Deal A
Clean break
- Lower price
- Most of it in cash at closing
- Off the loans at closing, short handoff
Business exit mediation · Minnesota & on video
You’re exiting your Minnesota business. The financial plan is only half of it.
Fifteen minutes, free. Ask me the hard ones:
- How do we agree on a buyout price?
- What if we can’t agree on what it’s worth?
- What does it cost?
- Where do our lawyers and CPA fit?
- Something else?
Tap one to text it to me.
Your financial planner can model the tax hit and build the portfolio. What they can’t do is help you and your partner agree on terms. That’s where mediation comes in, before the lawyers and before the deal blows up.
One neutral for both owners. Booking commits you to nothing.
4.9 stars · 250+ Google reviews · St. Paul, over Zoom nationwide
“Ryan remained neutral and focused on finding a fair resolution, which made the entire process smoother and less stressful.”
A business exit is rarely just a transaction. It's a reckoning — about who did what, what it was worth, and whether the person on the other side of the table is being straight with you. The financial plan only works if the people can agree first.
— Ryan McLaughlin, Flannel People Mediation
What is business exit mediation?
Business exit mediation is a confidential, voluntary process in which business owners work out the terms of an exit, most often one partner buying out another, with a neutral mediator instead of through opposing attorneys. At Flannel People Mediation, buyouts run on the Fair Range Buyout: a private meeting with each owner, one shared financial packet both owners read before anyone names a price, then one three-hour session on video that ends with a term sheet for each side's attorney. The fee is a flat $1,995 per person.
- Who it's for
- Business owners working out an exit: one partner buying out another, a founder stepping away, or partners who haven't decided who stays
- Structure
- Three parts, in a fixed order: a private meeting with each owner → the same financial packet for both → one joint session
- What you look at
- An indicative value range from three standard approaches (assets, earnings, comparable sales), then three deals of about equal value paid out differently
- If you're stuck
- A sealed-bid round, only if both owners agree in writing first: the higher bid buys, at the midpoint of the two bids
- Format
- Video. One three-hour joint session
- Cost
- $1,995 per person, flat. $3,990 for two owners. The first 15-minute call is free
- What you leave with
- A term sheet for each owner's attorney to review
- What it is not
- Not legal or tax advice, not an appraisal or valuation opinion, not a binding ruling. The mediator is neutral and represents neither owner
- Mediator
- Ryan McLaughlin, Flannel People Mediation, St. Paul, Minnesota. 4.9 stars across 250+ Google reviews
An exit has two sides. Most people only plan for one.
The financial side has professionals. The people side often doesn't.
The money side
What your financial planner handles
The transaction proceeds, investment strategy, tax planning, retirement income modeling — the numbers after the deal closes.
- Proceeds allocation and wealth management
- Tax-efficient exit strategies (QSBS, installment sales)
- Retirement income planning post-exit
- Portfolio construction with new liquidity
- Estate planning and legacy structuring
The people side
What a mediator handles
The conversations that have to happen before the deal — between partners, between a founder and their family, between parties who don't agree on what the business is worth to each of them.
- Partner buyout terms — price, timeline, conditions
- Who gets what when equity wasn't clearly documented
- Family business succession disputes
- How the departure gets communicated to employees
- Non-compete terms both parties can actually accept
This is for you if any of these are true
Six versions of the same problem — the deal is ready before the people are.
You're buying out a partner
You've agreed in principle that one of you is leaving. But you can't agree on what "fair" means for the buyout — price, terms, timeline, or whether past contributions change the number.
You're selling the whole business
Multiple partners, multiple opinions about the deal. One person thinks the offer is low. Another wants out at any price. The financial advisor is ready to work — but first you need the partners to agree.
It's a family business
Succession is complicated when family is involved. Who takes over, who gets bought out, how you value contributions that were never formally compensated — these conversations don't happen cleanly at the dinner table.
The operating agreement is silent
You didn't anticipate this scenario when you wrote it — or you never wrote one. So there's no established mechanism for how this gets decided. That's where mediation creates a framework.
One partner wants out immediately
There's urgency on one side and reluctance on the other. The business is still operating. The deal has to close but the relationship is strained. You need a process that moves.
Referred by your financial planner
Your CFP or wealth manager said "get the people side sorted first." They're right. Once the interpersonal terms are settled, the financial planning work can actually proceed without getting pulled back into the relationship dispute.
