Exit Algorithms

Peter Vera
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Business
  • Updated Monthly

Unlock growth, streamline operations, and prepare your business for a high-value exit. Exit Algorithms features founders, 3PL leaders, and forward-thinking execs who share proven strategies for leveraging technology, automation, and AI to maximize value so you can scale smarter and sell stronger. Tailored for business owners who want to grow, scale, and plan a successful exit.

  1. 2d ago

    Build Your Business So It Is Easy to Buy | George Pillari, Crisis Manager to 100+ Companies (#106)

    How to prepare your business for sale so buyers see low risk and pay more. George Pillari, a crisis manager who has worked inside more than 100 companies and a former Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, explains what buyers check first and what makes them walk away. Want to know what makes your logistics business worth more? Download the free Business Value Cheat Sheet: 10 Steps to Increase the Value of Your Business: https://bizexitgrow.com/cheat-sheet George says to design your exit before you need it. The cheat sheet gives you 10 ways to start now. In this episode: – Why you should plan your exit before building the business, and how one ERP makes you easier to acquire – How recurring revenue and customer concentration change the risk a buyer sees – The three things George checks first as a buyer: quality of earnings, people, and regulatory exposure – Why disclosing a bad fact early builds trust, while letting a buyer find it kills the deal – Why every seller now needs an AI strategy, even a small one Connect with George: https://runningfoxpartners.com | Newsletter: The Cautionary (https://www.stupid.blog) Chapters 0:00 Welcome and guest introduction 1:02 From healthcare data analyst to IBM exit 5:45 Why you should plan your exit before you start 8:00 How consolidating systems makes you easier to buy 9:00 Why buyers pay more for recurring revenue 10:09 How customer concentration scares buyers away 11:20 What spring loading means for a smooth acquisition 12:46 The three things buyers check first 16:18 Why transparency protects your deal 17:15 Why distressed companies bet the farm and lose 20:47 Why passive boards fail owners 22:57 How AI compares to the internet and smartphones 26:56 Practical AI uses for business owners 32:44 Why you need an AI strategy before you sell #ExitAlgorithms #ExitPlanning #SmallBusinessOwner

  2. 6d ago

    What Moves Your Multiple in the Final 18 Months | Matt Bradbury (#105)

    Own a logistics business doing $2M or more in revenue? Apply for a confidential Business Valuation Call to learn what your company could be worth: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call Matt Bradbury founded Business Acquisition & Merger Associates in Charlotte, North Carolina, a lower middle-market M&A firm serving companies with $5 million to $100 million in revenue . Over two decades he led the sale of roughly 215 companies representing close to $2 billion in transaction value, most of them blue-collar manufacturing, distribution, and B2B service businesses . In this episode, Pete Vera and Matt cover what genuinely moves your multiple, why gross margin tells buyers the truth about your pricing power, and a low-effort move that can add more than a turn of EBITDA. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Why growth with expanding margins beats growth aloneHow to calculate gross margin the way a buyer reads itWhy 22 percent gross margin in a service business signals you compete on priceThe seasoning rule for new leadership before a saleWhy disclosing problems early protects your dealHow to choose an M&A attorneyThe acquisition conversations that add value even when they never closeTIMESTAMPS 00:00 Meet Matt Bradbury 00:56 From the fitness industry to M&A 03:02 Why owners get stuck in Groundhog Day 04:42 Growth with expanding margins 06:20 Gross margin as the truth teller 07:35 Why not to change leadership before market 09:51 Preparing at 45 versus preparing at 65 12:49 Why owners stop investing near the end 14:00 Disclose it, because buyers hate surprises 16:13 Choosing the right attorney and advisors 18:33 The vacation test for key man risk 21:07 How BAMA uses AI 25:32 Matt's practical tip CONNECT WITH BUSINESS ACQUISITION AND MERGER ASSOCIATES: Website: https://www.buysellyourbusiness.com Phone: 704-295-0102 LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExitAlgorithms Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lTaP8U9DIJhI0VbwHn5t9 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-algorithms/id1820424898 Ready to plan your next chapter? Book a confidential call: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call #ExitPlanning #BusinessValuation #MergersAndAcquisitions

  3. Sep 21

    Run Due Diligence on Yourself Before a Buyer Does | Dev Shah (#104)

