because a lot of businesses go to market and don't sell. It happens more often than you'd think. One of the biggest reasons? The seller's expectations. A...

09/18/2025

Valuation isn’t one-size-fits-all, it’s a spectrum.

The smartest exits come from knowing which methods matter most to your business and weighting them correctly.

I want to show you one of my favorite slides. This is how we actually assess the value of a business. Here’s something I learned early on: A business's value isn't a single number. It's a spectrum. There are many different ways to value a company, a few are: → An EBITDA multiple → A cash flow ...

09/16/2025

Buyers ask for one number first: EBITDA.

Get it wrong → you kill the deal.
Get it right → you speak their language.

It’s the cleanest view of your business’s cash flow. And it drives your valuation multiple.

Know it. Defend it.

I've been on many tables doing exit deals, and I can tell you this: One of the first numbers a serious buyer will ask for is your EBITDA. Get it wrong, and you can kill a deal before it even starts. Get it right, and you’re speaking their language. So, what is it? EBITDA is more than just an acron...

09/15/2025

Great reminder!

When your primary goal is to be liked, you can't take risks. You can't disagree. You can't push boundaries. You become a prisoner of other people's expectations. Tiny Thought from Shane Parrish of

09/12/2025

Valuation isn’t just earnings × multiple.

Buyers price risk, not just profit.

High return + low risk = premium.
High return + high risk = discount.

Reduce risk → increase value.
Profit is good. Predictability is better.

&A

Most founders think valuation is just a formula: Earnings × Multiple = Value. But that’s only half the story. The other half—the risk side—is where millions are made or lost. Valuation isn’t just about what your business earns. It’s about the risk a buyer takes to achieve those returns. T...