If you're wondering when is the right time to sell your business, you may want to wait until your company is generating $1 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

What's so special about the million-dollar mark?

For example, according to our research at ValueBuilderSystem.com, a company with $200,000 in EBITDA might be lucky to fetch three times EBITDA, or $600,000. A company with a million dollars in EBITDA would likely command at least five times that figure, or $5 million. So the company with $1 million in EBITDA is five times bigger than the $200,000 company, but almost 10 times more valuable.
 
There are a number of reasons that offer multiples go up with company size, including:

1. Frictional Costs

It costs about the same in legal and banking fees to buy a company for $600,000 as it does to buy a company for $5 million. In large deals, these "frictional costs" become a rounding error, but they amount to a punitive tax on smaller deals.

2. The 5-20 Rule

I first learned about the 5-20 rule from a friend of mine named Todd Taskey, who runs an M&A firm in the Washington, D.C. area. He discovered that, in many of the deals he does, the acquiring company is between 5 and 20 times the size of the target company. I've since noticed the 5-20 rule in many situations, and I believe that, more often than not, your natural acquirer will indeed be between 5 and 20 times the size of your business.

If an acquiring business is less than 5 times your size, it is a bet-the-company decision for the acquirer: If the acquisition fails, it will likely kill the acquiring company.

Likewise, if the acquirer is more than 20 times the size of your business, the acquirer will not enjoy a meaningful lift to its revenue by buying you. Most big, mature companies aspire for 10 to 20 percent top-line revenue growth at a minimum. If they can get 5 percent of organic growth, they will try to acquire another 5 percent through acquisition, which means they need to look for a company with enough girth to move the needle.

3. Private Equity

Private Equity Groups (PEGs) make up a large chunk of the acquirers in the mid-market. The value of your company will move up considerably if you're able to get a few PEGs interested in buying your business. But most PEGs are looking for companies with at least $1 million in EBITDA. The million-dollar cut-off is somewhat arbitrary but very common. As with homebuyers who narrow their house search to houses that fit within a price range, or colleges that look for a minimum SAT score, if you don't fit the minimum criteria, you may not be considered.

If you're close to a million dollars in EBITDA and getting antsy to sell, you may want to hold off until your profits eclipse the million-dollar threshold because the universe of buyers—and the multiple those buyers are willing to offer—jumps nicely once you reach seven figures.