    Own a logistics business doing $2M or more in revenue? Apply for a confidential Business Valuation Call to learn what your company could be worth: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call Dev Shah is the founder of Pocket Fund, a holding company that acquires and operates profitable digital businesses, and its buy-side advisory arm Kautilya, which builds acquisition pipelines for funds, family offices, and search funds in the lower middle market. In this episode, Pete Vera and Dev cover what buyers actually examine, why sellers should run diligence on themselves first, and why a deal that looks too good gets rejected. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Why running your own due diligence builds buyer trustHow to segment your customer base before a buyer does it for youWhy strategic and financial buyers evaluate you completely differentlyHow aligning with a strategic buyer's KPIs makes a deal more likely to closeWhy less revenue with strong retention can beat more revenue with churnWhy buyers walk away from businesses that look too good to be trueHow he grew a business with Reddit and influencer marketing on almost no budgetHow to train AI on your own voice so your emails do not read as AI TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Meet Dev Shah 00:49 From India to Claremont McKenna to acquire.com 02:00 Buying his first business for $4,000 04:16 What he would do differently 05:59 Strategic buyers versus financial buyers 07:46 Retention, churn, and the numbers buyers screen on 08:30 Why buyers care who is across the table 09:53 Building a real deal room and doing segment research 11:42 What he finds that sellers did not know 12:50 Why too good to be true gets rejected 14:44 Growing Sourcely from $500 to $5,000 MRR 19:16 Reddit, influencers, and scrappy marketing 22:20 His AI workflow for meetings and tasks 25:16 Training AI on your own voice 25:40 Dev's practical tip CONNECT WITH DEV Pocket Fund: https://pocket-fund.com Kautilya: https://www.kautilya-pe.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devlikesbizness X: https://x.com/devlikesbizness Newsletter: https://thisisbizness.beehiiv.com LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExitAlgorithms Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lTaP8U9DIJhI0VbwHn5t9 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-algorithms/id1820424898 Ready to plan your next chapter? Book a confidential call: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call #ExitPlanning #DueDiligence #MergersAndAcquisitions #BusinessValuation

  4. Sep 17

    The Hidden Value Most Owners Never Look At: Pricing and Tax Timing | Carter Looney (#103)

    Own a logistics business doing $2M or more in revenue? Apply for a confidential Business Valuation Call to learn what your company could be worth: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call Carter Looney is Principal Advisor at Meritage Partners, a lower middle-market M&A and exit planning firm that has executed more than $2 billion in founder liquidity events. He brings over 25 years as a business owner, operator-investor, and turnaround specialist.meritage-partners+2 His track record includes a management buy-in that he grew to a couple hundred people before exiting in 2010, and a partnership with two brothers at an automotive supplier where they took EBITDA from roughly $2.5 million to $13.2 million in four years, moving enterprise value from $18 million to $92 million before bringing in private equity. In this episode, Pete Vera and Carter cover the value levers most exit content ignores, why tax planning has a hard deadline, and the reporting habit with the highest return on investment in any business. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Meet Carter Looney 00:56 From an IBM accelerator to a management buy-in 03:15 Why the owner's time is almost always the bottleneck 03:41 Taking an automotive supplier from $2.5M to $13.2M EBITDA 06:16 Building an ecosystem around the business owner 09:28 What he wishes he had known before his first exit 11:43 Where hidden value actually sits 13:38 The pricing conversation owners avoid 16:30 How market timing affects your price by 30 percent 17:20 How far in advance to start 19:30 Choosing private equity versus a family office 21:21 Why the three plus one plus one model shapes buyer behavior 27:02 Tax planning and the LOI deadline 32:23 Turnaround lessons that apply to healthy companies 35:23 Why cash flows like air and profit like bread 36:41 Using AI to ask better questions, not get answers 41:06 Carter's practical tip CONNECT WITH CARTER LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bc-looney Meritage Partners: https://meritage-partners.com He offers appointment booking directly through his LinkedIn profile LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExitAlgorithms Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lTaP8U9DIJhI0VbwHn5t9 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-algorithms/id1820424898 Ready to plan your next chapter? Book a confidential call: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call #ExitPlanning #BusinessValuation #MergersAndAcquisitions #TaxPlanning

  5. Sep 15

    Every Dollar You Spend Costs You 20 at the Closing Table | Joshua Gould (#102)

