Why write an exit plan at all
Most founders have an exit plan of a kind: a rough idea of when they might stop, and a hope about what the business might be worth. Written down, that becomes far more useful. It can be tested against the evidence, shared with your accountant and tax adviser, and measured against every quarter.
Nik's view
The temptation is to start with the transaction. In my experience, the bigger opportunity usually sits much earlier: building a stronger business that gives you choices about when, how and whether you eventually leave.
The British Business Bank’s guide to selling your business makes the case for planning ahead: preparing your business for sale gives you the best possible chance of getting a higher price, and that preparation includes planning the right exit route beforehand. The founder interviewed in Top tips: how I exited my business adds a discipline worth borrowing: design several exit strategies, pick one and commit to it.
A good exit plan is short. A few pages that you actually use beat a long document that sits in a drawer.
| Section | The question it answers | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| Your goals | What do I want from the exit? | Why, when, the outcome you need and your role afterwards |
| Your route | Which way out suits those goals? | A preferred route and a fallback, and what each would need |
| Where you stand | How would a buyer see the business today? | A dated baseline score, pillar by pillar |
| The gaps | What has to change first? | Each gap, what good looks like, an owner and a date |
| People | Who runs, and owns, the business after me? | Today’s leaders, tomorrow’s, and the plan to get there |
| Advisers | Who will help, and when? | Accountant, tax adviser, solicitor and others, and when each comes in |
| Timeline | What happens when? | Quarter by quarter, working back from your target date |
| Review | How will the plan stay current? | A quarterly review, rescored and dated |
Eight sections, each with the question it answers. Use it as your template; the rest of this guide takes them in turn.
Your goals
Start with yourself, not the business. In SCALE2SELL® this is Founder Worth: what the business gives you today, and what you need it to give you when you leave. Answer in writing:
- Why do you want to exit, and why now? Retirement, a new venture, health, family, or simply time for someone else.
- What outcome do you need from an exit? This isn’t a valuation of the business. It is the financial outcome below which an exit may not achieve what you need it to achieve.
- When? A target date, and how flexible it is.
- What role do you want afterwards? A clean break, a handover period, a continuing stake or a board seat.
- What matters beyond the money? Your team, your customers, the name, your legacy.
Your personal requirement and the market value of the business are two different questions. A good exit plan has to understand both.
Date the answers. They will change as you learn more, and the change is useful information in itself.
Your preferred route, and a fallback
List the routes that could deliver your goals, then choose a preferred one and a fallback. The British Business Bank lists a trade sale, a full or partial sale to private equity, a sale to a family office or a high net worth individual, a flotation, refinancing, an employee ownership trust and a joint venture. Management buyouts and family succession sit alongside them.
For each route you consider, note who the likely owners would be, what they would value most and what the route would ask of you. Our guide Exit routes explained compares the main options, and Management buyouts explained covers selling to your own team.
Where the business stands today
Next, an honest baseline. Look at the business as a buyer, an investor or a successor would. The British Business Bank lists the evidence that can make selling a business easier: increasing profits, increasing turnover, strong cash flows, a wide and growing customer base, and good visibility on forward contracts.
In SCALE2SELL® the baseline is a score from 1 to 5 on each of the eight pillars. You can take a first reading in a few minutes with the free Readiness Assessment, and record it in the plan with the date. Note the two or three areas that would hold a buyer back most: they become the core of the plan.
The gaps to close
This is the heart of the plan: the changes that would make the business more valuable, more transferable and easier to examine. For each gap, write down what good looks like, who owns the work and when it should be done.
Common gaps include:
- Dependence on you, in decisions, relationships, know-how or sales. See How to make your business less dependent on you.
- Customer concentration: too much revenue from too few customers. See customer concentration risk.
- Numbers that would not stand up to scrutiny, or that arrive too late to run the business on.
- A leadership team that is not yet ready to run the business without you.
- Legal and commercial loose ends: unsigned contracts, unclear ownership of intellectual property, records out of date. Our guide to due diligence lists what a buyer will check.
A gap closed before a sale is one less question during it.
People and succession
Every exit needs someone to run the business afterwards. Write down who leads today, who could lead without you, and what has to happen for them to be ready. If your route is a management buyout or family succession, this section is also about who will own the business.
Our guide Exit planning vs succession planning explains how the two plans fit together.
Your advisers, and when they come in
List the advisers your route will need and when each should be involved: an accountant who knows the business, a tax adviser, a solicitor with transaction experience, and transaction advisers where your route needs them. ICAEW’s find a chartered accountant directory lists member firms.
Tax advice belongs near the start. Tax can shape which route makes sense, how a deal is structured and what you keep, and rates and reliefs change over time. GOV.UK’s guides to Capital Gains Tax for business and Business Asset Disposal Relief give the background; this guide states no figures.
Take advice early
Take advice from your tax adviser before you commit to a route or a structure, not once terms are agreed.
The timeline
Set the plan out in time, working back from your target date. A simple structure:
- This quarter: goals written down, a baseline score, and the first gaps identified.
- This year: the main gaps worked on, advisers briefed, and tax advice taken on your preferred route.
- Before going to market, or before handing over: the business tested without you, records and contracts in order, and a confidentiality plan agreed.
- The transaction or handover itself, and your own transition afterwards.
The changes that make the biggest difference, such as building the leadership team and broadening the customer base, take quarters and years rather than weeks. Our guide How long does it take to sell a business? explains why the preparation clock matters most.
How you will review it
Decide now how the plan stays alive. A quarterly review works for most founders: rescore the business, update the timeline, and note what has changed in your own goals and in the market. Keep each version, dated, so you can see the progress.
This is how SCALE2SELL® plans run: a quarterly readiness review against the eight pillars, with an executive dashboard and a readiness radar that show the trend over time.
Writing your plan with Stratworth
Our exit planning work turns this template into a plan for your business, founder to founder. Nik Spencer brings 34 years of founder experience and 3 successful business exits, and SCALE2SELL® provides the structure: eight pillars, each scored from 1 to 5, a toolkit of practical worksheets and scorecards for each, and quarterly reviews.
We prepare and guide; we do not arrange sales, find buyers, produce formal valuations, or give tax, legal or investment advice. Start by scoring your business with the free Readiness Assessment, then book a complimentary Founder Conversation with Nik.
Related SCALE2SELL® pillar 01 of 08Vision & ValueClarity of purpose, and a direction the whole business shares.Vision & Value in detailSources
- British Business Bank: Selling your businessbritish-business-bank.co.uk
- British Business Bank: Top tips, how I exited my businessbritish-business-bank.co.uk
- ICAEW: Find a chartered accountanticaew.com
- GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax for businessgov.uk
- GOV.UK: Business Asset Disposal Reliefgov.uk
All sources checked in October 2026. We cite only authoritative UK sources, and leave out any figure we cannot source.
