Show the math. All of it.

Why this exists

Don't let Silicon Valley run away with it. Value should not only accrue there.

I am there — I want to provide access to it. You should be able to access the same knowledge and tools as the best in Silicon Valley. I want to give that to you. That's why I built this.

pleitez.ai is an application, not a site. The mission pays for itself when owners get help from the teams behind it — ClaroPro, Finix, and Nova. That is what makes it sustainable rather than charity.

The method, in four steps

1. Public anchor. We start with what public companies in the closest matching industry trade for, as a multiple of EBITDA. Source: Damodaran Online (NYU Stern), January 2026. Where there is no public market for a trade — there is no exchange full of plumbing companies — we say so and label the bucket a public proxy.

2. Basis bridge. Buyers of owner-run businesses do not buy EBITDA; they buy SDE, then subtract what a real manager would cost to replace the owner. We show that conversion line by line: profit, plus owner pay, plus interest and depreciation, plus defensible one-time items, minus a replacement salary.

3. Itemized discount bridge. A small, private, owner-dependent business does not clear at a public multiple. We walk the multiple down with named steps: a size factor, a marketability step of 12%, and then your specific risks — customer concentration, owner hours, recurring revenue, trend, and documented systems. Each risk lives in exactly one place. Nothing is counted twice.

4. Cross-check. The bridged number is checked against what businesses actually changed hands for. If the two disagree by more than 35%, the calculator says so on the results screen and widens the band instead of hiding the gap.

Why a flat discount fails

The shortcut you will hear is: take the public multiple and knock off 20–30%. On businesses this size that shortcut overvalues by roughly 3–4 times. The total gap between a public multiple and what a small private business actually clears is usually far larger, and most of it is size — a business that sells for under $500,000 simply does not trade like one that sells for $20 million. That is why we itemize the bridge instead of applying one haircut: you can see which step is doing the work, and change it if you disagree.

Sources

Public multiples: Damodaran Online, NYU Stern — data as of January 2026.

Size ladder: IBBA Market Pulse, Q2 2026 — 2.0× SDE for deals under $500,000; 2.8× SDE at $500K–$1M; 3.1× SDE at $1M–$2M; 4.8× EBITDA at $2M–$5M; 5.8× EBITDA at $5M–$50M.

Realized trade multiples, quoted with attribution: plumbers 2.61× SDE, HVAC 2.83×, dental practices 2.75×, restaurants 2.18×, law firms 1.97×, car washes 4.87× — BizBuySell realized sales, trailing five years through Q2 2026.

Damodaran Online data hub

How fresh is this?

Damodaran multiples refresh every January, and we rebuild from the new vintage each January. The IBBA size ladder refreshes quarterly, and we update it quarterly. Every page that shows a multiple shows its date.

Estimate vs. actual — our commitment

When businesses that used this calculator actually sell and we learn the real price, we will publish how the estimate compared. A tool that never checks itself against reality is marketing. We would rather show the misses.

When a calculator is the wrong tool

Some questions need a qualified professional working from verified records, not a web calculator. Do not use this estimate for: tax or gifting decisions, buy-sell disputes, divorce, ESOPs, loan underwriting, or litigation. For those, hire a qualified business valuator — and if you tell us that is your situation, we will say the same thing and point you there instead of selling you anything.

Privacy

The calculator's math runs in your browser. Your numbers are not sent anywhere unless you email yourself the breakdown. No name is needed to see your number, and we do not sell this data.

Disclosures

This calculator and these guides are published by Emanuel Pleitez's AI agent team for general education. Nothing here is investment, financial, legal, tax, accounting, or valuation advice; nothing is a recommendation, an offer, or a solicitation to buy, sell, or finance any business or security. Using the calculator or reading these pages does not make you a client of Emanuel Pleitez, East Los Capital, Finix, ClaroPro, or Nova, and creates no advisory, fiduciary, brokerage, or professional relationship of any kind.

The number the calculator produces is an educational estimate from a simplified model. It is not an appraisal, not a formal valuation, not a fairness opinion, and not a statement of fair market value, and it is not prepared under USPAP or any other appraisal standard. Do not use it for tax or gifting decisions, ESOPs, buy-sell disputes, divorce, litigation, or loan underwriting — those require a qualified valuator working from verified records.

The math runs on numbers you enter, and we do not verify them. An error — or an optimistic add-back — flows straight into the result. The market data comes from sources we believe are reliable: public-company multiples from Damodaran Online (NYU Stern), data as of January 2026; the size ladder from IBBA Market Pulse, Q2 2026; and realized multiples quoted with attribution from published BizBuySell sales data. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that data and have not independently audited it. Where no public market or sale record exists for a trade, the figure is labeled a proxy or category estimate — it describes a neighboring industry, not your business.

Actual prices are negotiated between a specific buyer and a specific seller on a specific day, and they turn on verified financials, deal terms, financing, timing, and the buyer's own reasons — things no web calculator can see. Real outcomes land above and below these estimates, sometimes by a wide margin. When an estimate and a real offer disagree, the offer is the data.

Multiples and methods are as of the dates shown and are subject to change without notice. We refresh the Damodaran data each January and the IBBA ladder quarterly, and we may revise the method at any time. We have no obligation to update an estimate you received earlier or to notify you of changes.

Our interests, in the open: Emanuel Pleitez oversees finance at Finix and was its first investor. His firm, East Los Capital, is an investor in ClaroPro and owns Nova. The 'Move your number' suggestions and the team referrals on this site may therefore point you to companies Emanuel has a financial interest in. That interest does not change the math — every input, multiple, and source is shown so you can check each line — but you should know it exists. Evaluate every provider, including these, independently; get competing quotes before signing anything.

Privacy: the calculator's math runs in your browser. Your financial inputs are not sent anywhere unless you email yourself the breakdown, and we do not sell financial data. If you ask for human follow-up, we will contact you only under the consent you gave on the form.

Before you act on any number here — above all before you price a sale, sign a letter of intent, or make a tax or lending decision — talk to a qualified business valuator, your CPA, and your attorney about your specific facts. Education is where understanding starts. It is not a substitute for advice about your situation.