5 August 2026 • by Alexis Chiang
Every founder eventually asks me the same thing, usually just before we wrap up our first call or meeting. What do you think my business is worth?
I used to think I had to come prepared with an answer but I’ve come to realise that’s not really what most founders are asking for, and it’s not something I’m equipped to give anyway.
The question rarely stays simple either. Someone usually asks whether they should be looking at revenue or EBITDA multiples, though most of the time, I don’t think they’re really asking about methodology. They want someone else to confirm what they already believe.
Founders tend to describe what their business cost them: years of reinvested cash flow, the year a key client left and they rebuilt from nothing. Buyers rarely see any of that. Sometimes, when I speak to buyers, what comes up instead is whether cash flow holds without the founder in the room, and how concentrated the customer base is. It’s the same list you’d find searching what affects business valuation, right after multiples.
And the answer changes again depending on who’s actually asking. I’ve heard strategic buyers ask about synergies and market access, while financial buyers focus on cash flow. It’s not just buyer type either, a buyer based in Japan asks a different question again, because the same business fits a different ecosystem depending on where they sit. Japanese mid-sized firms in particular have been leaning into Southeast Asia for exactly that reason lately, pushed by a shrinking population, to look for growth through acquisitions and partnerships instead of waiting it out at home.
Sellers know more than they think, even if founders rarely give themselves credit for it. Most have spent years watching who’s expanding, who’s struggling, who’s circling adjacent markets. I’ve sat with founders going over what a buyer might ask, and more than once they’ve answered before I’ve even finished the question, because they know this business, better than I ever will. What founders need help with usually isn’t the valuation. It’s working out the story for who’s most likely to buy, from where, and why.
It’s around this point that these conversations stop being just about selling the business, usually without anyone announcing it. I don’t think that’s a distraction. Most founders’ sense of their own worth keeps shifting the longer they sit with the question.
If you’re weighing a sale, whole or partial, that’s the question worth sitting with before any number gets thrown around. Not what it’s worth. Who wants it, and why.