Tell me where things stand. I'll tell you if mediation is the right next step.
The professionals who handle an exit well work as an ecosystem
Each does a specific job. None of them does all of it.
The exit team
Your CFP plans the wealth. Your attorney documents the deal. Your mediator gets the people to the table.
These aren't competing services. A well-structured exit has all three. The order matters: mediation often happens before the attorneys engage on deal terms, because a mediated agreement gives both lawyers something to formalize instead of something to fight about.
Certified Financial Planner
Proceeds, tax, retirement income, portfolio
Business Attorney
Purchase agreement, LLC dissolution, IP transfer
Mediator
Buyout terms, partner alignment, interpersonal agreements
CPA / Tax Advisor
Business valuation, tax structure of the transaction
What does a mediator actually do in a business exit?
Not therapy. Not legal advice. Something more specific.
The hardest conversation in a business exit isn't about price. It's about what the price represents — who worked harder, whose contribution was undervalued, what one partner feels they're owed that isn't in any document. That's the conversation that stalls deals, that turns reasonable people into adversaries, that sends both parties to separate lawyers who entrench them further.
A mediator doesn't take sides. The job is to structure the conversation so both parties can say what they actually need — not their opening negotiating position, but the real thing underneath it — and then find whether there's an agreement available that both people can accept.
In an exit context, that usually means: agreeing on a buyout price and structure, determining how unvested equity or profit interest is handled, addressing any non-compete concerns, and deciding how the business transition gets communicated to employees, customers, and vendors. The mediator doesn't draft the agreement — that's your attorney's job. The mediator gets both parties to the point where an agreement is possible.
That step — getting both parties to the same page before attorneys are engaged — typically shortens the legal process significantly and substantially reduces cost. A negotiated agreement through separate attorneys can run $5,000–$30,000. Mediation, all-in, is a fraction of that.
How we work
The Fair Range Buyout
For exits where one owner is leaving and one is staying, or you haven't decided who stays. Most buyout fights aren't about what the business does. They're about a number neither of you trusts yet. Here's how we get to one you'd both sign.
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Part 1 · The one-on-ones
About an hour each · private
I meet with each of you, separately.
What you're afraid of, what you'd say yes to, what you built here. Neither of you hears the other's meeting.
In writing, for my eyes onlyWhere your own position is weakest, and the number you'd walk away at. Nobody else sees either one.
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Part 2 · Same facts
Before anyone names a price
You both read the same numbers first.
One shared packet: three years of financials, what each of you took out, who guaranteed which loan. Every adjustment, like owner pay or a one-time year, goes on one list marked agreed or disputed.
If the basics stay disputedYou jointly hire one credentialed valuator, instead of each paying for your own.
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Part 3 · The session
3 hours · Zoom · usually within a week
One session. A range, then three deals.
Nobody opens with a number. You see the range first, then three deals I've written, and you pick the one closest to right. We adjust it together.
You leave withA term sheet for each of your attorneys to review.
Inside the three hours
What you'll actually look at
An illustration, not your numbers. Yours come from the shared packet you both read.
FirstThe range
LowHigh
Middle
What the assets are worth
What the business earns
What similar businesses sold for
- What the assets are worth
- What the business earns
- What similar businesses sold for
Three standard ways to value a business, on one line, built from numbers you both agreed to. It's a range, not a verdict. We run it twice, once with only the agreed adjustments and once with all of them, so you can see exactly how much money the disputed ones carry.
ThenThree deals
Deal B
Paid over time
- Full price
- Part now, the rest over a few years
- Payments secured, with a plan for a bad year
Deal C
Stay and hand off
- Full price, plus paid transition time
- The leaving owner introduces clients
- Wider non-compete, paid for
About equal in value, paid out differently. For each one, a simple table shows what it's really worth to each of you once timing and taxes are counted. Your CPA supplies the tax numbers; I only do the arithmetic.
If you're stuckThe sealed-bid round
Only if you both agree to it in writing first. Each of you writes one price for the whole business. The higher bid buys, at the halfway point between the two. Neither of you does worse than your own number.
Bids have to land inside the range, and a payment plan counts at its value in today's dollars, so having more cash on hand doesn't win it.
Why the private weak-spots exercise comes first: in one negotiation study, pairs who each wrote down the weaknesses in their own case reached impasse 4% of the time. Pairs who didn't: 35%.
