Business valuation · Companies under $300M in sales
Know what your life’s work is worth. At no cost.
A credentialed team prices your business from your own financials. Three answers to start.
What it costs you
$0
What’s in this number
No obligation. Not conditioned on buying anything. Any compensation that follows is disclosed in writing first.
What you walk away with
- Your business priced from your own financials, in writing.
- Who takes over, and the agreement that makes it happen.
- What a buyer or a successor would actually pay.
Priced from your financial statements by Certified Valuation Analysts, with tax attorneys, exit planners and financial planners around them. Your CPA and attorney stay.
What is a pro bono business valuation?
Longtable’s pro bono business valuation prices a company under $300 million in sales from its own financial statements, at no cost and with no obligation, by Certified Valuation Analysts working with tax attorneys, exit planners (CEPA®) and financial planners (CFP®). You receive a defensible range in writing, plus the tax breaks your return is missing, confirmed with your own CPA.
The proof
Most of your wealth is tied up, and no one has priced it.
Owners get a price only when forced to: a sale, a bank, a divorce, a death. Late, and from someone with a reason to guess low.
Chart 1
Most of your wealth is tied up, and no one has priced it
Tied up in your business
Everything else
A loan, leaving the business or a death demands cash from the thin slice.
$8.5MOwner guessed
$12MLow $6.5MHigh $11.5M
Never priced, the honest answer is a range. Owners carry one number in their head, usually above it.
Source. Longtable illustration.
Illustrative example. Confirm with your CPA.
View the figures as a table
| Illustrative figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Your share of the business (hard to turn into cash) | 82% of total wealth |
| Cash and everything outside the business | 18% of total wealth |
| Valuation range, low | $6.5M |
| Valuation range, most likely | $8.5M |
| Valuation range, high | $11.5M |
| What the owner assumed | $12M |
How it works
From three answers to the number in writing.
Start with three answers.
Done, above. A 30-minute call sets the scope and what to send. Your CPA and attorney welcome; nothing to sign.
Send the financials.
Three years of statements and returns, your agreements, your top customers and any prior valuation or offer.
Walk through the number, and the map.
The range in writing, then what you pass on, your business and your personal money around it. If we cannot add value, we say so.
More information
What it covers. Legacy: who takes over, cash for your family when it is needed, an agreement on who buys whose share. Business: reliance on one or two key people, missing or handshake agreements, the gap between what it is worth and what is set aside to protect it. Personal: what you own and owe, your retirement income, and your taxes, with payroll tax, the solar credit, the R&D credit and every other break confirmed with your own CPA. What a $100M family gets from its private team of advisors. We manage risk, not investments.
For your CPA and attorney. Asset, income and market approaches into a defensible range, by Certified Valuation Analysts (CVA), with tax attorneys, CEPA® exit planners and CFP® professionals around it. A formal appraisal report when a sale, financing or a tax filing needs one. Companies under $300M in annual sales.
Most owner cases are liquidity cases, not estate-tax cases. For 2026 the federal estate exemption is $15 million per person. The pressing question is usually cash on the worst day: a loan due, a partner leaving, a death. The valuation puts a number under that question.
What it is not. Not investment management, not a single product quote, not conditioned on anything. If we cannot add value to the plan you already have, we tell you.
Is it a fit?
Built for.
- Under $300M in sales, never formally priced.
- Partners, things that have grown in value, or a question of who takes over.
- A CPA, an attorney, an advisor, and no one plan.
- You want someone to manage your investments.
- You want a price on one product, without the planning.
Straight answers
Questions, answered.
- Is it really at no cost?
- Yes. No cost, no obligation, not conditioned on buying anything. Any compensation that follows is disclosed in writing first.
- Who performs it?
- Certified Valuation Analysts (CVA, who price businesses), with tax attorneys, exit planners (CEPA®) and financial planners (CFP®) around them. Your attorney writes the documents, your CPA confirms.
- What do I need to send?
- Three years of financial statements and tax returns, your company, partner, buyout and key-employee agreements, your top customers and their share of sales, and any prior valuation, offer or appraisal.
Schedule a Meeting
Start with the valuation. Meet the specialist.
No cost, no obligation.
Or call 248.742.0065Mon – Fri: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM