For owners of service businesses planning to retire

A business that can change hands instead of closing.

Start 6 to 36 months before you look for a buyer. Soothfast builds a record of how your business earns and runs, from your own bank account and in your own words, that a buyer or lender can rely on. Then it carries that record through the sale and the first year after.

Start your record See a sample record

Verified by source. Not by promise.

Mission Dent Repair

Plan · target June 2028 · 19 months to go

Confirmed from the bank

88%of deposits tied to a named customer

61%of customer revenue from the top 5

3 of 5top customers serviced by one employee

Customer	Who services it	Last 12 mo
Bayside Motors	Associate · at risk	$96,400
Coastline Rentals	Associate · at risk	$71,200
Peninsula Auto Group	Owner	$54,900

Sample record with made-up names and numbers. Open the full sample →

Why this exists

Most retiring owners close. Usually not because nobody would buy.

92%

of small-business exits were closures

In 2022, only 5% of owners who left their business sold it, and 3% passed it on. Years of work, and usually a retirement, ended with a closing sign.

1 in 3

owners have a written exit plan

Fewer than that, in fact. Most start too late and underestimate how long getting ready takes. The best time to start is years before you sell, not weeks.

No record

a buyer or lender can trust

Your customers, your know-how and your earnings live in your head and your bank account. A buyer can't see them, so they discount them, or walk away.

Source: McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, The Great Ownership Transfer, February 2026, pp. 7 and 24–27.

How it works

One record, from now until the new owner is settled.

6 to 36 months before you sell

1 Plan

Connect your business bank account, read-only. Soothfast shows which customers your revenue really comes from and who looks after each one. You talk through what only you know, at your own pace. Each month you get two or three small steps that make the business easier to hand over.
When you're ready to sell

2 Sell

Share your record with a buyer, a lender or your advisor. You choose who sees it and for how long, and you can take access away at any time. Every number keeps its source label, so nobody has to take your word for it.
The 12 months after closing

3 Transfer

Your customers get proper introductions to the new owner. If part of your price is paid over time, you can watch the numbers your note depends on, measured the same way for you and the buyer. See this stage →

Your record

What a buyer needs to see, built while you still run the place.

How the business earns

Your customers, ranked by what they paid, from your own bank deposits. Which ones keep coming back, how concentrated revenue is, and which accounts depend on one person. Updated every month.

What only you know, written down

Who to call at each customer, what was promised, how jobs really get done. You talk it through by phone or voice memo; Soothfast drafts it and you approve every word. Your spouse or key employee can add what they know too.

This month's steps

Two or three concrete things, like "Ask Bayside Motors to list the business, not you personally, as their approved vendor." Small steps that move relationships off your shoulders.

Five areas, handed over

Customers, suppliers, people, systems and the rules of your trade. Each step has an owner and a date, and shows as done when it's confirmed. Progress, never a score.

Every number says where it came from

Confirmed from the bank from a read-only connection to your bank
From the processor from your card processor, read-only
Seller-provided statements statements you upload
Seller-reported things you enter yourself
Owner's account your own words, approved by you

AI helps write down what you know. It never calculates a number, and Soothfast never gives your business a score or a valuation.

At your pace

You built it over decades. Hand it over properly.

Once a month you get one short update by text or email: what changed in your record and the next few steps. No dashboards to learn, no deadlines you didn't set. Nothing about your business is shared without your say.

See what your business looks like to a buyer, before a buyer does
Know which customers depend on you, or on one employee
Arrive at a sale with a record, not a shoebox

Good morning, Frank. Your record is up to date through October. Two small steps this month, whenever suits you: finish Rosa's invoicing notes, and ask Coastline Rentals to list the business as their vendor.

Who it's for

Owner-run service businesses, $500K to $3M.

Too big to just wind down, and too small for private equity to come looking. Dent repair, HVAC, landscaping, cleaning, bookkeeping, pest control, auto repair: businesses where the customers know the owner by name.

You'd like to retire in the next few years
Most of your customers pay by check, ACH or card
The business depends on you more than you'd like

Pricing

A starter fee, then a small monthly fee. Never a percentage of your sale.

First 10 owners

Founding owner

$750

to start, then $99 a month

Locked at this price for as long as you stay.

Claim a founding spot

Standard

$1,500

to start, then $149 a month

Cancel any time. Take your record with you, or have it deleted.

Start your record

The starter fee covers

Connecting your bank and card processor, read-only
Your first record: customers, concentration, who services what
Your first interviews, drafted for you to approve
A plan set to your target date

Every month after

Your record updated from the bank
One short update with two or three next steps
More interviews whenever you're ready
Sharing with buyers, lenders and advisors, on your terms

A lender, SBDC or other sponsor may cover your seat; you'll see who and what they can see before you start. When you sell, the deal and handoff stage is a flat fee set by sale price, usually paid by the buyer.

For lenders, SBDCs and advisors

Sponsor the record for clients nearing retirement.

Banks, CDFIs, SBDCs, economic development agencies and CPAs can fund seats for the owners they serve. Your clients get a record a lender can underwrite. You get early, honest sight of who is planning a transition.

What you see: That the seat is active. Anything more only if the owner chooses to share it.
What you can't do: Change the record, the steps an owner gets, or their wording. Steps never mention a sponsor's products.
What owners are told: Who sponsors their seat, why, and exactly what you can see, before they start.

What Soothfast doesn't do

Find you a buyer, or list your business for sale
Value your business or give it a score
Lend money, or hold, collect or move any payment
Give legal, tax or financial advice. When a step touches those, it points you to your attorney or CPA
Run your business day to day. For booking, invoicing and operations, see Ordino, a sister company from the founder of Soothfast and Mullet

Soothfast keeps the record. You decide who sees it and what to do with it.

Start while there's time to do it properly.

Getting a business ready to hand over usually takes longer than owners expect. Set your target date, connect your bank, and have your first record within a few weeks.