Free Guide
The Owner's Guide to Selling Your Firm to Your Employees
A free 18-page exit-planning guide for architecture, engineering, and surveying firm owners. It explains how the Step-Up Legacy Plan uses SBA bank financing to turn your key employees into owners, with as little as 5 percent down, and pay you at closing. (Not an ESOP)
- Why most A/E firms never sell, and how to avoid being one of them
- Why ESOPs rarely fit firms under $15 million in revenue, and what does
- How SBA financing turns your key employees into buyers with as little as 5 percent down
- How banks value your firm on historical cash flow, not projections
- A three to four year roadmap you can start this quarter
No form, no obligation. Written by John R. Allen, III, a former commercial loan officer who works only with A/E firms.
Inside the Guide
Plain answers, written by a banker who closes these deals
This is not a sales brochure. It is a working guide drawn from real A/E firm transactions, including the Roberts Engineering employee buyout. It covers why the usual exit paths fail firms under $15 million in revenue, how the SBA 10 percent equity injection works, and how you are paid in cash at closing.
Read it in an afternoon, then keep it on hand as you plan the next few years.
For Employees and Junior Partners
The two-page handout you can give your owner
If you work at the firm and you want to buy it, the hardest part is starting the conversation. This is written to be handed across a desk or emailed to the owner. It makes the case in their language: the firm keeps its name and its people, and they are paid at closing rather than becoming your lender.
The three exits an owner is weighing, and why the bank-financed one is the only path that keeps the firm intact and still pays them at closing.
The deal in three steps, plus the questions every owner asks first: do I have to stay, who signs the guarantees, and how long does this take.
A blank line for your name, so the owner knows who to talk to. Print it or email it.
Engineering Your Exit
Have a question the guide does not cover?
If you are weighing a sale in the next few years, a short confidential call will tell you more than any download. We will walk through your firm, your timeline, and your options.