Recurring contract mix
Monthly recurring revenue under contract versus project and break-fix work. The single biggest driver of your multiple. Buyers pay for revenue that shows up without being re-sold.
For managed service providers
Selling your MSP is a once-in-a-lifetime trade. The buyers do it every month.
IT services is consolidating faster than any services category in memory, and the platforms doing the buying have this down to a system: an outreach team, a playbook, and a model that already knows what they'll pay before they call you. I spent ten years on that side of the table selling software and services companies. This practice exists to put that process to work for the founder instead.
No email or sign-up necessary. 100% confidential.
75+
Private-equity-backed platforms actively acquiring IT services and software companies, per industry trackers
47
Acquisitions closed by the single most active platform last year, 33 of them managed service providers
2
Of the most active consolidators are headquartered here in the DC metro
Figures from public deal announcements and industry trackers, 2025.
The first-call trap
The offer that finds you is not the offer you want.
When a platform calls you directly, one buyer is setting the price, the structure, and the pace, and you have no alternative at the table. The fix isn't negotiating harder. It's competition: several qualified buyers, a defensible earnings number, and terms compared side by side. That's the difference between the first offer and the best one, and it's the entire reason a success fee pays for itself.
What buyers score
The eight things a platform's diligence team will grade.
Every acquirer in this market runs roughly the same scorecard. Knowing it a year or two early is worth more than any negotiation tactic later. Most of these are fixable with time, and none of them are fixable in diligence.
Contract terms
Term length, auto-renewal, and the one owners miss: assignability. A contract that can't transfer in a sale is a discount waiting to be discovered in diligence.
Client concentration
Your largest client as a share of revenue. Over 20% gets priced into every offer; over 35% usually gets structured around (earnout or holdback tied to that relationship).
Revenue per seat
Per-user and per-endpoint pricing against market. Underpricing reads as churn risk the moment a buyer raises rates; disciplined pricing reads as headroom.
Stack standardization
One RMM, one PSA, documented runbooks. A standardized stack integrates in months; a zoo of tools integrates in years, and buyers price the difference.
Owner independence
Whether service delivery, client relationships, and sales survive your exit. The most fixable discount on this list, if you start a year or two early.
Security and compliance mix
Managed security revenue, MDR partnerships, and compliance work (CMMC, HIPAA, SOC 2 support) command a premium over commodity helpdesk.
Books that hold up
Accrual financials, clean deferred revenue, and add-backs with support. More MSP deals re-trade on messy books than on any operational issue.
The fee
5% of the sale price. Paid at closing. Nothing up front.
Published here, not saved for a meeting. No retainer, no monthly bill, and nothing owed if the business doesn't sell.
Questions
Straight answers for MSP owners.
- What is a founder-owned MSP actually worth?
- Most MSPs at this size change hands in a band of roughly 3x to 6x adjusted EBITDA, with larger and security-heavy firms trading above it. Where you land inside the band is decided by the drivers above. Contract mix and client concentration move the number more than headline revenue does. The free estimate on this site will give you a starting range in five minutes.
- I already get emails and calls from buyers. Isn't that enough?
- An unsolicited offer means one buyer chose the price, the structure, and the timeline, and their team runs this negotiation dozens of times a year. The offer that arrives unprompted is almost never the offer that survives competition. A process puts several qualified buyers on the same clock, which is the only leverage a one-time seller has.
- Will my clients and employees find out?
- Not from me. Buyers sign an NDA before they hear your name, you approve every buyer before contact, and nothing identifying you goes out without sign-off. In managed services, confidentiality isn't a courtesy. A leaked process is a churn event.
- What does it cost?
- 5% of the sale price, paid at closing. Published on this site, no tiers, no retainer, nothing up front. If the business doesn't sell, you owe nothing.
Next step
Find out where you stand, before a buyer decides for you.
Run the free five-minute estimate, or just call. You'll get me, the person on this page, usually the same day.