    Own a logistics business doing $2M or more in revenue? Apply for a confidential Business Valuation Call to learn what your company could be worth: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call WHY THIS MATTERS FOR LOGISTICS OWNERS Joshua walked through a plumbing company with five trucks doing $5 million to show how this works. Normal multiple of four to five times cash flow. But if the owner answers every phone and does every quote, a buyer expects to lose half the revenue while fixed costs stay put, which can wipe out the profit entirely. The same math applies to a trucking company where the owner holds every shipper relationship. Joshua Gould is Group CEO of thebigword, a global language services and technology company delivering translation and interpretation in over 250 languages across more than 80 countries. He helped grow the business from $6 million to over $100 million in revenue, sold it to a US private equity firm in 2021, and stayed on to lead a $20 million investment into AI and automation. In this episode, Pete Vera and Joshua cover what buyers actually price, why every dollar of waste multiplies against you at exit, and why owner dependence can take a valuation to nothing. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Meet Joshua Gould 01:16 From defense contracting to CEO of thebigword 02:53 The advice nobody dares give about choosing a buyer 04:00 Roll equity and why the partner is a marriage 05:16 Watching his father go through the day after 07:09 The paradigm shift from long term to short term 08:30 Why cash flow is the only number 10:25 Cutting waste without gutting the business 12:39 The windowless office and the $140,000 plane ticket 13:40 How far in advance to start 14:44 The Uber Eats and credit card analogy 18:24 Why he hires leaders, not culture 20:59 Always be recruiting, even when you cannot afford it 23:52 Treating inflation as a choice 26:49 How being the bottleneck can zero out your valuation 32:00 Selling AI since 2006 and what happened with Honda 38:14 End product AI versus AI agents 40:17 Joshua's practical tip CONNECT WITH JOSHUA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuadgould thebigword: https://thebigword.com His podcast: Execcraft LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExitAlgorithms Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lTaP8U9DIJhI0VbwHn5t9 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-algorithms/id1820424898 Ready to plan your next chapter? Book a confidential call: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call #ExitPlanning #BusinessValuation #CashFlow #PrivateEquity

  6. Sep 9

    Why Owners Need 2 to 3 Years Before Selling | Buy and Build Advisors (#101)

    Own a logistics business doing $2M or more in revenue? Apply for a confidential Business Valuation Call to learn what your company could be worth: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call David Girault and Andrew Lamb co-founded Buy and Build Advisors, a Texas-based firm that helps lower middle-market owners understand what their business is worth and prepare to buy, build, or sell. David is an M&A attorney, Certified M&A Advisor, and former trucking owner. Andrew is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor who spent 25 years across Digital Equipment, Compaq, and HP, finishing as head of transformation. Their book Clarity Before Capital is out now! In this episode, Pete Vera, David, and Andrew cover the gap between what owners think their business is worth and what buyers pay, plus a playbook for removing owner dependence. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Why two to three years is the real minimum runway before sellingWhy valuation is a range set by the market, with your position in it set by youHow reviewed and audited financials can add a full turn to your multipleThe four reasons buyers acquire: market share, team, IP, and suppliersThe 1-3-1 process that tests how dependent your team is on you TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Meet David Girault and Andrew Lamb 08:03 Valuing with your heart instead of the market 10:46 Why the runway is two to three years 12:03 Valuation is a range, and you choose where you land 14:43 The accounting cleanup that compounds 17:57 What operational due diligence examines 25:14 The four reasons anyone acquires a company 28:21 The owner dependence playbook 38:06 The 1-3-1 process 46:30 Their practical tip A buyer is acquiring a predictable stream of future cash flows. Anything that makes your business look more predictable raises the number. CONNECT WITH DAVID AND ANDREW https://buyandbuildadvisors.com Book: Clarity Before Capital on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972014226?lv=shuf&channelId=481&plpRedirect=mhFallback LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExitAlgorithms Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lTaP8U9DIJhI0VbwHn5t9 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-algorithms/id1820424898 Ready to plan your next chapter? Book a confidential call: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call #ExitPlanning #BusinessValuation #MergersAndAcquisitions #DueDiligence

  7. Sep 2

    What Buyers Look For Before They Pay a Premium | Carl Allen, 400+ Acquisitions (#100)

