Exit Factor is a business value growth company that helps owners build more profitable, more sellable businesses and exit on their own terms.
Most owners have poured years into a business that is meant to fund the rest of their life, yet very few have a plan for what it is worth or how they will one day step away from it. Exit Factor exists to close that gap. The company brings the discipline of exit planning, long reserved for large corporations with bankers and boards, to the everyday owner-operated business. The work runs on one repeatable methodology, the VORTEx Model, and it is delivered by certified consultants across the country who know both the framework and the reality of running a company. This page is the story of the company behind that work, the people who deliver it, and the results that stand behind the model.
Business Exits Behind the Model
Industries Served
Local Office Markets
Value Drivers We Work On
Exit Factor is a business value growth company. It helps owners of small and mid-sized businesses build companies that are more profitable, run with less dependence on the owner, and are worth more when the time comes to sell or step back. Where a broker enters at the sale and an accountant looks backward at the books, Exit Factor works in the years before a transition, engineering the value so the eventual exit is a choice rather than a scramble. The approach works for any owner-operated business, and it is delivered through a single certified methodology and a national network of consultants.
Exit Factor exists because of a hard number. Research from Robbins Research finds that 87% of business owners never achieve a successful exit. Everything the company does is aimed at helping owners join the Elite 13% who do, the ones who build a business worth selling and leave on their own terms.
Exit Factor was founded on a simple observation: the tools that help large companies plan a sale, raise their value, and transition cleanly almost never reach the owner-operated businesses that make up most of the economy. Those owners are told to “get their business ready to sell” with no framework for how. Exit Factor was built to be that framework, and to put a trained consultant beside every owner who uses it.
Exit Factor was born out of Transworld Business Advisors, the number one business brokerage brand in the world. Working through thousands of business sales, the team behind Transworld saw the same pattern again and again: the businesses that sold well were the ones that had been built to sell years in advance, and the ones that struggled had waited too long. Exit Factor was created to give owners that head start. It launched in 2018 as Prep to Sell, was refined into a repeatable methodology, and the approach was later captured in the book The Exit Factor so it could reach owners far beyond any single advisor.
Our methodology called, the VORTEx model, was built on the insights of more than 2,000 business exits across 75+ industries. As part of United Franchise Group, the global franchising organization that has been building brands since 1986, Exit Factor draws on decades of real transaction experience and the backing of an established international network. Today the company delivers the model through certified consultants in 150+ local markets and multiple international markets.
Every Exit Factor engagement runs on the same proprietary methodology, the VORTEx Model. It is a five-phase process that turns the vague goal of a valuable, sellable business into concrete work, and it is what makes Exit Factor specific and repeatable rather than generic business advice. It is built on the insights of more than 2,000 business exits, and it applies to every owner, in every industry, at every stage.
Establish what the business is worth today, what it could be worth, and what the owner needs from it.
Value Vision Map™ (VVM)
Increase the profit that drives value, usually measured as EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), through pricing, margins, and clean financials.
Profit Pulse Plan™ (PPP)
Build a business that runs without the owner by documenting the people, processes, and technology, so the value lives in the company rather than in the owner’s head.
Role Release Roadmap™ (3R)
Scale strategically with a growth model built on systems rather than the owner’s hours.
3-Growth Matrix™ (3GM)
Choose the right exit path and prepare the business, and the owner, for a successful transition.
Exit Prep Scorecard™ (XPS)
The same five phases apply whether an owner is years from an exit or months away. See how the model works in full on How We Help, or see where your own business stands with a Business Valuation and Growth Plan.
A methodology is only as good as the people who deliver it, and this is where Exit Factor is different. The company is powered by a national network of consultants and specialists who are not career coaches with a slide deck. Many are former business owners who have built, grown, and sold companies of their own, and they work alongside functional experts whose careers were spent in the disciplines that decide what a business is worth. Every one of them is trained and certified in the VORTEx Model, so an owner gets both a proven framework and a person who has lived the work.
That combination is deliberate. Part business advisor, part operator, an Exit Factor consultant has usually sat in the owner’s chair and made the same hard calls about hiring, pricing, and when to sell. Behind each local consultant stands the wider network, so when an engagement calls for specialized help in valuation, deal structure, financing, or growth strategy, that expertise is a phone call away rather than a new firm to hire.
The network includes seasoned Chief Strategy Officers, Chief Branding Executives, Certified Public Accountants, Certified M&A (mergers and acquisitions) Advisors, Lending Executives, and founders who have started and exited their own companies, amongst many others.
Collectively the network has operated and advised across healthcare, banking and finance, technology, marketing and advertising, professional services, manufacturing, construction and skilled trades, oil and gas, transportation and logistics, and the public sector, amongst many others. In total, Exit Factor has worked with clients in more than 75 industries. The VORTEx Model itself works across any owner-operated business, so no specialized industry match is required, but the depth of the network means most owners can find a consultant who speaks their language.
