How to Sell Your Cybersecurity / MSP Business in 2026

What Moves Your Multiple Up

• 70%+ recurring revenue under managed contracts, MRR from managed services and managed security agreements is the number buyers underwrite against. Multi-year terms with auto-renewal and annual price escalators are the gold standard.
• Contracts that transfer, Client agreements with assignment clauses (or without change-of-control restrictions) let the buyer step into your revenue on day one. Handshake arrangements and non-assignable contracts get discounted hard.
• Certifications and a compliance niche, SOC 2 Type II, CMMC assessment capability, HIPAA or PCI specialization, and vendor certifications signal maturity. A regulated niche makes your revenue defensible because clients cannot easily switch to a generalist.
• Engineer retention and bench depth, Buyers are partly acquiring your team. Low turnover, tenured senior engineers, documented on-call rotations, and reasonable non-solicitation agreements all reduce the risk that value walks out the door after closing.
• A transferable tooling stack, Your RMM, PSA, EDR, and SIEM licenses should be in the company name with assignable agreements. A standardized stack across clients is easier to integrate than fifty snowflake environments.
• Low client concentration, No single client above 15 to 20% of revenue. A diversified base of 40+ accounts on managed agreements is far safer to a buyer than five large accounts, however profitable.
• Documentation and process maturity, Runbooks, network documentation, ticketing history, and standardized onboarding prove the business runs on process rather than tribal knowledge. This is what lets a buyer believe the numbers repeat without you.

What Brings Your Value Down

• Break-fix, project, and hardware resale making up more than half of revenue
• One client representing 25% or more of revenue
• The owner acting as lead engineer and primary client contact for major accounts
• Month-to-month or verbal agreements with no assignment language
• Tooling licensed in the owner's personal name or under non-transferable agreements
• High engineer turnover or a single senior engineer holding all environment knowledge
• Declining MRR or rising client churn over the trailing 12 months
• A recent security incident at your own firm that was not disclosed and remediated cleanly

1. Get a Valuation

Start with the free valuation calculator. It takes about 5 minutes and produces a range based on your revenue, profit, recurring revenue mix, and client base. For the full picture, pair it with the cybersecurity business valuation guide, which walks through the multiples and drivers in detail.

2. Choose Your Advisor

A cybersecurity business broker who understands MRR, tooling stacks, and compliance niches will position your firm very differently than a generalist listing it like a storefront. Ask any broker how they value recurring contracts, how they run NDA screening, and what they charge. BridgeBook is founder-led by Legend Atty and works on a success fee only: no retainers, no upfront costs, with a tiered fee of 10% on the first $1,000,000 of sale price sliding down to 3% above $7,000,000. If the business does not sell, you pay nothing.

3. Prepare Your Numbers and Documentation

Buyers in this industry are technical and thorough. Expect to produce:

• 24-36 months of monthly profit & loss statements, with recurring and non-recurring revenue broken out
• MRR schedule by client: contract start date, term, renewal date, and monthly value
• Client agreements, including assignment and termination clauses
• Churn and net revenue retention history for the trailing 24 months
• Tooling inventory: RMM, PSA, EDR, SIEM, and backup licenses with terms and per-seat costs
• Engineer roster with roles, tenure, certifications, and compensation
• Certifications and audit reports (SOC 2, CMMC assessments, insurance attestations)
• Documentation samples: runbooks, network diagrams, and onboarding procedures

If you have 6 to 12 months of runway before listing, the preparation guide for cybersecurity sellers covers the highest-return fixes, starting with converting project clients to managed agreements.

4. Go to Market Confidentially

Your firm is marketed through a blind profile: revenue, MRR percentage, niche, and region, with no company name, no client names, and no identifying details. Interested buyers sign an NDA and verify proof of funds before anything sensitive is shared. On the BridgeBook NDA-gated marketplace, buyer questions are filtered through the firm first, so you never field fishing expeditions from competitors posing as buyers.

5. Negotiate Offers and Sign an LOI

Qualified buyers submit a Letter of Intent covering price, structure, and timeline. Do not evaluate on headline price alone: a $3,000,000 offer with 85% cash at close and a modest seller note usually beats a $3,300,000 offer built on a heavy earnout tied to targets you will not control after closing. Compare cash at close, note terms, earnout conditions, and what happens to your team.

6. Survive Due Diligence and Close

After the LOI, the buyer verifies everything: financials, contract assignability, churn data, tooling agreements, engineer retention risk, and your own security posture. Expect a technical review of how you manage client credentials, patching, and incident history. This typically takes 60 to 90 days.

At closing, funds transfer and the transition plan begins. Most sellers stay on for 3 to 6 months to transfer client relationships, introduce the buyer to key accounts, and hand over environment knowledge. Expect the purchase agreement to include a non-compete covering your service area and niche.

How much is my cybersecurity business worth?

Most cybersecurity and MSP businesses typically sell for 3.5 to 6.5 times Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE). Firms with 70% or more of revenue under managed contracts, strong engineer retention, and a compliance niche such as CMMC or HIPAA land at the top of the range. Larger MSSPs with $1,000,000 or more in EBITDA are usually valued on EBITDA instead and typically trade at 6 to 10 times. Use the free BridgeBook calculator for a personalized range.

What percentage of recurring revenue do buyers want to see?

Buyers want 70% or more of revenue coming from monthly recurring contracts. A firm at 90% MRR under multi-year agreements is a fundamentally different asset than one at 40% MRR with the rest in project work, and the multiple reflects it. If you are below 50% recurring, converting break-fix and project clients to managed agreements before you list is usually the single highest-return move you can make.

Do I need SOC 2 or CMMC to sell my cybersecurity business?

No, but certifications and compliance specialization raise your multiple. A SOC 2 Type II report signals operational maturity, and serving a regulated niche (CMMC for defense contractors, HIPAA for healthcare, PCI for payments) gives buyers revenue that is hard to displace because clients cannot easily switch providers. Firms with a defensible compliance niche typically command 0.5x to 1.0x more than generalist peers.

Will my engineers and clients find out my business is for sale?

Not if the sale is run correctly. Your business is marketed through a blind profile that describes the opportunity without naming you. Buyers must sign an NDA and show proof of funds before they learn your identity. Staff and clients typically learn about the sale after closing, with a transition plan already in place. Confidentiality matters even more in security services, where client trust is the product.

How long does it take to sell a cybersecurity or MSP business?

Typically 6 to 9 months from listing to close. Preparation takes 1 to 2 months, confidential marketing 2 to 3 months, and LOI through due diligence and closing another 2 to 4 months. Clean financials, assignable client contracts, and documented environments shorten the timeline. Client concentration issues and non-transferable tooling licenses stretch it.