Collective 54 Defines the Standard for Valuing Boutique Professional Services Firms

500 Firms Have Used Collective 54’s Proprietary Estimator Tool to Understand and Increase their Firm’s Worth

DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, June 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Collective 54, the leading community for founders of boutique professional services firms, announces a major milestone: 500 firms have now used its proprietary tool, The Firm Estimator, to understand what their firm is worth today and how to increase that value in the future.

A Category Without a Standard, Until Now
Historically, boutique professional services firms lacked a reliable, conflict-free method for determining firm valuation. Collective 54 stepped in to fill that gap. Its proprietary tool, The Firm Estimator, is now the most widely adopted, data-driven standard for firms in NAICS 54, including legal, accounting, architecture, design, IT services, consulting, marketing and advertising, research, and other expert-based businesses.

How It Works
The Firm Estimator evaluates 10 proprietary data points: revenue, revenue growth rate, EBITDA (total and %), EBITDA growth rate, client concentration, recurring revenue, client tenure, employee tenure, and founder dependency in sales and delivery. As data is entered, an algorithm adjusts the valuation in real time based on peer benchmarking. Updated quarterly, the tool now draws from the most accurate data set in the category, submitted exclusively by North American firm owners in the $3M–$50M revenue range.

Insights From 500 Valuations
With 500 completed valuations, Collective 54 has surfaced three insights that are reshaping how founders manage their firms:

1. The tool is not just for preparing for an exit, it’s a managerial instrument. Founders use it to drive performance-based decisions, compensation planning, and strategic direction based on what actually increases firm value.

2. Before The Firm Estimator, the category lacked an objective, widely accepted valuation method. Collective 54 filled the vacuum, free of charge, to serve the ecosystem.

3. The myth that small services firms cannot exit on favorable terms is false. Collective 54 has helped 50 firms exit successfully, many of whom used The Firm Estimator to set the foundation. Read that story here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/50-professional-services-firms-successfully-sold-with-support-from-collective-54-302455333.html?tc=eml_cleartime

What They’re Saying
“The Firm Estimator was built to replace guesswork with clarity. Founders of boutique professional services firms deserve objective, data-backed insights, whether they’re planning an exit or simply running a better business. With 500 firms now using the tool, we’re proud to say it’s become the new standard in our category.” Greg Alexander, Founder of Collective 54

“Before the Collective 54 Firm Estimator, I was assessing our firm's valuation using a back of a napkin approach. The tool provided valuable insight into where to focus to drive enterprise value, including revenue growth, EBITDA margin, and founder dependency. That clarity was very helpful in getting our firm exit-ready as we explored our strategic options in our M&A process. We then successfully transacted with our private equity partner." Wayland Ng, Founder of truED Consulting https://truedconsulting.com

“Collective 54 offers a unique value proposition to owners of boutique professional service firms, and the Firm Estimator is a particularly exciting and valuable tool. By providing immediately accessible and objective insights into a company’s potential value, it enables owners and operators to demystify the sale process and shed light on the ways that potential partners and acquirers go about analyzing and assessing valuation.” Rob Delgado, Chairman of internationally recognized investment banking firm DelMorgan & Co. www.delmorganco.com

Try The Firm Estimator
The basic version of The Firm Estimator is free to all boutique professional services firm owners. A premium version, available to Collective 54 members, includes expert analysis, coaching, prescriptive tools, and introductions to peers who’ve mastered key drivers of firm value.

Founders can try the Firm Estimator at: https://www.collective54.com/firm-estimator/

About Collective 54
Collective 54 is the first and only community dedicated exclusively to founders of boutique professional services firms. It helps members make more money, scale easier, and exit on better terms. The community offers a curated peer network, data-backed insights, expert coaching, and proprietary IP to drive outcomes for founders in NAICS 54. www.collective54.com

About DelMorgan & Co.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, DelMorgan & Co. is an internationally recognized investment bank and financial advisor. With over three decades of experience and over $300 billion in successfully completed transactions, the professionals at DelMorgan & Co. provide world-class financial advice and assistance to companies, institutions, governments, and individuals around the world. For more information, visit www.delmorganco.com.

Jeff Klaumann, President
Collective 54
contact@collective54.com
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.