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Tired of Guesswork? Find Out the Real Value of Your Business in Minutes.

If you’re like most business owners, you probably have a figure in your head for what your business is worth — but it’s rarely grounded in financial reality.

The Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) method cuts through the emotion and hype, revealing what a buyer would actually pay based on the true earnings your business generates.

This isn’t about theory or wishful thinking — it’s about using hard numbers to get a valuation you can trust.

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What Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) Is — and What It Isn’t

Most small business owners think in terms of profit, but profit alone doesn’t tell the full story of what a business is worth to a buyer. That’s where Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) comes in.

SDE is the total financial benefit a single owner-operator receives from the business. It starts with your net profit and then adds back the expenses that a new owner could reasonably expect to keep or remove — things like your salary, perks, and one-off costs. The goal is to show the true earning power of your business in the hands of someone stepping into your shoes.

What SDE Is.

A measure of total owner benefit. It includes profit plus what you take out of the business personally.
A leveller. It adjusts for the way different owners pay themselves or structure expenses, creating a fair comparison between businesses.
A buyer’s lens. It shows what a new owner could realistically expect to earn each year if they took over.
A foundation for valuation. It’s the starting point used by brokers, accountants, and lenders to calculate business value — typically by multiplying SDE by an industry-specific factor.

What SDE Isn’t.

It’s not your turnover or revenue. Revenue tells you how much money flows in — not how much value you extract.
It’s not taxable profit. Tax planning often suppresses reported profit to minimise tax; SDE reverses that.
It’s not wishful thinking. SDE isn’t based on “potential” or “what it could be worth one day.” It’s based on what your business earns today.
It’s not for every business. SDE is ideal for owner-operated or smaller businesses. Larger, professionally managed companies usually use EBITDA instead.

In simple terms:

If EBITDA tells you what a company earns,
SDE tells you what you earn from the company — and that’s what buyers are really paying for.

How to complete the form.

Simply complete each field as honestly as you can. You will get an instant valuation in the “Results field” once you press the calculate button hit the submit button to receive a valuation report.