· EXIT PLANNING · BUSINESS SUCCESSION · OWNERSHIP TRANSFER
Plan Your Exit on Your Own Terms
An exit without a plan is an exit without leverage. Archer Lewis builds exit strategies that maximize your value, minimize your tax exposure, and give you control over the timing and the outcome, whether you're selling in two years or ten.
Our Approach
Start planning your exit before you're ready to leave.
The business owners who get the best outcomes from their exits are almost always the ones who started planning three to five years before they wanted to sell. This lead time is what allows you to improve margins, reduce customer concentration, build management depth, and structure the transaction to minimize taxes. Many of these opportunities are difficult to capture once an owner has already decided to sell. Archer Lewis works with business owners at every stage of exit readiness, from early-stage planning through transaction support and post-close tax strategy, so you exit on your timeline, at the right value, with the right structure.
What's Included
Exit planning from first conversation through closing
A successful business exit is built over years, not months. We work alongside you throughout the process.
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Exit Readiness Assessment
Where does your business stand today relative to what buyers want? We identify the gaps and the opportunities before you go to market.
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Value Enhancement Planning
Strategies to increase business value before exit: margin improvement, customer concentration, management depth, recurring revenue.
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Exit Structure Analysis
Sale to a strategic buyer, private equity, management team, family member, or ESOP. We analyze which path makes sense for your situation.
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Tax Planning for Exit
The tax implications of a business sale are significant and highly structure-dependent. We plan the transaction to minimize what you pay.
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Transaction Support
Financial due diligence support, buyer Q&A, and financial representation throughout the sale process.
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Post-Close Tax Strategy
What happens after closing matters too: installment sales, reinvestment of proceeds, estate planning integration.
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Contingency Planning
What if the planned exit doesn't happen? We build contingency strategies for illness, death, disability, and forced exits.
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Buy-Sell Agreement Review
Existing buy-sell agreements reviewed to ensure they reflect current business value and support your exit goals.
Planning ahead consistently produces stronger outcomes.
Buyers pay premiums for businesses that are well-documented, predictably profitable, and not dependent on the owner to function. Building those characteristics takes time, which is why exit planning done three to five years out consistently produces better outcomes than planning done in response to an offer. Archer Lewis helps you build toward the exit you're aiming for.
Start Your Exit Plan
Common Questions
What business owners ask about exit planning.
Three to five years before you want to exit is ideal, sometimes longer for complex businesses or family transitions. The earlier you start, the more time you have to increase value, fix problems buyers will find in due diligence, and structure the transaction tax-efficiently. Six months before a sale is not exit planning. It's damage control.
Predictable, recurring revenue. Profit margins that hold up under scrutiny. Management that can run the business without the owner. Diversified customer base: no single customer representing more than 15–20% of revenue. Clean financial records. Systems and processes that are documented and repeatable. We help you build toward all of these.
Sale to a strategic buyer, sale to a private equity firm, management buyout, sale to an ESOP, transfer to family members, or a planned wind-down. Each has different tax implications, timelines, and outcomes. We analyze which path makes sense given your goals, your business, and your financial situation.
It depends significantly on the structure. Asset sale vs. stock sale, installment payments, earnouts, and entity type all affect the tax outcome. There's meaningful planning opportunity when you start early. We model multiple scenarios so you understand the after-tax outcome of each before you commit to a structure.
That's what contingency planning addresses. A buy-sell agreement funded with life or disability insurance, a capable management team, and a documented business plan all protect you if circumstances force an exit before you're ready. Most business owners don't have these in place, until something forces the conversation.
