Sell a Business in Stevens Point, Wisconsin

Selling a business in Stevens Point, Wisconsin means pricing it on a quiet summer week, not on a Pointer Saturday. Stevens Point is in Portage County. The Square and Division Street are the campus and downtown streets. I-39 and US 51 run north toward Wausau and south toward Portage and Madison. US 10 runs east toward Appleton. Sentry Insurance is the hometown payroll. The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point brings enrollment, and Aspirus Stevens Point, which people still call St. Michael's, keeps a hospital week with the Marshfield Clinic commute. Quandt Fieldhouse, a night at Goerke, and a college-hockey night can fill rooms. August move-in and commencement can fill them too. Those dates are not the whole year. Use a quiet week in July, when students are gone, as the week that has to cover payroll. If that week cannot cover a manager's wage, do not let a Pointer Saturday raise the price. Do not treat this town as Wausau or Green Bay.

An owner-operated business in Stevens Point, Wisconsin often sells for about 2x to 3.5x seller's discretionary earnings after a real manager wage. If a lead already runs the day, the price is often 2.5x to 4.5x SDE. A managed company is often priced on adjusted EBITDA, commonly about 3x to 6x near a $10 million price. Those ranges are not a quote. Call (352) 515-0226.

This page is not legal, tax, or lending advice. Bridge Point Advisors is a national firm, not a Florida-only practice. The firm works from Spring Hill, Florida.

What the local economy looks like

Shops in Stevens Point serve Portage County, the university, Sentry's weekday, and nearby towns only when the invoices name them. Wausau is Marathon County. Greenheck in Schofield and the paper plants there are not this file. Green Bay is the bay and Lambeau. A paper-mill multiple and a Packers Sunday do not belong on the Square. The Square and Division Street near campus pack in August and thin in some summers. A restaurant or a hotel that only works when students are in town is a school-year business.

Sentry's payroll is the professional week Wausau's carrier story does not match in this form. An insurance agency or an accounting firm can transfer when clients call the firm after the founder leaves. A book that lives on one carrier appointment, one corporate program, or one campus vendor purchase order is concentration. A staffing agency that already works more than one campus or carrier program can hold. A desk that is one Sentry department's overflow is the same concentration problem. Skyward is leftover software history unless current contracts are in the file. Name it as a customer. It is not a reason to talk about a Milwaukee professional wage.

Aspirus Stevens Point and the Marshfield Clinic commute keep medical practice demand that does not wait on a student August. This is not Aspirus Wausau, and it is not a Green Bay hospital belt. The question is whether that panel still books the successor. Recruiting a provider in Portage County is part of the price. Read the medical practice guide for that file.

Plover is south-side commercial density along US 51 and I-39, grocery-adjacent and medical-adjacent. It is not the Square. Whiting and Park Ridge are smaller desks. A Stevens Point license is not a Plover receipt. HVAC and construction that already open on Plover rooftops are a route plus a lead-tech wage. Recurring service is the book. A one-phase student-housing refresh ends. Include Whiting or Park Ridge only when the license and the stops name them.

I-39 explains the drive to Wausau and south toward Portage and Madison. It does not turn a Portage County truck into a Marathon County paper file. US 10 toward Appleton is a commute, not the Fox Cities. Point Brewery can bring a weekend visitor. It does not recruit a producer. Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee explains some commuters. It is not Lambeau Field. Sentry's wage is what a second producer already compares against.

What is seasonal and what holds all year

August, a Pointer home weekend, commencement, and a college-hockey night at Quandt or Goerke are the weeks buyers will try to treat as the year. They can fill the Square, Division Street, and a downtown hotel. Put those weeks on their own lines in two years of weekly sales, beside a quiet July when the academic calendar is thin. Name the Square share, the Division share, the Plover share, and the person who opens when students are gone.

Ordinary weeks are the rest of the record. Sentry's weekday does not move with hockey. Aspirus, which people still call St. Michael's, and the Marshfield Clinic relationship are clinical demand. If an insurance book holds when Pointers are not on the Square, the clients are the company. If it drops with the academic calendar, price it as campus-adjacent work. A January HVAC route in Plover that never sees a home game is the trade version of that test. Read the restaurant guide for a dining room and the service-business guide for a route.

Who buys a business here

A local owner who already knows Division Street versus Plover is often the cleanest buyer. That person has staffed a thin July. Ask whether they are adding a book or replacing one. Insurance and accounting buyers who understand carrier appointments fit when the book is not one appointment. Healthcare buyers look at Aspirus and Marshfield panels when a second provider already exists.

A search fund or an independent sponsor fits when a second person already runs the day. That can be a multi-location hospitality group, a multi-crew trade shop, or an agency with a producer who is not the founder. The shop has to open when students are gone and when the founder is not the only person clients will see. A one-appointment agency or a season-only room is a poor fit. If that second person is not on the schedule, say so before the meeting.

A strategic buyer fits when the route adds a place the company already serves. Plover, Whiting, and Park Ridge count only when the bills and the license name them. Buying a shop to claim Portage County does not create July customers. A buyer who wants Greenheck, a paper mill, or Lambeau has the wrong county.

Private equity belongs only when the company is large enough to price on adjusted EBITDA and the founder is not the only producer. Most shops here are smaller than that. The management test is why a large buyer walks when the work still follows one person. M&A advisory fits a managed group. It is the wrong tool for a single counter that still needs the owner.

Leave the deal if you priced Stevens Point as Wausau or as Lambeau and never walked the Square in July. Read how to sell your company confidentially before the first tour. The Square is easy to recognize. Read what to tell employees and customers before that tour becomes talk on Division Street. Wausau and Appleton can hire the same people. Put that leak in the wage you already pay.

