Think Like a Buyer: Finding Your Rembrandts in the Attic
Think back to the last time you bought something significant like a house or apartment.
What was it about the property that had you convinced it was "the one?" I am not talking about the number of rooms or car parking.
Perhaps if you had a small, young family, it may have been the big backyard with room for a trampoline and pool or the great school district that you've been keen to get your kids into.
If you were downsizing from a bigger house you are a foodie or love to entertain, perhaps it was the newly remodelled kitchen, outdoor entertaining area and great local restaurants.
Or perhaps you are an artist and have been on the hunt for additional studio and just the right light to paint, and fell in love with the attic upstairs as an ideal space.
Different buyers value the same property differently.
Which buyer do you think is most likely to close?
Which may be willing to pay the highest consideration?
None of the other buyers have seen this but between the hallway and behind the discarded furniture, you notice some paintings covered in dust.
Being curious, having a keen eye, you recognise one is an original sketch by Rembrandt worth 10 times the value of the listing price for the house. He also knows the Owners children would like a quick sale.
What if I mentioned the house and all it's furniture was included.
Who is most likely to buy the house now? What terms would you offer?
Improving Your Valuation and Exit
We all exit someday. Whether that's on our own terms, for the valuation, cash, timings or other terms we want, is largely down to us.
Most exit stories are written for nobody in particular. There is one story that describes the performance of the business so far, the obvious assets and a single plan for growth. And hope it sounds impressive to whoever eventually shows interest.
Buyers don't value businesses that way. The mindset shift owners need to make is that value creation for buyers is about more than current financial performance and your future growth plan.
Like investors, buyers are future oriented. They weigh up the risk against future rewards. And those rewards and risk are likely to differ for different buyers or investors.
In a 2025 survey by Cornerstone Advisors of owners who had exited, owners were asked what percentage did different preparation activities play in exiting well comparatively.
Here is how they responded:
De-risking activities (55%)
Growth Positioning (30%)
Process readiness (15%)
Meaning 85% of their ability to exit on their own terms was as a result of derisking and growth positioning activities.
Two Australian Businesses. Two Very Different Buyers.
In 2024, a Japanese chip company called Renesas bought Altium for $9.1 billion.
They paid a 34 per cent premium to do it. A premium that was 71% higher than Autodesk had offered just three years earlier.
How did they do it? Firstly, Renesas wasn't buying Altium's revenue or profit. They were buying the piece they couldn't build fast enough themselves: design software that plugged straight into their own chips and made something neither of them could offer alone. When a buyer wants the fit that badly, the premium is what the hurry costs.
Further in the three years between Autodesk and Renesas' offers, Altium had transitioned to a cloud-based offering which shifted their revenue streams to subscriptions from lumpy, upfront, less predictable revenue and cashflow. Reduce that risk for any future buyer.
Now look at KKR and MYOB.
KKR is private equity. In 2019 they took the then listed MYOB private for $2 billion, and there was no hurry premium. They landed at $3.40 a share, down from the $3.77 they'd floated earlier. KKR believed MYOB to be undervalued by the sharemarket for it's slowing growth and significant R&D investments to remain competitive versus Xero that were eating into net profits. KKR sensed an opportunity.
A financial buyer isn't buying a missing piece like a capability, a product segment, a market segment, or a new geography. They're buying a predictable upside opportunity that is greater than downside risk. A reliable ROI. Upon taking over MYOB, KKR immediately set about providing debt funding to invest in significant operational transformation, acquisitions and shifted MYOB away from going head to head with Xero in the Small to Mid sizxe market, enabling MYOB to invest in future growth and doubling valuation.
Two good businesses. Two completely different buyers, growth positions and exit stories.
Here's the thing - no two buyers are identical. The growth story that makes your business attractive to a Renesas is not the same growth story that makes you attractive to a KKR.
So how do you ensure you have the right growth positioning for different types of investors or buyers?
Start With Who, Not What
Which is why the first question is always who, never what.
Most growth stories get built backwards. Grow the business, then hope the right buyer notices. Start with the end in mind - identifying all potential types of buyers for your business. (
Who are the realistic types buyers for a business like yours?
A strategic buyer is another company who sees value in your business to help them to accelerate growth or deliver their own strategy. For example - you may have customers, unique technology, or a niche position in a market they need.
A financial buyer wants something where growth is scalable, returns and cashflow are predictable and expansion is repeatable, so they can re-invest to grow and sell again at a profit.
And then there are the exit paths that aren't a sale at all but more of a transfer: such as succession to your team, a family member, or a partial sale such as a new investor.
