2027 Program

Interest rates, trade uncertainty, an ageing owner demographic, and a wave of private equity capital chasing fewer quality deals – the forces shaping your transition options are already in motion.  

This session gives business owners a ground-level read on where the M&A market actually stands: which sectors are commanding premium multiples, which are being discounted, and what serious buyers are prioritising right now.  

You’ll leave with a clear understanding of current economic conditions and what they mean for valuation, timing, and your real options – not a vague overview, but an honest, specific look at the landscape so you can make better decisions about what comes next.

Most business owners are scaling without answering the most important question first: what are you actually building towards?  

Build-to-sell and build-to-keep aren’t just different exit strategies — they’re different operating philosophies. How you approach capital, people, organic growth versus acquisition, and risk all depends on which path you’re on. If you haven’t made that choice consciously, you may be optimizing for the wrong outcome.  

Join a panel of accomplished entrepreneurs and seasoned advisors who have successfully scaled their businesses through both organic and accelerated strategies. They’ll share real-world insights, proven frameworks, and practical examples to help you grow with confidence and avoid costly missteps.  

Key Takeaways:  

• Understand the core differences between build-to-sell and build-to-keep — and which fits your goals  

• Know when acquiring growth makes more sense than building it organically  

• Align systems, people, and financing to support sustainable growth  

• Recognize the pitfalls that stall momentum — and how to avoid them  

• Leave with a clearer philosophy and practical next steps 

Every business owner has a number in their head — but is it the number a buyer would actually pay? Valuation isn’t guesswork, and it isn’t just a multiple of revenue or EBITDA pulled from an industry rule of thumb. It’s a specific, defensible calculation buyers run before they ever make an offer, and most owners never see how it actually works until they’re already at the negotiating table. 

This session pulls back the curtain on the real mechanics: how multiples are actually set, what moves them up or down for a business like yours, and why two companies with similar revenue can sell for wildly different prices. You’ll learn what buyers are quietly adjusting for before they land on a number — and what levers are actually in your control long before a sale is on the table. 

Whether you’re years away from a transition or actively weighing your options, understanding how buyers price a business changes how you run it today. This is the first of three sessions tracing the full financial picture of a transition — this one covers what your business is actually worth, B2A this afternoon covers how you structure getting that value out, and B2C covers what you keep after tax. 

Key Takeaways: 

• How buyers actually calculate a valuation multiple — and why “industry average” rarely applies to your business 

• The specific factors that move your multiple up or down (and which ones are in your control) 

• Why EBITDA alone doesn’t tell the whole story — normalization, add-backs, and what buyers scrutinize 

• How to spot the gap between what you think your business is worth and what a buyer will actually pay 

• Practical steps to start closing that gap now, whatever stage you’re at — including where real AI-driven efficiency is starting to move multiples, and where it’s just surface-level “AI-washing” buyers see through