How the price is set

Owner-operated shops are priced on seller's discretionary earnings. That fits an insurance agency, a dining room, a hotel, an accounting desk, a staffing desk, and most trade crews. Add back owner pay and personal costs that are truly personal. Then subtract a real wage for the person who will run the shop after the owner leaves. Skip that wage and the earnings are too high for a buyer to staff.

After that wage, an owner-operated shop often sits around 2x to 3.5x SDE. If a lead already runs the day, a producer, a floor manager, or a lead tech, the range is often 2.5x to 4.5x SDE. The person who opens in July is what moves a deal up the range. A Pointer Saturday, a hockey night, commencement, and Point Brewery weekend traffic are not add-backs. They stay in the year's sales.

Adjusted EBITDA fits a managed agency, a multi-provider practice, or a multi-crew trade group that already shows staff wages and more than one quiet summer. Near a $10 million price, that conversation commonly lands around 3x to 6x. Most businesses in Stevens Point, Wisconsin are smaller than that. Keep a Square counter on SDE.

The valuation guide is the national frame. A valuation here follows Portage County customers, Square or Plover rent, and a manager the shop can hire. Compare offers that are not all cash in the offer comparison guide. Cash, a seller note, an earn-out, and working capital are different promises. Holdbacks belong on receivable quality, an appointment that may not transfer, and a license that still lists one person.

How the buyer writes the check

An SBA 7(a) loan commonly caps at $5 million. It can fit a documented agency or trade when appointments or licenses can transfer, the manager wage is real, and a quiet summer shows on the profit and loss. A one-carrier book or a season-only room usually needs more buyer equity. The SBA financing guide explains the national structure. It is not a loan approval, and it is not a promise that a Portage County shop will clear. A lender will ask whether the appointment survives the sale.

A seller note fits when the hard part is one carrier appointment, one campus relationship, or a lease the landlord still wants in the founder's name. The note shares the risk that customers stay. It does not repair an appointment that will not transfer. It does not invent July volume the Square never had when the students were gone. If a quiet summer week cannot pay the note, the note is too large.

An earn-out fits when one appointment, one campus contract, or a year that only worked in September is a large share. Pay the extra money only if that revenue continues. Write the measure in plain numbers, such as revenue from a named carrier or sales in named weeks.

A handshake does not move a carrier appointment, a hospital credential, or a Wisconsin contractor license. Those sit on different calendars. None of them moves because the buyer already works in Marathon County. Have local counsel review the transfer rules before you set a closing date. Ask what has to happen before the buyer is the person the carrier, the hospital, or the state will accept.

Working capital is the cash, food, parts, and receivables a normal July week needs. Set the target on a week when students are gone, and leave the owner's draw out of that target. Food a Square room still uses in a thin summer, parts a Plover route needs in January, and receivables from more than one account belong in it. A hockey weekend changes the deposits. That cash is not the price.

Mistakes buyers make in this town

Diligence often stalls because the buyer priced Portage County as cheaper Wausau or as a Lambeau annex. Rent, wages, and customers do not match either place. It also stalls when the Square, Division Street, and Plover are treated as one rent. Plover rent is not Square rent.

An insurance appointment that will not transfer ends an agency deal early. A campus vendor number that is really one person is personal goodwill. Marshfield commuting belongs in the medical file only if patients actually drive. Do not invent that volume. If the founder is the only producer clients will see, the agency is a job until a second producer is real. Use the sale-prep roadmap to show August, a Pointer Saturday, and a quiet summer week as three separate stories before a summary goes to buyers.

The person who can run July may already have taken work toward Wausau or Appleton. A seller stay does not replace a producer or a lead tech. A related-party lease, or one corporate program treated as a customer list, will reopen the price. The Square lease, a Plover route, and a carrier appointment sit on different desks.

Sellers can start at the sell-side overview, the industry index, or contact. Buyers can start at buyers, review listings, and sign an NDA before they see which weeks make up the year. The blog holds the longer guides on valuation, financing, and diligence.

What to look at in a restaurant, an insurance agency, and an HVAC route

Walk a Square or Division Street restaurant in a summer week when school is out. Ask who eats there when no game is scheduled, whether the lease assigns, and what food is on hand for July. A night at Quandt or Goerke can fill every seat. The person who can hold the thin month still has to be on the schedule. Point Brewery traffic is not that month.

For an insurance agency, start with a month when Pointers are not on the Square. Ask which appointments transfer, whether more than one carrier is in the book, and who the clients call after the founder leaves. One Sentry department's overflow is not a diversified book. Put Sentry's wage next to the producer you say will stay. If Skyward or another software customer is in the file, show the current contract.

For an HVAC route, walk Plover in January, not the Square on a hockey night. Separate Whiting and Park Ridge unless the stops name them. A student-housing refresh is not a maintenance agreement. Use the same split for construction, a hotel, staffing, accounting, and a clinic. An Aspirus or Marshfield panel should be readable without hockey.

What to bring when you call

Bring two years of weekly sales, with a Pointer Saturday and a quiet July week both visible. Bring the appointment list or the customer list, the lease, and the name of the person who already answers the phone in a thin summer. If one carrier or one campus account is a large share of the year, bring that contract. If Plover, Whiting, or Park Ridge is inside the asking price, bring the stops and the license that name them.

Start with a valuation, your industry page, or contact. Call (352) 515-0226. The ranges at the top of this page are a direction, not a quote. Bring the July week that has to cover a manager's wage, and the name of the person who already runs that week.