What would that "buyer" value most, beyond the fact that you're growing? Renesas wanted a platform that slotted into theirs and filled a gap. KKR wanted subscription revenue it could count on. A strategic buyer might be more forgiving of a bit of mess or frailty if the fit is right. A financial buyer may also if they think the opportunity to increase value is certain, but less likely.
How do you compare to the alternatives in your market that a buyer could acquire instead? You're not assessed in isolation, you're compared against other businesses on that buyer's shortlist. Benchmarking against real, recent sale multiples in your sector is the only way to know where you genuinely sit.
Where are the Rembrandts in Your Attic?
Let's go back to the Home Buyer analogy.
What was the one thing that really struck you about your own home when you first considered buying (or renting). I am talking about the non-obvious features that you really valued highly that others may overlook.
For me it was the little sunlit window at the top of the stairs. A calming glimpse to the tree tops on entery ahead of descending to the living space and wooden deck that overlooked a large leafy green national park in Sydney. Unless I had visited the house - I wouldn't have known about the window.
Rembrandts are the strengths or assets in the business that are not at first obvious to a buyer, but which you would need to spell out for them. Something they could massively benefit from.
For example;
your customer satisfaction and employee engagement scores are the highest of anyone in your industry
your long-term supplier relationships provide terms that are so favourable, you have more than enough working capital to continue to grow.
your investments in automation and technology allow you to do more without having to adding operational headcount
your social media following and excellent service translates into loyal advocates that refer you more often than competitors, reducing your acqusition costs.
It's up to you to uncover and position your Rembrants to each potential buyer or investor with greater understanding about what they would value most. Rembrandts are not valuable without good storytelling.
Exits Start with the Owners
Exits start with the Owner. Depending on what you as the owner or founder would like from any potneital strategic option or exit may strongly influence when and to whom you will even consider exiting.
Most times, we won't get everything we want when selling our business. We have to prioritise what matters most. Is it the topline valuation or cash on settlement? Do we care what happens to our team of employees or if the business name is continued? What about for how long we will need to hang around and work for the new owner?
Getting clear on what matters most to you as the founder or owner is the first step planning your exit and options - be that exit, transfer or continued expansion and growth.
Work Through the Whole Picture With Us
At Scaling Up to Finish Strong we spend a full day on exactly this: mapping the realistic buyers for your business, scoring where you sit against what each one values, and building a 90 day plan to close the gaps that matter most.
Thursday 22 October, Salesforce Tower, Sydney. Rated 9.3 out of 10 by attendees.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the Scaling Up methodology help with exit readiness?
Scaling Up is built on four decisions, People, Strategy, Execution and Cash, which are the same areas a buyer assesses when pricing risk. Working through them improves how predictable and transferable a business is, which is what lifts valuation. Made for Scale runs this as a full day workshop, Scaling Up to Finish Strong, for owners and founders in Sydney.
What's the difference between a strategic buyer and a financial buyer?
A strategic buyer is a competitor or adjacent company buying your business for the fit: your customers, your technology, or your position in a market they want to enter. A financial buyer, usually private equity, is buying a business it can grow and sell again, so it looks for repeatable systems and predictable revenue it can model with confidence. The same business can be worth different amounts to each, because they're buying different things.
Do strategic buyers pay more than financial buyers?
Often, but not always. A strategic buyer may pay a premium when the fit is urgent, as Renesas did in paying 34 per cent above market to acquire Altium in 2024. A financial buyer is generally more disciplined on price because the business has to stack up on its own numbers rather than on synergies with something they already own.
How do I make my business more attractive to buyers?
Buyers price certainty, so the work is reducing how much the business depends on any one person and increasing how predictable it is. In practice that means management depth beyond the founder, documented systems and processes, clean financial reporting, low customer concentration, and revenue that recurs or repeats. These are the same four decisions Scaling Up is built on, People, Strategy, Execution and Cash, read through a buyer's eyes.
When should a founder start preparing a business for sale?
Years before you intend to sell, and ideally when an exit isn't on the horizon at all. The drivers that lift a valuation, like reducing owner dependency and shifting revenue toward the recurring, take quarters or years to move, not weeks. It also matters because exits aren't always planned: the Exit Planning Institute reports that one in two owners exit due to one of the 5Ds, being divorce, disagreement, disability, distress or death.
About the author
Claire Mula is the Founder of Made for Scale and a Certified Scaling Up Coach based in Sydney. She has more than 20 years leading and researching growth businesses, and works with founders and leadership teams across Australia to scale profitably, build valuation and create real strategic options.
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