The $50 Million Mistake: Private Equity Secrets to Selling Your Business for 11x EBITDA with Alexis Sikorsky

Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth? With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business, and you’ll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business. You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit -- Are you running your business, or is it running you? In this episode, we sit down with Alexis Sikorsky, co-founder of Nightscale, who reveals the brutal truth about the "Grind" and the specific strategies he used to exit his banking software company for a massive multiple. If you are a founder stuck at the $5M–$10M revenue plateau, this episode is a masterclass in cashing out. Alexis breaks down the "$50 Million Mistake", a calculation of the money and time he lost by not knowing the secrets of Private Equity earlier, and how you can avoid it. What You’ll Learn: The "Fish and Chip" Trap: How Private Equity firms lure founders with high valuations only to chip away at the price during due diligence—and how to stop them. Nominal EBITDA vs. EBITDA: The financial metric that matters more than your bottom line. Learn how "dressing the bride" and identifying add-backs can instantly increase your valuation. The Magic Number: Why a $40M valuation is the specific target for a lifestyle where you never have to touch your capital again. The Due Diligence Reverse Card: How to investigate a PE firm by calling the founders they don't want you to talk to. Escaping the Operator Trap: Why you need to fire yourself from day-to-day operations to make your company sellable. -- Alexis Sikorsky is a seasoned entrepreneur, strategic advisor, and #1 international best-selling author who helps founders and SMEs scale with confidence, make smarter strategic decisions, and prepare for long-term growth and successful exits. Over his career, he has founded, scaled, and led multiple companies, including building and selling a software business to private equity in a nine-figure transaction. He is the founder of Sikorsky Consulting Ltd. and a co-founder of KnightScale Partners, where he works closely with founders as a true operator partner, providing experienced, founder-to-founder guidance on scaling, leadership, and value creation. Holding an EMBA from Oxford University, Alexis blends real-world entrepreneurial experience with strategic insight to help business owners future-proof their companies and navigate critical inflection points. Website - https://www.knightscalepartners.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-sikorsky-consulting/ -- Time Stamps: (01:11) Surviving the 2008 crash: Losing 75% of revenue overnight. (03:46) The "Unbelievable" Offer: Selling for 11x EBITDA based on a future plan. (06:00) Calculating the $50 Million / 5-Year Mistake. (08:59) When is the right time to sell? (The mathematics of the exit). (14:00) Red Flags: Detecting the "Fish and Chip" strategy. (20:30) How to boost valuation using Nominal EBITDA and non-recurring costs. (27:30) Why you should do M&A earlier than you think. -- The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/