Selling, staying, or going employee-owned? With Aha Planner, get instant valuations, compare exit paths, and model what-if scenarios using your real numbers.
"It bridges the gap between learning and doing — empowering advisors to guide EO transitions and giving business owners a path to explore on their own."
What's my business worth? What exit paths are possible? What's financially realistic? Get answers grounded in your real numbers: multi-method valuations, scenario modeling, and side-by-side comparisons.
Get a clear valuation estimate based on your financials, plus insights into what's helping or hurting your value.
See recasted statements, key ratios, and 15-year forecasts — the way investors, lenders, and buyers see your business.
Test how changes in timing, margins, revenue, or financing affect your valuation and seller proceeds.
Identify strengths and gaps. Your dashboard highlights the value drivers and risk factors buyers care about most.
Compare financial tradeoffs beyond price — including net present value (NPV) of seller proceeds across all options.
Multi-method valuation
Buyers, brokers, and bankers each see value through a different lens. Aha Planner runs the four valuation methods that matter, side by side, with every formula visible and every result grounded in your real financials.
What a seller actually takes home. An income-based estimate of what an owner receives from a sale: we project your earning potential, deduct debt, and add cash above net working capital and operating reserves. Where a traditional Broker Opinion of Value (BOV) gives one broker's judgment in a snapshot, Aha Planner returns a multi-method, formula-transparent result that updates as your financials change.
DCF + Capitalization of Earnings
The price tag on full ownership, before financing or cash effects. We blend a two-stage Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) projection with the Capitalization of Earnings method to estimate the firm's intrinsic enterprise value. The DCF projects future unlevered free cash flow discounted at the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC); the Capitalization method anchors the present using normalized historical earnings and a risk-adjusted Capitalization Rate.
EBITDA multiples
What the market is actually paying for businesses like yours. We apply EBITDA multiples drawn from recent private-business transactions, filtered to your NAICS industry code and EBITDA size band. You see both the multiple and the underlying comparable set, so the number stands on a defensible basis at the negotiating table. Aha Planner ships with a natural-language NAICS / SIC finder so you can pick the right industry code from a description, an existing SIC code, or a sector rather than guessing.
Pooled Debt Capacity
What a buyer can actually finance. We calculate the maximum debt your projected cash flows can service at a healthy Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR, typically 1.15x to 1.5x), pooled across 7-, 10-, and 16-year windows. 7 years is the conventional ceiling most buyers and lenders prefer; the longer horizons fit ESOP transitions and other deals where the buyer can hold for an extended breakeven. This is the deal-affordability constraint that ultimately determines what any financed transaction can actually close at.
Beyond valuation
Every Aha Planner report layers exit viability and Employee Ownership viability pre-feasibility on top of the valuation. The check: can your projected cash flows actually finance a sale or Employee Ownership transition at your indicative valuation? You see the call today, plus the capacity gap if you would need to grow the business further before closing at your target price.
Traditional exit planning takes weeks and costs thousands. Aha Planner delivers immediate, data-backed insights — without sacrificing depth.
Whether you're planning your exit or guiding clients through theirs
Explore your exit options with confidence
Navigate your transition with data-driven clarity. Evaluate employee ownership, strategic sales, and other paths using your real financials.
Deliver professional exit analysis
Elevate your practice with comprehensive exit planning tools. Generate professional reports that help clients make informed decisions about their business transitions.
Combine legal expertise with financial clarity
Bridge the gap between legal structures and financial outcomes. Show clients the real-world impact of different ownership transitions with concrete numbers.
Expand your toolkit with EO insights
Add employee ownership to your advisory arsenal. Leverage advanced valuation methods to show clients how ESOPs and other EO structures compare to traditional exits.
Professional-grade exit insights at a fraction of traditional costs
A full planning toolkit to prepare your business for transition.
$1000
per business annuallyUnlock full visibility, generate reports, and grow your business.
$3000
per advisor annuallyAha Planner is an AI-powered exit planning tool that helps you assess your business's current value, explore exit options, and model future scenarios. Connect QuickBooks, upload documents, or manually enter financial data to generate instant reports on valuation, exit strategies, and financial projections—all guided by Zolid AI.
Unlike traditional services or simple calculators, Aha Planner brings everything together in one platform: multiple valuation methods, dynamic scenario modeling, side-by-side comparisons of exit options (including employee ownership), and ongoing AI guidance as your business evolves.
Get started with Aha Planner today or to see the platform in action.
Aha Planner provides indicative valuations using multiple industry-standard methodologies and real market data. While not formal appraisals, these valuations give you reliable benchmarks for decision-making using your financials and industry comparables.
Our approach includes DCF and capitalization methods, market comparable analysis, debt capacity modeling, and automated EO viability checks. The platform delivers personalized insights through scenario modeling and "what-if" tools that show what drives your business value. It's dynamic and editable—perfect for real conversations with clients at any stage of the exit planning process.
Yes. Whether you're not planning to exit soon, operating at a loss, or just starting to think about succession, Aha Planner helps you:
See it in action for yourself. now—no commitment, no credit card required.
Aha Planner includes detailed financial analysis, comparing employee ownership against other exit strategies with side-by-side financial projections, debt capacity analysis and more backed by your financial data.
