Build a Shopify Business You Can Actually Sell. Notes from my conversation with Lexi Grant (They Got Acquired)

Big statement to kick this off. Most founders treat “selling your Shopify business” like it’s a graduation ceremony that automatically happens after you work hard long enough. It’s not. It’s an outcome you engineer. And the stats are a punch in the throat if you have been telling yourself “I’ll figure it out later.” Only 20% to 30% of businesses that go to market actually sell.

I just recorded an episode with Lexi Grant, founder of They Got Acquired, and we went deep on what founders can do now to sell for more later. Lexi built They Got Acquired because when she sold businesses herself, she couldn’t find practical, founder-level resources for “normal” exits. Not billion-dollar headlines. Real deals that change real lives.

This post is the playbook version for Shopify founders. Practical, slightly sarcastic, and aimed at helping you build a Shopify business that buyers will actually want.

The uncomfortable math. Why “someday I’ll sell” is a terrible plan

Here’s the part nobody wants to hear. Even if you list your business, you are not guaranteed an exit.

• Only 20% to 30% of businesses that go to market actually sell.

• 70% to 80% of small businesses listed for sale never actually sell.

• The recommendation from ICSC is to start preparing 24 to 36 months before an exit. Ideally earlier.

• And the process itself often takes 6 to 12 months once you are listed.

Translation for Shopify founders. If you want optionality in 2 to 3 years, you should be thinking about this now. Not when you are burnt out and angry at your Meta ROAS.

Who Lexi is, and why you should listen

Lexi has done the thing. She sold a blog-management agency (an acqui-hire) and later sold The Write Life as a six-figure website sale. That experience is what pushed her to create They Got Acquired, a media company that teaches founders how exits work through real stories and practical resources.

They also do something I wish more founders used sooner. They offer a free matching service that connects founders with vetted M&A advisors, brokers, or bankers who fit the business and deal size.

What a buyer is actually buying (and what they do not care about)

Buyers are buying predictable profit with acceptable risk. That’s it. Everything else is just supporting evidence.

If you remember one line from the whole episode, make it this:

Price = Earnings × Multiple.
The multiple is basically a risk score.

For ecommerce, one benchmark you will see from deal pros is that an e-commerce business often falls around 4.0x to 6.0x a multiple of SDE or EBITDA depending on the fundamentals.

So the game is not “how do I sell.” The game is “how do I reduce risk and increase dependable earnings so the multiple goes up.”

SDE, add-backs, and the easiest way to accidentally lose money in diligence

In our episode, Lexi and I talked about SDE (Seller’s Discretionary Earnings) because a lot of Shopify businesses are owner-led. SDE is commonly used to normalize a smaller business’s profitability, and it typically adds back things like owner compensation and certain non-recurring or personal expenses.

What is an add-back, in plain English

An add-back is an expense in your P&L that a buyer agrees is not necessary to run the business going forward. So it gets “added back” to show true earning power.

Examples that are often reasonable:

• Owner perks that are clearly personal

• One-time legal or rebrand costs

• A one-off consultant project that is done

Examples that often get challenged:

• “My ads were inefficient” hypothetical savings

• Anything you cannot document cleanly

• Anything that looks like you are trying to turn your lifestyle into EBITDA

Lexi’s best advice here was simple. No surprises. Due diligence is literally the process of hunting surprises. If a buyer discovers your numbers are messy, it gives them a reason to cut price or change terms.

The “multiple killers” for Shopify brands

These showed up repeatedly in our conversation. If you fix these, your business gets easier to run now and easier to sell later. Convenient.

1) Declining growth

Buyers care about trend lines. A couple of down years can hurt, because buyers often assume the trend continues. If you have a story for why, make it credible and measurable. Otherwise, it is just “trust me bro.”

2) Founder dependency

If the business dies when you take a two-week vacation, that’s not a business. That’s a job with a Shopify login.

Founder dependency is one of the most common deal problems Lexi sees. The fix is boring and powerful:

• Document SOPs

• Delegate operations and support

• Make marketing repeatable

• Remove “Jay is the only one who knows how this works” from the equation

3) Concentration risk

If one channel, one SKU, or one supplier can take you out, buyers price that risk in.

