Most business owners who think about an exit think about one number: what the business would sell for. A sale is only one way out, though, and its price tag is only one of its costs. This article makes the business case for pricing every exit option side by side in four currencies: money, control, time and people. It draws on Bo Burlingham's reporting on owners who exited well and badly, on Harvard Business Review work about buyers' plans after closing and about reactive succession planning, and on survey evidence that most private companies have no plan for an owner's unexpected departure. It shows why an option you never priced is one you cannot choose, and uses The Succession Filter™ (Ready, Right, Remains) to make exit planning an annual strategy decision instead of a crisis response.
Introduction
Ask an owner what their business is worth, and most will give you a number, even if they have to guess. Ask what it would cost them to leave, and the conversation usually stops.
Owners tend to price one exit, a sale, in one currency: money. Every way out of a business has a cost in at least four currencies, and a sale is rarely the cheapest in all of them.
Yesterday I asked how many ways out you have considered. Today's question is narrower: of the options on your list, how many have you actually priced?
Key Takeaways
• A sale price tells you what a buyer will pay, which is different from what the exit will cost you.
• Every exit option has a price in money, control, time, and people.
• What a buyer plans to do after closing is part of that price, and you are entitled to ask.
• Most private companies have no plan for an unexpected departure, so the exit most likely to happen is often the one nobody has priced.
• Pricing your options once a year turns exit planning into strategy.
A Sale Price and the Cost of Leaving
A sale price is a buyer's opinion of what your business is worth to them. That is useful to know, and owners often mistake it for the cost of the exit.
Bo Burlingham, who interviewed owners for his book Finish Big, reports that roughly half of them were content with how their exit went and roughly half regretted it. In his account, money had surprisingly little to do with which half they landed in. The owners with good exits felt fairly treated, could look back with pride, felt settled about how things turned out for the people who had helped build the business, and had found something worthwhile to do next. He argues that if any one of those is missing, a generous price will not save the exit.
If the outcome you care about depends on fairness, pride, people and purpose, an exit priced only in dollars is priced on the wrong scale.
Four Currencies
Take each way out and price it on four lines.
• Money: what you receive, when you receive it, and how much of it depends on the business performing after you leave.
• Control: how much say you keep over decisions, standards, and the name on the door, and for how long.
• Time: how many years the option needs to prepare, and how long it keeps you involved afterward.
• People: what happens to your team, your customers and the relationships you built, and how comfortable you will be with that in five years.
Set an outside sale, an internal buyout, a family transfer, stepping back while keeping ownership, and a deliberate wind-down next to each other on those four lines, and the comparison usually shifts. The option with the highest number often costs the most in control and people. The gentlest transition often needs the longest preparation, and time is the one currency you cannot buy back later.
You do not need precision to do this well. Score each line as a high, medium, or low cost to you, and put every option on a single page so you can see them side by side. Date the page. The first version will be rough, and that is fine, because the useful information comes from comparing it with next year's version: which costs fell because of work you did, and which rose while you were busy with other things.
Noam Wasserman's Harvard Business Review research on founders found that the value of what you build and your control over it tend to pull against each other. You do not have to settle that tension today, but you should know which side you would give up. If you do not choose, the exit option will choose for you.
Pricing the Buyer
The buyer is part of the price. Burlingham turns the old rule of caution around: in an exit, it is the seller who needs to beware. During the courtship, a buyer is selling to you, so the useful question is why they want your business and what they intend to do with it.
David Jegen has been through acquisitions as a founder, an investor, and a board member, and he makes the same point in Harvard Business Review. He advises founders to understand why they are being acquired and to press the buyer for its plan for the period after closing, because that plan decides what happens to employees and customers. He also notes that founders and the people they recruited often spend two to three years working inside the acquiring company. Those years belong in the price.
Before you discuss a number, ask:
1. Why does this buyer want this business, and what would they change first?
2. What happens to my people in the first year, specifically?
3. What role would I have, if any, and for how long?
Vague answers mean the price is higher than it looks.
The Exit Most Likely to Happen
One more exit belongs on the list, and owners least like to discuss it: the unplanned one. Illness, injury, a family emergency, or plain exhaustion can take an owner out of the business without warning.
J. Yo-Jud Cheng, Boris Groysberg and Paul Healy, writing in Harvard Business Review in 2020, report that 63% of private companies in their global survey of board members had no contingency plan for the unexpected departure of the chief executive. The article does not give the sample size, so take the exact figure with a grain of salt. The authors also note that the need is often more acute in small firms than in large ones. In a small firm, the owner is often the whole plan.
An unplanned exit that nobody priced gets priced anyway, at the worst moment, by whoever is left.
From Contingency File to Strategy
Jeff Rosenthal and Molly Rosen argued in Harvard Business Review in 2025 that most succession planning is reactive, too broad, and built for a steadier era than the one leaders face now. They recommend planning for what the organization will need next, beyond naming a backup for today's roles.
For an owner, that becomes a simple habit. Once a year, when you set budgets and goals, price your exit options in the four currencies. It takes about an hour, and it shows you which options are getting cheaper or more expensive as the business changes. It also turns up the work that would widen your choices, such as writing down how things run or developing someone who could lead. And if an offer or an emergency arrives next year, you can compare it with options you have already priced.
Then put the priced options through The Succession Filter™. Ready asks whether the business could operate without you and whether you have ever tested it. Right asks who you would refuse to hand it to and who would actually fit. Remains asks what persists after the handover. The strongest candidates usually stand out once all three questions have been asked.
An Example
Picture an owner with a profitable business, a capable second-in-command, and no plan, who receives an unsolicited offer. Without priced options, the only question available is whether the number is good enough. With them, the owner can see that the offer is strong on money, weak on control, and silent on people, and that an internal buyout over five years would cost less in two of the four currencies. The offer might still be the right choice, and now the owner can weigh it against something.
Final Thoughts
If you have only ever priced a sale, you have one option and nothing to compare it with.
This week, take your list of ways out and price each one on four lines: money, control, time, and people. Be honest on the people line. Then run your answers through The Succession Filter™ and see which options hold up.
Book Your Free Practice Efficiency Call
If you tried to price your options and could not fill in the time or people lines, the business probably depends on you in ways that are hard to see from the inside. A free 30-minute Practice Efficiency Call is a good way to find out where. https://calendly.com/drmjhanlon/the-hanlon-group-consultation
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It means estimating what each way out would cost you in money, control, time and people, in addition to what a buyer might pay. The comparison often changes which options look best.
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A professional valuation answers the money line for a sale. It does not answer the other three lines, or the money line for the other options. Price all four currencies first, and you will see which professional advice you actually need.
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Once a year is enough for most owners. Tie it to annual planning so it becomes routine.
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After pricing. The filter asks whether the business is Ready to run without you, whether a successor or buyer is Right, and what Remains after you leave. It helps you choose among the options you have priced.