The valuation spreadsheet
THE BUSINESSIS IN YOUR HEAD
Tomorrow’s schedule is in your head and a sheet you re-type after dinner. The prices live in your memory. The one person who knows how the week actually runs is you, which is the reason you have not had a clean day off in months.
Four minutes, no card. Free, and everything you see is yours to keep.
The usual move
So when it is time to put a number on the business, you build a business valuation spreadsheet: your SDE in one cell, a multiple you picked in another. The trouble is the same trouble that keeps you at the desk: the sheet only knows what you put into it.
Give it its due
What a spreadsheet is good for
- It does the arithmetic you define, for free, on a machine you already own.
- It is a fine sanity check once you already know the right multiple.
- You control every cell, so nothing in it is hidden from you.
The gap
What it leaves on your plate
- The multiple is the whole answer, and the sheet makes you supply it, so it hands your own guess back to you.
- It cannot see owner-dependence, the thing that keeps you at the desk at 9pm and quietly sets the price.
- It is not read against a single real closed sale, and it changes nothing about tomorrow.
The long game
The daily trap and the discount are the same problem.
The reason the business runs on you is the same reason it sells for less: a buyer pays for what runs without the owner. An owner-dependent service business trades near 1.65x SDE, an owner-light one near 3.5x, a $555,000 gap on $300,000 of earnings. The work that gets the schedule out of your head is the work that closes that gap, and a spreadsheet cannot see any of it. The free diagnostic reads where you stand today and names the first thing to hand off.
owner-dependent vs owner-light on identical earnings, a $555,000 gap on $300,000 of SDE
Straight talk
If you only want a free template to keep doing this by hand, that is a spreadsheet, not us.
Use the free calculator insteadWhat the diagnostic actually reads
Eighteen questions, four minutes. It reads the business on the three things a buyer prices, estimates a sale price, and names the first thing keeping the business tied to you. Free.
Business Independence Score
Can the business run without you?
The single value driver inside your control. It reads how much the business still depends on you personally, which is what a buyer discounts hardest.
Systems Maturity Score
How documented and repeatable are your operations?
Whether the work lives in written systems or in your head. Documented operations transfer; undocumented ones leave with you.
Acquisition Attractiveness Score
What would a buyer see when they look at your business?
The buyer’s-eye view: recurring revenue, customer concentration, clean books, and the risks that move the multiple.
Common questions
- Can I value my business with a spreadsheet?
- You can do the arithmetic in a spreadsheet, but the answer is only as good as the multiple you type in, and the multiple is the hard part. A spreadsheet cannot read how much the business depends on you, which moves a service business between roughly 1.65x and 3.5x SDE, a $555,000 swing on $300,000 of earnings. Use a spreadsheet for the math you already understand, and the free four-minute diagnostic for the number it is guessing at.
- What is the best business valuation spreadsheet template?
- The best template still cannot tell you the one thing that sets the price: how much the business runs on you. Any template applies a fixed multiple you supply, so it reflects your own assumption back at you. The free calculator gives the same ballpark without the setup, and the diagnostic estimates your real number against ten years of closed transactions.
Free in four minutes
Find the first thing keeping the business tied to you
Three scores, an estimated sale price, and the ranked list of what is discounting your value, read against ten years of real closed transactions.
See what to hand off firstFree in 4 minutes, no credit card. Add your email to see your scores and estimated sale price.
Keystone gives an estimated sale price, not a formal appraisal. For a certified number in a sale, a loan, or a dispute, work with an accredited business valuator. This comparison reflects how these options differ as of 2026.