Sell Your Agency in 18 Months, Not Three Years - with Steve Guberman

The window to sell an agency is shrinking, and founders who wait three years may find a very different market waiting for them. Private equity won't touch a solopreneur or a 10 to 15 person agency, yet consolidation is reshaping the industry level by level, driven by AI, burned-out founders and a wave of retiring owners.In this episode, we sit down with Steve Guberman, founder of Agency Outsight and a former agency owner who went through his own exit, to break down what is actually happening in agency M&A right now, what buyers look for before they say yes, and why he urges founders who want out to move in 18 months instead of three years.You will learn:-Why private equity skips solopreneur and 10 to 15 person agencies, and who buys them instead-The factors buyers weigh, from owner dependency and client concentration to systems, profitability and niche-Why client relationships and business development are the hardest things to get off a founder's plate-How a small acqui-hire can take business development off your plate before you sell-Why clean books and a realistic view of multiples matter before you go to market