Want to Sell Your Climbing Gym? Read This First
- gheverly
- Nov 19
- 6 min read
Congratulations everyone, we are officially entering a stage of maturity in our industry. We can no longer call ourselves a new industry or sector of fitness/recreation. We have been around for decades now, and it shows.
At least once a month, someone reaches out to me about selling their climbing gym business. It might be because the business is not thriving and the owners don't feel equipped or motivated to turn it around, it might be because the business is decades old and the owners are just ready to move on.
Whatever the reason, this is a recent phenomenon and it's not something we should not panic about. In fact, this is a really good thing. In this blog we will discuss some of the key considerations for selling your climbing gym
Why are Climbing Gyms for Sale?
As mentioned in the intro, there could be a whole host of reasons why someone may want to sell their climbing gym. But here are the most common reasons I have encountered:
The business is struggling
The owners are over it and want out
The owners see an opportunity
Whatever your reason, make sure you have a plan. The worst thing you can do is try to sell the thing you have spent years building without a clear plan
How to Go About Selling my Climbing Gym
There are 3 key elements to selling your climbing gym business:
Determining your objectives for selling
Defining the key terms of sale
Developing a plan to execute
Determining your objectives:
I'm not talking about determining why you want to sell. I'm assuming you've already done that. I am talking about your GOALS or the OBJECTIVES you would hope to achieve by selling. I like to tell my clients to start by listing the stakeholders they need to consider, and those stakeholder's needs. Below is an example, which is obviously not at all exhaustive.
STAKEHOLDER | NEED | MUST HAVE/NICE TO HAVE |
Investors/Lenders | to see the expected return or payback | Must have |
Employees | Job/income stability | Must have |
Founder(s) | Exit by certain date | Nice to have |
Other partners & shareholders | Payouts meeting or exceeding their expectations | Must have |
Members & guests | Clear & transparent communication | Must have |
Members & guests | To be financially whole | Must have |
Buyer | transparent understanding of the state of the business | Must have |
Having clear outcomes in mind gives you the information you need to make key decisions like when to sell, who to sell to, what your walk-away must haves are in any negotiation, and can support building communication strategies for staff members, community and other stakeholders.
Determining key terms of sale:
One consideration that I ask my clients about that always raises an eyebrow is "Do you intend to stick around and still be involved in the business?"
This question matters because selling all or part of the equity or value of the business does not mean the owners have to ride off into the sunset. Owners, operators and key stakeholders can actually be a key part of why someone might buy the business. Or a reason to sell might be to build a cash surplus for your personal finances or to bring on additional shareholders with expertise to hep the business grow or evolve. But it does not mean you have to leave or walk away from the business entirely. Additionally sometimes as part of a sale there is a management agreement that requires key staff to stay in place during the transfer of ownership. So one key term you should think about is do you want out immediately? Do you hope to stick around? For how long and in what capacity? Is that paid role? Etc.
Selling the business does not mean you have to exit the business.
Additional key considerations for sale are what forms of payment will be acceptable. The purchase of businesses can be structured a great many ways based on a great many factors. But very rarely is it just a check at the time of sale for the full amount. The more open you are to creative ways to structure a deal, the more likely you are to getting a deal done. Below are some examples of structural elements I always recommend my clients be open to, with some of the pros and cons listed. Most deals will be a combination of some of the various elements listed below.
STRUCTURE TYPE | PROS | CONS |
Cash | $$$, no further ties | None really |
Earn outs - these are future payouts given based on future success or other terms | If these are based on future business performance and structured right, there could be significant upside | Depending on what your involvement is on a go-forward basis, this puts your payouts outside of your control or influence. This also means less cash up front |
Payouts - not based on business performance or other metics. Simply a "payment schedule" | Can have some tax benefits | Less cash up front. If the business were to become insolvent they may not have to pay |
Equity Transfer - transferring some of the purchase price into equity in the new entity | Again, if the business does well and a future buyout or sale happens, could have significant upside | Equity can very easily be worth nothing. |
Developing a plan to execute:
OK so you have determined your objectives and identified the key terms of sale you want. Now how do you actually go get the thing done? There's not one perfect answer obviously but there are some things worth considering that will set you up for success:
Who do you want to sell to? Make a literal list for outreach. Think about what you are looking for. Do you want another operator to buy your climbing gym? Which ones and why? Will your business be value add to their existing portfolio and strategy? Or do you want to sell to a financial buyer? Selling to investors is a different game and they will be looking to ensure the management team is good, whereas selling to an operator might mean your whole management team gets laid off and they bring in their own team.
Do you have your financials in order? Make sure you have underwrite-able finances for the business: tax returns, P&L statements, cashflow statements etc. I have seen deals die on the table because the seller is not prepared to deliver these things
Expertise - Selling your business is a BIG deal. Make sure you have good qualified support from experts to help you maximize your efforts. This can include consultants, accountants, legal counsel, investment bankers or brokers and more. Build a team to set you up for success.
Prepare for due diligence - There is almost no end to the documentation, questions, data, and other things you will have to deal with during the negotiation and purchase phase. Any reasonable buyer will want to do due diligence to verify the state of your business. The more sophisticated the buyer, the more complex and time consuming that process will likely be.
How Much is my Climbing Gym Business Worth?
Valuing a brick-and-mortar service business like an indoor climbing gym typically begins with analyzing its financial performance and stability over time. Buyers will look closely at revenue trends, membership growth and retention, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), and the consistency of cash flow.
Specifically, recurring revenue from memberships and auto-billing is weighted more heavily than variable or seasonal revenue. They also evaluate the cost structure—personnel, rent, payroll, utilities, equipment financing—and how efficiently the business turns revenue into profit. The strength of the brand, local market saturation, competitive positioning, and the quality of physical assets (walls, flooring, holds, equipment, etc.) also factor into baseline valuation before any multipliers are applied.
From these inputs, most valuations use either a multiple of EBITDA or a seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE) model, with multipliers generally ranging from 2x–10x depending on the business’s maturity, stability, total revenue size, and scalability.
Buyers also assess key operational metrics—customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), average revenue per member (ARPM), utilization rates, and year-over-year membership retention—to gauge whether the business can continue growing post-acquisition. Intangible factors like management systems, a proven staff team, and brand goodwill influence the final number.
Higher multipliers are assigned to gyms with strong recurring revenue, diversified programming (youth, team-building, instruction), a long-term lease with good terms and evidence of sustained demand in the local market. Together, these financial metrics, operational data points, and qualitative factors create a holistic valuation that balances present profitability with future earning potential.
At the end of the day this will be a negotiation and you will have to compromise to get a deal done. This is why planning and goal setting cane make the process much smoother and more likely to succeed
Rise Above has successfully supported and navigated a number of critical merger and acquiation deals. If you're considering selling, or buying and want support, let's talk.
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