Selling Your Business? What It Is Worth in 2026

Days after Tara Seegers gave birth to their daughter in April 2020, she nearly died from bilateral pulmonary embolisms. In that hospital room, Chris Seegers stopped counting deals and started counting what mattered. That moment reshaped how he defines success, and it became the seed for everything Exceptional Business Advisors stands for today.

Chris did not learn business in a boardroom. He learned it in the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico, one of eight siblings raised without running water, the son of a missionary doctor. He built fences by hand and farmed oats. That rough terrain taught him what hard work in a hard place really costs. It also gave him a conviction he carries into every client meeting: a business transition should leave everyone at the table better off.

The Silver Tsunami Is Here

A generational wave is cresting. Baby boomer business owners are retiring in record numbers, representing the largest wealth transfer in modern history. Yet most of these owners are walking toward the biggest financial event of their lives without a map.

"Most owners spend twenty years building a business and twenty hours planning how to leave it," Chris says. The imbalance is staggering, and it is expensive. Owners who do $3 million or more in revenue often assume the value is locked in the day they decide to sell. It is not.

The truth is harder and more hopeful. "The biggest mistakes aren't made at the closing table," Chris explains. "They're made years earlier, by owners who didn't know they were already shaping the outcome." Value is built or lost in the quiet years before a listing ever appears. Buyer confidence, clean financials, a team that runs without the founder: these are the levers that move a final number, and they take time to pull.

Life, Business, Wealth, in That Order

Chris did not start EBA to be another brokerage. He and his brothers built it because they had lived through what happens when nobody in the room has actually sat on both sides of an exit. Rushed valuations. Transactional relationships. Owners walking away with real money left on the table and no plan for what comes next.

So they built a different order of operations. Most advisors start with the business, optimize for a number, and hand the owner a check. EBA reverses the sequence. The team begins with the life the owner actually wants. Then they build the business strategy underneath it. Then they structure the wealth outcome to match. Life, Business, Wealth, in that order.

"Flip that sequence," Chris warns, "and you get an advisor optimizing for a number instead of a person." That distinction is not marketing language. It is the reason a client walks away not just with proceeds, but with a plan for the next chapter of life.

His philosophy is refreshingly human. "I am in the people business," Chris says. "My mission is to help people achieve their personal and professional dreams. We treat every client as a human being and a friend, not a transaction." In an industry known for cold handoffs, that warmth is a genuine differentiator.

Guides, Not Brokers

The word "broker" makes Chris wince. A broker transacts. A guide equips. EBA positions itself firmly in the second camp.

"We're not brokers," Chris says. "We represent the owner, coach the buyer, and bring the kind of judgment to a sale that usually only comes from having sat on both sides of the table." That judgment is earned. Chris has been part of leadership teams that raised and deployed more than $750 million in investor capital, and the EBA team has guided over 100 transactions across more than fifteen industries.

Just as important is who they say yes to. Most firms want a business at its peak, packaged and easy to sell. EBA welcomes the owners who are not ready. "If you're not ready to sell today, that's fine," Chris says. "That just means we start with growth instead of an exit, and get you there on your terms."

That growth runway might last one year, three years, or five. Along the way, the team closes the gaps that would otherwise cost an owner dearly at the table. When the owner finally sells, they sell from strength instead of necessity. And when the deal closes, the relationship does not end. Exceptional Wealth picks it up from there, same team, same framework, no stranger waiting on the other end of a handoff.

Faith, Free Enterprise, and Clarity

Chris describes himself as a "capitalist missionary." For him, faith and free enterprise are not two missions but one. That conviction shapes how EBA operates, from the first coffee to the final closing. It also fuels his prolific work outside the office.

He has authored Selling Main Street and Buying Main Street, and co-authored Exceptional by Design with Tara. He hosts the Exceptional Companies Podcast and co-hosts the Colorado Business Podcast, one of the state's leading business shows. His work at the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship has been featured in Voyage Denver, the National Christian Foundation, and Shoutout Colorado.

Through all of it runs a single, simple discipline. "You must be clear to get there," Chris says. Clarity about the life you want. Clarity about what your business is truly worth. Clarity about the plan that carries you from one to the other. Owners who gain that clarity early rarely regret it. Owners who skip it almost always do.

Start the Conversation Early

If you own a business generating $3 million or more in revenue, the years before your exit matter more than the day of it. The advantage belongs to owners who start early, close their gaps, and sell from a position of strength. Waiting until you are ready to sell is often waiting too long.

EBA invites you to a complimentary meeting with its team of Business Transition Experts. This is not a valuation and not a sales pitch. It is a real conversation about where your business stands today, what it could be worth tomorrow, and the life you want on the other side. You have spent decades building something remarkable. Give yourself more than twenty hours to plan how you leave it. Reach out to Chris and the EBA team, and start an exceptional experience on your terms.

Explore More About Exceptional Business Advisors

Connect with Exceptional Business Advisors, the Exceptional Companies Podcast, the Colorado Business Podcast, and on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

You can also explore the Colorado Business Podcast on YouTube and listen to the Colorado Business Podcast on Apple Podcasts.