What if the biggest barrier to scaling your business isn't
marketing or sales, but how you think about your numbers, your tax
strategy, and your exit plan? In this episode of The Grown UP
Business Podcast, Paul Avins sits down with Saul Cohen, founder of
ExpertEye and one of the UK's most experienced acquisition
advisors. Saul started his career at PwC and has been involved in
over 150 acquisitions before turning 35. He sold his first business
before entering the corporate world, and now helps entrepreneurs
optimize their tax, understand valuations, and navigate
acquisitions with clarity and confidence. Saul shares why most
entrepreneurs don't understand their numbers, when it's time to
change accountants, how to save thousands in tax every year, and
why £4,000 saved annually can add up to an extra million pounds at
retirement. Paul and Saul unpack the myths around business
valuations, why most accountants use finger in the air guesswork,
and how to know what your business is actually worth. They explore
the difference between lifestyle businesses and performance
businesses, why most entrepreneurs wait too long to exit, the 18
month minimum timeline to sell a business, and the psychology
behind why deals fall apart. Saul introduces his SCORE framework, a
valuation model built from 150 acquisitions that measures systems,
commercial strength, operations, regulatory risk, and exposure. He
explains why culture can kill a deal even when the financials look
perfect, and shares stories of incredible acquisitions and absolute
car crashes. If you're building a business and want to understand
how to create real value, protect your wealth, and play the long
game with your finances, this episode is essential. What you'll
learn: • Why most entrepreneurs don't understand their numbers and
how that holds them back • When you should change accountants and
what to look for in a great one • How saving £4,000 a year in tax
can give you an extra million pounds at retirement • The three
games of money: making it, keeping it, and investing it • Why
accountants aren't all created equal and how to level up your
advisory team • How accountants calculate valuations and why most
use finger in the air guesswork • Why businesses over a million
pounds in profit have a higher multiple and more options • The
biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when trying to exit and why
they wait too long • Why it takes a minimum of 18 months to sell a
business and how to prepare for it • The SCORE framework: systems,
commercial, operations, regulatory, and exposure • Why culture can
cap your valuation even when the financials look perfect • How to
bring in a fractional CFO at the right time and what they should
actually do • Why the best acquisition Saul ever saw was a £2.5
million profit business sold for £10 million • Why you should get
your business professionally valued every two years • The baby
boomer wave and biggest transfer of wealth in a generation • Why
underselling your promise in marketing can increase conversions and
create raving fans Apply this: Get your business professionally
valued in the next 90 days. If you don't know what it's worth, you
can't grow its value intentionally. Ask yourself: am I building a
lifestyle business or a performance business? Your tax strategy,
extraction method, and reinvestment plan depend on this answer.
Audit your accountant. How many clients do they have at your level?
How much M&A experience do they have? If the answer is none,
it's time to level up your advisory team. Calculate your life
changing number. How much money do you actually need invested to
never worry again? Work backwards from that and build your exit
plan. Meet with your accountant at least twice a year, ideally
every quarter if you're over a million in revenue. Use those
meetings to optimize tax, refine margins, and plan for growth.
About Saul Cohen Saul Cohen is the founder of ExpertEye and one of
the UK's most experienced acquisition advisors. He started his
career at PwC and has been involved in over 150 acquisitions before
turning 35. Saul helps entrepreneurs optimize their tax, understand
their valuations, and navigate acquisitions with confidence. He is
creator of the SCORE valuation framework and author of the new book
Finding Gold, which reveals the patterns of what goes wrong in
acquisitions and how to avoid them. Connect with Saul on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cohensaul/ Take the tax saving
scorecard: https://stopoverpayingtax.scoreapp.com/ Grab a copy of
Finding Gold: https://findinggoldbook.com/ Scale with Paul Avins If
this episode resonated, Paul's work focuses on helping founders
step out of the day to day and scale with structure and confidence.
Connect with Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulavins/ Book a
call with Paul: https://www.paulavins.com/book-a-call Subscribe to
the Scale Up Newsletter:
https://www.paulavins.com/newsletter-opt-in Level Up. Team Up.
Scale Up. Fire Up.
Kommentare (0)
Melde dich an, um einen Kommentar zu schreiben.