Do you discount the products you sell by 25% every day? Probably not. So why would you sell a business you spent a lifetime building for less than it's worth?
That's what happens when a buyer walks in with an AI playbook and you don't have one.
They're not paying you more for the modernization opportunity. They're keeping that upside for themselves.
The efficiency gains you could have captured show up in their returns, not your sale price.
The old pre-sale playbook was people-intensive and slow. Hire a GM. Transition client relationships. Document the tribal knowledge that lives in your head and nowhere else. Give it 18 months and hope the multiple holds. That's all still true. But there's a new tool in the chest, and most owners are walking right past it because nobody's explained it in terms that connect to their business.
Two out of three SMBs using AI automation saw revenue growth over 20% last year. Not because AI is magic. Because businesses with real systems run tighter, cost less to operate, and look better to a buyer.
PE firms spent $140 billion on AI deals last year. They have a playbook for this. The question is whether you have one too.
What's it worth? Probably more than you think. If you get there first.