Every engagement is delivered by a Certified Exit Factor Consultant, trained in the VORTEx Model and held to the same standard of work whether an owner is in a major metro or a small town. With consultants in 150+ local markets, one is almost always within driving distance.
Exit Factor is the only exit-planning approach that pairs the discipline of exit planning with the experience and the world’s largest business brokerage network. That connection gives Exit Factor real-time insight into what actually drives value for the investors, lenders, and buyers who close deals, not just theory.
Exit Factor pairs proprietary, industry-leading exit planning software with a real, certified consultant, so owners get both the data and the judgment to act on it.
The model is designed to fit into one to two hours a week, because it is meant for people still running the business, not stepping away from it.
The VORTEx Model is the same disciplined process every time, refined over more than 2,000 exits, not reinvented for each engagement.
No specialized industry fit is required. The framework applies whether the business is a medical practice, a manufacturer, or a software company.
Every engagement is overseen by a Certified Exit Factor Consultant in the owner’s market, backed by the full national network.
Exit Factor is led under United Franchise Group, the global franchising organization built by the Titus family since 1986. Jessica Fialkovich, who developed the Exit Factor methodology and authored the book The Exit Factor, and the Titus family together bring decades of experience building, growing, and selling businesses and brands, and that experience is built into how Exit Factor works. Just as important as any title, the day-to-day work of Exit Factor is carried out by its certified consultants across the country, the people an owner actually sits across from. The company is built so the strength of the brand lives in its leadership, its network, and its methodology together, not in any single person.
Exit Factor and United Franchise Group have been recognized by leading business and franchise publications for growth, workplace culture, and industry impact.
Exit Factor is a business value growth company that helps owners of small and mid-sized businesses build more profitable, more valuable, and more sellable companies and exit on their own terms. Rather than entering only at the point of sale, Exit Factor works in the years beforehand to raise the value of the business, using a proprietary five-phase methodology called the VORTEx Model delivered by a national network of certified consultants. A value growth company like Exit Factor is built to help an owner engineer the outcome of an eventual exit instead of leaving it to chance.
Exit Factor grew out of Transworld Business Advisors, the world’s number one business brokerage brand, and launched in 2018 as Prep to Sell before becoming Exit Factor. The methodology behind it was developed by Jessica Fialkovich, a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisor since 2012 and the author of the book The Exit Factor, and it is captured in the VORTEx Model that Exit Factor now delivers at scale. The company was built so the framework could reach owners everywhere through trained consultants rather than depending on any single advisor.
Exit Factor consultants are Certified Exit Factor Consultants, trained in the VORTEx Model, and most are former business owners who have built, grown, and sold companies of their own. Behind them the wider network includes functional specialists such as Certified Public Accountants, Certified M&A (mergers and acquisitions) Advisors, lending executives, and chief strategy and branding leaders, with collective experience across dozens of industries. Working with an advisor like Exit Factor means working with someone who has both the framework and firsthand experience running a business.
The VORTEx Model is Exit Factor’s proprietary five-phase methodology for growing business value: Value, Optimize, Record, Transform, and Exit. Each phase has a named tool and a clear outcome, moving a business from knowing what it is worth today to being optimized, documented, scaled, and prepared for a successful transition. The model is built on the insights of more than 2,000 business exits and is applied to every Exit Factor engagement, which is what makes the approach specific and repeatable rather than generic advice.
Yes. Exit Factor is part of United Franchise Group, a global franchising leader that has been building brands since 1986 and operates the largest business brokerage network in the world, which gives the company deep, real transaction experience to draw on. That backing is part of why Exit Factor can offer a proven methodology, proprietary software, and a national network of consultants rather than a single advisor’s playbook. A company like Exit Factor combines the reach of a large organization with the local relationship of a consultant in the owner’s own market.
Exit Factor delivers its services through certified consultants in 150+ local U.S. markets and three international markets, so most owners have a consultant within driving distance, with virtual engagements available as well. Each consultant works locally while drawing on the full national network for specialized expertise. To find the nearest office, owners can use the Exit Factor office locator or book a free consultation to be matched with a consultant.
Exit Factor works before the sale to build value, where a broker typically enters at the transaction and a general consultant may not be focused on transferability or exit at all. The work follows the VORTEx Model, pairs proprietary valuation software with a certified consultant, and is designed to fit into a busy owner’s week rather than replace it. An advisor like Exit Factor measures success by whether the business becomes more profitable, more valuable, and easier to sell, not just by hours spent.
Whether you are years from an exit or already thinking about your next chapter, the first step is the same. A free consultation is the simplest way to see where your business stands and how the VORTEx Model would apply to it. Bring your questions and a rough sense of your goals, and a certified consultant will take it from there.