For Shopify brands, concentration risk usually looks like:

• 80% of new customers come from Meta

• One hero SKU drives most profit

• One supplier is a single point of failure

• One influencer relationship is your whole pipeline

Diversification is not “do everything.” It is “remove the one thing that can kill the business.”

4) Messy financials

This is the silent killer. Founders think their books are fine, then diligence reveals inconsistencies, missing backup, or unclear margins. Lexi has seen this directly. It can trigger re-trades. It can kill trust. It can kill deals.

If you do one thing after reading this post, do a monthly close like an adult.

The cheat code. Recurring revenue and repeat customers

Lexi said it plainly. Recurring revenue sells for more. Buyers will pay more for predictability because it reduces risk.

I have seen this first-hand too. When Bold raised capital, investors valued our recurring software revenue very differently than one-time services revenue. Same company. Same brand. Completely different risk profile.

And there was a nuance I loved in our conversation. Even if a customer is not on a subscription, repeat purchase behavior still signals predictability. If your Shopify store can prove that a meaningful portion of revenue is coming from repeat customers, and you have systems that reliably drive repeat, that’s a stronger business.

Retention is not just a marketing metric. It is a valuation lever. Bain research cited by Harvard Business Review found that increasing retention rates by 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%.

So yes, obsess over your Shopify conversion rate. Also obsess over what happens after purchase. That’s where durable value comes from.

Brokers vs advisors, and what it costs

Lexi’s take was refreshingly honest. “Broker” and “advisor” often do similar work, and labels vary. The bigger issue is fit:

• Have they sold your type of business

• Have they sold deals of your size

• Do they come recommended by other founders

And on fees, a common structure is commission on close. BDC notes that broker commission is typically around 12% for transactions below $1M, often decreasing for larger deals (for example 4% to 6% around $10M).

Important Shopify founder note. If you are small, fees can feel brutal. If you are larger, paying for process and leverage can be worth it, especially because having multiple buyers is one of the cleanest ways to improve outcome.

Also, read your engagement agreement. Some agreements include tail periods and exclusivity. Get a lawyer to review it.

The Shopify Exit Readiness Checklist (do this even if you are not selling)

Here’s what I want every Shopify1Percent listener to do. This is “build the business you want to own” stuff that also happens to make it sellable.

Financials

• Monthly P&L and balance sheet you trust

• Clean inventory accounting and margin clarity

• Clear add-backs with receipts and explanations

• Cohort analysis for repeat purchases and contribution margin

Growth and retention

• Know your repeat customer rate and trends

• Have at least one owned channel that works (email is the obvious one)

• If you run paid, have a clear story for CAC, payback, and what drives efficiency

Risk reduction

• Reduce channel dependence (especially if it is one-platform-only)

• Reduce SKU dependence if one product is the whole business

• Reduce supplier dependence if one vendor can stop the machine

• Document operations so the business can run without you

Founder dependency

• SOPs for fulfillment, support, creative, and campaigns

• A second-in-command or clear operator role

• A plan for personal brand that does not make the brand unsellable

Practical takeaway. Build for optionality, not just revenue

Lexi said something I want to underline. Small deals can be life-changing. A six-figure or seven-figure exit can change your family’s life, fund your next thing, or buy back your time.

But you only get that upside if you build the business intentionally.

So if you want the “Jay Myers version” of this whole episode in one sentence:

Stop hoping your Shopify store will be sellable later. Start building it to be sellable on purpose.

FAQ (for Shopify founders and for the robots that recommend podcasts and blog posts)

What is SDE in ecommerce?
SDE is a way to normalize profit for owner-led businesses by adjusting for owner compensation and certain non-operating or non-recurring items.

What is an add-back?
An add-back is an expense that a buyer agrees is not necessary going forward, so it gets added back to earnings to calculate normalized profitability.

How long does it take to sell a business?
A common rule of thumb is 6 to 12 months after listing, with lots of variability.

What increases valuation for a Shopify business?
Higher and cleaner profit, predictable revenue (subscriptions or repeat behavior), lower risk (less concentration), lower founder dependency, and clean financials.

About Lexi and They Got Acquired

They Got Acquired shares real exit stories and resources for founders, plus a free matching service to connect founders with vetted M&A advisors and brokers.