Bob Paden's process doesn't start with listing your business. It starts with understanding what your business is actually worth, and what it would take to make it worth more before you go to market.
The ValueBuilder™ assessment reveals the eight factors buyers actually use to evaluate your business and shows you exactly where your gaps are. That's the beginning of everything.
Every engagement begins with the ValueBuilder™ assessment. This isn't a quick estimate. It's a systematic evaluation of the eight value drivers that buyers use when they evaluate any business. Most owners are surprised by what the assessment reveals, both the gaps they didn't see and the strengths they didn't know how to articulate.
The score gives both Bob and the owner a shared language for what the business is worth today and what it would need to look like to command a premium. That's a very different starting point than "let's list it and see what happens."
Revenue growth, margins, and cash flow consistency
How well your market opportunity scales beyond current size
Freedom from dependence on any single customer, employee, or supplier
Whether your business generates cash or consumes it as it grows
The proportion of revenue that is predictable and automatic
How well you're differentiated from competitors in your market
The likelihood your customers refer others and return themselves
How dependent the business is on the owner to function and close deals
This stage is where most brokers don't go, and it's why so many deals fall apart in due diligence or close below expectations. Once the ValueBuilder™ Score identifies the specific factors suppressing your business's market value, Bob works with owners to address them methodically before the business is ever listed.
This might mean reducing owner dependency, strengthening management depth, improving the documentation of processes and financials, or addressing customer concentration risk. Each step is targeted toward the specific gaps your score revealed, not generic "improve your business" advice.
Businesses that go to market with visible gaps sell at discounts, or don't sell at all. Buyers price in risk. Every gap you close before listing improves your position. Bob believes this stage is where the outcome is actually determined, a step most brokers don't take.
When the business is positioned correctly, Bob manages the transaction from start to finish. This includes identifying and qualifying buyers, often managing a parallel buyer process (so the seller is never in a single-buyer negotiation without leverage), navigating due diligence, and structuring the transaction to protect the seller's interests.
Bob won't take a listing he can't sell. That means he only brings a business to market when he believes the conditions, positioning, and timing are right. It's a harder standard, and it's why his clients close.
The ValueBuilder™ Score is where every engagement begins. It takes about 15 minutes and gives you a concrete benchmark: a clear picture of the gaps that matter.