For most ESOPs and EOTs, employees contribute —the company facilitates the purchase using future cash flow. It's essentially a new benefit for employees while providing business owners with a successful exit strategy.
Yes, completely. Zolidar is designed to guide you through the entire employee ownership journey, from initial exploration to final execution. Aha Planner is built to support the planning phase by analyzing financial feasibility, valuation scenarios, and EO viability for your specific exit-planning stage.
For owners who select employee ownership, Zolidar will help you form a team of experienced EO practitioners, align with financiers, and serve as your software platform for efficiently executing transitions to ESOPs, EOTs, or Co-ops.
You can also connect with other business owners exploring employee ownership and find experienced practitioners through The Grid, our free professional community.
Zolidar supports a wide range of professionals in the exit planning process:
Advisor Valuation Benefits:
At $3,000/year, Advisor Valuation pays for itself through unlimited valuations and referral income, making it affordable to use with every prospective client just starting their exit journey.
Ready to get started? Book a demo or sign up for Advisor plans to learn how Zolidar can help you guide clients from early interest to confident action.
Aha Planner gives advisors a powerful, centralized tool to guide business owners through complex exit decisions. You can easily generate valuations, compare exit options, and model custom scenarios—all tailored to each of your client's financials.
It helps you lead more strategic conversations, backed by clear, data-driven insights. Whether you're preparing for a client meeting or exploring "what if" paths together, Aha Planner saves time, builds trust, and supports better outcomes.
We provide comprehensive training resources, best practices guides, and ongoing support to help you maximize the platform's value in your client work.
Through The Grid, our free professional community, you can:
Additional support includes:
Contact us for personalized training sessions or specific questions about maximizing Zolidar's value for your advisory practice.
Yes! Advisor Valuation and Advisor Max is designed for professionals who support multiple clients. You can manage all your clients from one dashboard, create dedicated reports, invite users, and collaborate with teammates and clients—seamlessly. Sign up for Advisor plans or book a demo to see it in action.
See it in action for yourself. Try our demo now—no commitment, no credit card required.
Aha Planner builds your business valuation and long-range projections from a few years of financial data. There are three ways to get that data in. Pick whichever is easiest, and feel free to mix and match.
Connect QuickBooks Online
Connect your QuickBooks Online account once. Aha Planner then imports your Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and company information automatically. It pre-fills your inputs for you, so there is no manual entry.
Upload your financial statements (PDF)
Upload PDFs of your financial statements, such as your Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, and payroll documents. Aha Planner reads them and pre-fills your inputs. For the most complete picture, upload the last three years. You can review the extracted numbers before they are used, so you stay in control.
Enter it manually
Prefer to type it in? Enter your key financial figures directly into Aha Planner's guided forms. This covers your income statement, balance sheet, and a few operational details, typically for the last three years.
Adjust the assumptions behind your report
However your data gets in, Aha Planner applies a set of assumptions to turn it into a valuation and projections. For example, it decides how to treat owner compensation or surplus cash. You can adjust or override these assumptions. The report stays transparent throughout: it distinguishes the figures you entered, the assumptions you changed, and the defaults Aha Planner applied. That way you always know what is driving the numbers.
Your report generates instantly once your data is in, with no weeks-long wait like traditional services. You can update or override anything later and regenerate the report.
For business owners, our Business Max plan is $1,000/year and includes full Aha Planner access with guided support, complete reports, and expert consultation.
For advisors, our Advisor Max plan is $3,000/year and provides unlimited business valuations, advanced analytics, and enhanced commission structure.
We also offer entry-level plans starting at $500/year for business owners. Fee waivers are available at Zolidar's discretion. Apply for a fee waiver.
For complete pricing details and plan comparisons, visit our Pricing page.
We take your privacy seriously. Any information you share with us is stored securely and used only to support your experience on Zolidar. We never sell your data, and we won't share it with third parties unless you explicitly give us permission. Your information stays private unless you decide to share it.
When using Zolidar's AI tools, your data remains confidential. Zolidar uses secure APIs from trusted providers like Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, who do not store your information or use it to train their models. We never share your data with consumer-facing tools, and our use is fully compliant with their privacy policies. You're in control, and your data is protected.
You can read more in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. If you have specific questions, you can reach us through our contact form.
We recommend starting with the free Day Zero Guide to explore your exit options. Then dive deeper with the Aha Planner to understand your business valuation and assess the financial viability of each exit option.
You can also connect with other business owners and advisors in The Grid for additional support and community insights.
Yes! You can talk to real people for help. Here's how:
Contact Zolidar
Our team is here to help with technical support, product questions, employee ownership guidance, and exit planning. We can point you in the right direction and help you get started.
Ways to reach us:
We can help with:
Or Connect with Professionals in The Grid
If you want to explore working with advisors on your own, The Grid https://zolidar.com/grid is our community directory of professionals who specialize in employee ownership and business succession planning. You can browse profiles, search by expertise or location, and reach out to professionals directly.
Note: While Zolid AI can answer many questions immediately, it's an AI assistant, not a real person. For personalized guidance or complex situations, we recommend starting with our team—we can help determine the best path forward for your needs.