How to price a business with no revenue
Valuing a fully built business infrastructure that has generated zero historical revenue makes it difficult to determine a fair asking price or figure out a realistic exit strategy. Without historical earnings to rely on, owners are left guessing at a fair market value for all their built work, which stops them from setting a clear price or structuring a clean deal.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Settling for a low, throwaway valuation for a quick exitDid this help you?
- 2Transitioning out of the entire industry due to fatigueDid this help you?
- 3consulting business brokersDid this help you?
- 4looking at historical revenue multipliersDid this help you?
- 5asking online communities for valuation opinionsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“What would you consider a fair selling price for this home daycare business in Los Angeles?”source ↗
“I’m trying to figure out a realistic asking price and what the business might actually sell for.”source ↗
“If I made about $12K in profit for a couple years in a row, what's a reasonable asking price if I were to sell?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How do you value a restaurant without clean add-backs?
- 2How do you figure out what a business is actually worth?
- 3How to value a small retail business with declining profits and rent hikes
- 4How do you sell a minority share in an unprofitable small business?
- 13How do I know if I should sell my business?
- 2How to negotiate a retention bonus without equity