    Own a logistics business doing $2M or more in revenue? Apply for a confidential Business Valuation Call to learn what your company could be worth: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call This is the 100th episode of Exit Algorithms, and Carl Allen is the right guest to mark it. Carl is the founder and CEO of Dealmaker Wealth Society and a founding partner at 9F8 Capital, a lower mid-market private equity fund with roughly $300 million under management. He is in his 34th year as a dealmaker, has closed more than 400 acquisitions totaling over $48 billion in deal value across Bank of America, HP, and his own portfolio, and has taught more than 62,000 students who have closed over a billion dollars in transactions. In this episode, Pete Vera and Carl cover why only one in eleven businesses listed for sale actually sells, the four types of buyers and what each one costs you, and the weekly measurement habit that adds multiples to your valuation. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN 1. Why 2.5 million small businesses are for sale and only one in eleven closes 2. The Castaway test Carl uses in every seller conversation 3. Why the owner should be the GPS, not the driver 4. The four buyer types and the tradeoff between valuation and legacy 5. Why two businesses with identical financials sell for very different prices 6. Why most owners fly the plane with no dials TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The 100th episode 01:49 From Bank of America to HP to 37 businesses 10:16 The mindset shift every first time seller must make 12:07 The bus analogy and the seven owner jobs 16:00 Why only one in eleven businesses sells 18:41 The Castaway test 21:00 Strategic, financial, individual, and employee buyers 27:00 The seller whose three deal points had nothing to do with money 32:26 The transfer of value 34:34 Why weekly numbers add multiples 44:11 Where AI disrupts and where it only optimizes 48:39 Carl's practical tip Carl used a transportation company as his example. If you know every customer and supplier personally and nothing is documented, a buyer is acquiring your institutional memory, which walks out with you. CONNECT WITH CARL Free training, normally $1,000, offered to Exit Algorithms listeners: https://trainwithcarl.com https://www.youtube.com/@CarlAllenOfficial LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExitAlgorithms Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lTaP8U9DIJhI0VbwHn5t9 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-algorithms/id1820424898 Ready to plan your next chapter? Book a confidential call: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call #ExitPlanning #MergersAndAcquisitions #BusinessValuation #PrivateEquity

  8. Aug 26

    How to Prepare Your Team for the Conversations an Exit Requires | Nicole Alos (#99)

    Own a logistics business doing $2M or more in revenue? Apply for a confidential Business Valuation Call to learn what your company could be worth: https://www.bizexitgrow.com/valuation-call Nicole Alos is the founder of Socratyc, an executive coach, and the creator of Socratyc Sidekick, an AI powered role play tool that lets leaders rehearse high stakes conversations before they happen. She is an authorized partner for Everything DiSC, The Five Behaviors, and Situational Leadership, and her company was selected for the Spring 2026 gBETA Pennsylvania cohort run by gener8tor in partnership with Meta. In this episode, Pete Vera and Nicole cover how to build a sales team that scales, how to delegate your way out of being the bottleneck, and why the conversations you have with your team during a sale can make or break the outcome. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Why hiring more people like your sales leader limits your reachWhat DiSC reveals about how your team communicates and sellsHow the Five Behaviors framework builds trust before resultsThe one question to ask every new hire in their first weeksWhy delegation should be judged task by task, not person by personHow to improve retention through curiosity instead of compensationWhere to use AI and where Nicole refuses to TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Meet Nicole Alos 01:01 From sales leadership to founding Socratyc 04:30 Building a sales team that scales 05:41 DiSC explained 07:41 Assessing style during interviews 09:18 The Five Behaviors and healthy conflict 11:26 Retention without more compensation 14:23 Delegating out of the bottleneck 17:21 A practical delegation audit 18:45 How Socratyc Sidekick was built 22:35 Where she uses AI and where she does not 25:40 Nicole's practical tip WHY THIS MATTERS FOR LOGISTICS OWNERS During a sale you cannot tell your team everything, but silence creates its own problems. Nicole's point is that these conversations deserve rehearsal, not improvisation. Her delegation framework also addresses the owner dependence issue buyers price into every trucking and 3PL deal. CONNECT WITH NICOLE Website: https://www.nicolealos.com Socratyc: https://socratyc.com Socratyc Sidekick: https://www.socratycsidekick.ai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolealos Start here: https://founderready.ai LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExitAlgorithms Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lTaP8U9DIJhI0VbwHn5t9 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exit-algorithms/id1820424898 #Leadership #ExitPlanning #SalesLeadership #AIinBusiness

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Unlock growth, streamline operations, and prepare your business for a high-value exit. Exit Algorithms features founders, 3PL leaders, and forward-thinking execs who share proven strategies for leveraging technology, automation, and AI to maximize value so you can scale smarter and sell stronger. Tailored for business owners who want to grow, scale, and plan a successful exit.

Information

  • Creator
    Peter Vera
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    107
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Peter Vera
  • Show Website
    Exit Algorithms