Happy Thursday! Hope the week’s treating you well.
Quick question: if you sold your practice tomorrow, how confident are you that you wouldn’t leave $500K on the table?
Last year, we saw it happen 5+ times.
Practice owners sold for 20% less than they could have, and it’s happening more and more.
Not because of market conditions.
Because they made avoidable mistakes that buyers could see.
THE $500K MISTAKE
Here's what happens: A practice owner decides to sell. They call a buyer or broker.
The buyer comes in, pulls 3 years of financials, does a valuation, and makes an offer.
90% of sellers accept the first offer.
But here's the problem: That valuation was based on 'as-is' EBITDA.
If you spent 3 months optimizing before putting yourself on market, you'd have been worth $200K-$500K more.
That's the mistake. Selling without optimization.
THE 3 BIGGEST MISTAKES
MISTAKE #1: Messy Financials
What buyers see: Disorganized books, unclear EBITDA, questionable expenses
What they think: "This owner can't manage finances; I'll pay less"
How to fix: Reclass expenses, clean up P&L, document owner benefit add-backs
Impact: +5-8% valuation
MISTAKE #2: Owner-Dependent Revenue
What happens: Buyers see 70% of revenue from owner relationships
What they worry: "If owner leaves, revenue drops 40%"
How to fix: Systematize patient relationships, hire associates, prove recurring revenue
Impact: +10-15% valuation
MISTAKE #3: Weak Profitability
What buyers calculate: Based on current margins
What they don’t see: Room to cut costs, improve ops, raise prices
How to fix: Document cost reduction opportunities, show owner overhead you’ll absord
Impact: +8-12% valuation
THE EXACT OPTIMIZATION TIMELINE
Here’s what we tell sellers to do 12 months before sale:
Months 1-4: Financial cleanup + documentation
Months 5-8: Systematize operations, reduce owner dependency
Months 9-12: Final polish, get buyer-ready
Result: Same practice, $200K-$500K higher valuation.
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO
Multi-location practice, Pennsylvania, $800K EBITDA
Owner was thinking: Sell for $8M (10x multiple)
What we would find: 3 optimization opportunities
Owner compensation was bloated ($200K of non-essential expenses)
60% of revenue tied to owner relationships
Profitability could improve 15% with ops changes
Timeline: 9 months of optimization
Result: $9.2M sale (11.5x multiple)
That's $1.2M MORE than the original expectation.
The buyer wasn't paying for the market.
They were paying for a cleaned-up, systematized business.
YOUR NEXT STEP
If you're thinking about selling in 2026 or 2027, the time to optimize is NOW.
The most expensive mistake isn’t a bad buyer; it’s going to market before your numbers are ready and leaving money on the table.
If you want a second set of eyes on your practice, hit the button below to schedule a confidential valuation call.
We’ll walk through your numbers and highlight the 2–3 biggest levers to pull before you sell.
Thanks for reading, and until next week!
Keep winning,
Viper Partners