The New Book From Jenny Stilwell

Value First Exit Second

For founders of $2M–$20M businesses and beyond.

Avoid being one of the 70% of businesses that fail to sell.

Strategies to build a valuable business so you can scale, stay involved, or sell — on your terms.

JENNY STILWELL
Author of The 7% Club and Small Business CEO

Read a sample chapter

WHY THIS BOOK, NOW

70%

of businesses put up for sale don’t sell — most were never built to be bought.

75%

of founders profoundly regret selling within a year of the deal.

US$5T

in business value changes hands by 2050 as founders exit en masse.

THE TRANSACTION TRAP

Most founders think about value when they decide to sell.
That’s years too late.

Exit is a strategy, not an event. The discipline that grows a business from $2M upward is the same discipline that makes it valuable to somebody else.

You’ve built a successful business. Revenue is strong, clients are loyal, and the team delivers. But somewhere between $2M and $20M, a question starts to surface: what happens to all of this — and to me?

Most founders park the question until a trigger forces it — burnout, an unexpected offer, a health scare. Then they discover reality the hard way: buyers are better at buying than founders are at selling.

This book shows you how to build that value deliberately, years ahead of any decision so that when the question arrives, every answer is available to you.

ONE BUSINESS. THREE OPTIONS

Every founder eventually chooses one of three options

Pick the one you’re leaning toward today. (It’s allowed to change – that’s the point)

OPTION ONE

Scale & keep building

Stay at the helm and grow through eight figures — with a business that no longer runs on your perserverance and energy.

OPTION TWO

Step back & stay involved

Change your role but stay involved. Keep the income, the identity and the interest – without operational commitment.

OPTION THREE

Sell & move on

Hand it to the right acquirer at a premium, with terms you choose — and a life you designed for your next stage.

HERE’S THE PART MOST FOUNDERS MISS

Whichever option you choose, the business must become a transferable asset, and run without depending on you. That’s the same work that builds sale value.

THE VALUE SHIFT FRAMEWORK™

Three levers.
Whichever option you choose, you need all three.

Acquirers pay for what they can trust, transfer and defend.
So does your future self.

1

Evidence

Numbers, systems and metrics that prove performance – so nobody has to take your word for it. Not even you.

2

Transferability

A business that runs, sells and grows without the founder in every room. The single biggest driver of both freedom and price.

3

Strategic Advantage

The defensible edge – speculation, execution, proprietary assets – that makes yours the business that others can’t build themselves.

Two levers gets you a fair price. All three, and acquirers pay for premium value.

INSIDE THE BOOK

A strategy book, a working manual, and an honest acknowledgment of what you actually want

PART ONE
Look ahead, Design Well

  • The Transaction Trap
    – What most founders get wrong
  • The Founder Outcome Quadrants
    – Where are you headed?
  • Seven Founder Archetypes
    – Which one is driving your business?
  • The path to emotional readiness

1

PART TWO
Build Value, Be Intentional

  • The Value Shift Framework™ & the acquirer’s lens
  • Capture Evidence: the numbers buyers believe
  • Design Transferability – the Dance of Trust™
  • Create Strategic Advantage with the 5 Ds

2

PART THREE
Your Options, Your Choice

  • Scale: from operational founder to eight-figure CEO
  • Stay involved: five ways to keep the best of it
  • Sell & move on: premium value, your terms
  • What next — designing your life post-sale

3

THE AUTHOR

Jenny Stilwell has sat
in every chair at the table

Founder. CEO of a publicly listed software company. Acquirer. Advisor. For more than two decades, Jenny has worked with founders of $2M – $20M businesses on the strategy that grows a company – and the strategy that makes it valuable to somebody else. They are, as she will show you, the same strategy.

She is the author of Small Business CEO and The 7% Club, host of The 7% Club podcast, and creator of the Shift Business Growth Framework™ and the Value Shift Framework™.

  • Former public company CEO
  • Author of three books
  • Host, The 7% Club podcast
  • Advisor to $2M – $20M founders

EARLY PRAISE

What readers are saying

  • One of the main reasons I loved reading this book is that it offers a dual perspective on the business value and exit process. Jenny shares her insights and expertise from both sides of the deal. The reader gains a buyer’s perspective, akin to developing insider knowledge of the sale process. Plus, the book explores business exit realities from the founder’s position. Addressing ideas like emotional readiness, building your life by design, and recognising your founder archetype are rarely included in books on this topic, yet they’re critical to a successful transition.
    Most importantly, Value First, Exit Later is the only book I’ve seen in this category that identifies three different exit options. Exit doesn’t have to equal a sale. Value First, Exit Later outlines the business levers a founder needs to develop to ensure they’re always in a position to transition to a new role (or exit)
    on their own terms.
    Dr Leanne Faulkner drleannefaulkner.com.

  • What I love about Jenny’s book is that it reads like it was written for me. Value First, Exit Later is crammed with thought-provoking questions; sufficient theory to guide and not overwhelm; and peppered with real life case studies that resonate. Knowing I might be the “Portfolio Founder” archetype helped me discover more about how to create strategic value in my law firm, and what specific factors will determine value. This goes hand in hand with learning about the options for exiting. As Jenny observes, it’s important to understand there are multiple options, and you can plan for them depending on what you want out of life.
    I commend Jenny’s work to every entrepreneur and founder at the start of their business building journey, as an invaluable addition to The 7% Club. So much better to devise an exit plan as early as possible, rather than leaving it to chance.
    Sarah Rey Founding Partner, Justitia Lawyers and Consultants

WHERE ARE YOU ON YOU JOURNEY?

The book is the map. These are the vehicles.

Every founder is somewhere on the ⟶ grow ⟶ build ⟶ value continuum. Start with the assessment that matches where you are today.

GROWING BEYOND $2M

Grow360 Assessment

Benchmark your business against the three pillars of the Shift Business Growth Framework™ – highlight your priorities for breaking through the ceiling that stops 93% of businesses.

TAKE THE GROW360 ASSESSMENT

BUILDING VALUE AT $5M-$20M

Value360 Assessment

Measure your business against the three levers of the Value Shift Framework™ — and start building value and options for today and for your future.

TAKE THE GROW360 ASSESSMENT

START READING NOW