Babcock, Loewenstein & Issacharoff, 1997
I don't give valuation opinions, legal advice, or tax advice. Your attorney, your CPA, and any valuator you hire stay yours. Flat fee, $1,995 per person.
4.9 stars across 250+ Google reviews.
Here's what the experience is like.
★★★★★
"Helped us think through a really tricky multi-state and complex financial situation with compassion and pragmatism! Highly recommended!"
★★★★★
"He is incredibly patient, a great listener, and has a unique ability to help all parties see the bigger picture. Ryan remained neutral and focused on finding a fair resolution, which made the entire process smoother and less stressful."
★★★★★
"The mediation process was simple and easy and seemed like a good alternative to other routes. Ryan helped us reach an amicable agreement in the time frame we chose. I highly recommend Ryan at The Flannel People."
Ryan McLaughlin
Mediator · Flannel People Mediation · St. Paul, MN
I'm not a financial advisor and I'm not a lawyer. I'm a mediator, which is a specific job. My role in a business exit is to get all the relevant parties into a structured conversation and help them reach agreement on the interpersonal and equity terms — the stuff that has to be resolved before the financial plan and the legal documents can do their job.
I understand business structures: vesting, operating agreements, the difference between a buyout dispute and a communication problem, why sweat equity looks different to the person who put it in versus the person who put in the capital. I don't tell you what the terms should be. I help you get to terms both parties can actually accept.
4.9 stars across 250+ Google reviews. The free call is 15 minutes.
Common questions about exit mediation
With a method called the Fair Range Buyout. Both owners read the same financial packet before either names a number, and each privately writes down the weakest points in their own position. In the session, three standard valuation approaches are placed on one line to show an indicative range built from numbers both owners agreed to. The mediator then presents three deals of about equal value that are paid out differently, and the owners choose and adjust one. It is not an appraisal or a valuation opinion; if the basics stay disputed, the owners jointly hire one credentialed valuator. See how it works.
Mediation typically happens before or alongside the legal and financial work, not after. Your CFP can build the wealth plan once they know what the exit looks like — but they can't determine that until the parties agree on terms. Mediation produces a written summary of agreed terms that your attorney formalizes and your financial planner uses as the starting point for the wealth transition plan. It's not competing with their work; it's what makes their work possible.
Valuation is often a proxy for something else — one person feeling their contribution was undervalued, or a disagreement about the business's future potential versus its current reality. I can't tell you what the business is worth; that's a job for a CPA or 409A appraiser. But I can help you work through the conversation underneath the valuation dispute — what each party actually needs from the outcome — which often makes the number more negotiable than it seems. Sometimes the fight about price resolves once the non-monetary things get acknowledged.
Mediation can happen while attorneys are involved — it's not an either/or. What changes is efficiency: if the mediation produces agreed terms, the attorneys have something to work from rather than something to argue about. Many attorneys actively encourage clients to try mediation before litigation because a mediated agreement is faster and less expensive for everyone. Some attorneys attend the mediation themselves. That's fine — they can be there in an advisory capacity.
Yes. Nothing said in mediation can be used in any subsequent legal proceeding. The process doesn't create a public record. What happens in the session stays there — what you leave with is the written terms both parties agreed to, not a record of what was said to get there. For a business exit, that matters: your employees, customers, and competitors don't learn the details of how the departure was negotiated.
Business exit mediation is $1,995 per person — $3,990 for the two of you. That covers individual calls with each party, the joint session, and the written summary of agreed terms. Flat fee, quoted before anything starts. For context: negotiating a partner buyout through separate attorneys typically costs $5,000–$30,000. The free call takes 15 minutes; I'll give you a specific number based on what you describe.
Ready? Pick a time below.
Free 15-minute call. No commitment.
The financial plan can't close until the people agree.
One conversation, 15 minutes, no commitment. You'll know whether mediation makes sense for your situation before the call ends.
You're on the calendar.
Check your email for the confirmation. Here's what to think about before we talk:
- Who are all the parties involved — partners, family members, anyone with an equity stake
- What documents exist: operating agreement, shareholder agreement, any equity grant letters
- What's already agreed, and where the sticking point actually is
- What a good outcome looks like for you — not your position, but what you actually need
Questions before the call? 763-316-8323