Let’s face it: whatever the climate for M&As and IPOs, positioning your business for a high valuation can be tricky. What if you could assemble a brain trust to give you the insider perspective on ensuring a big payday?

RoseRyan hears you. We pulled together a roundtable of Silicon Valley’s sharpest minds in accounting, investment analysis, business strategy and the law to answer exactly the questions you’d like to ask. We share the highlights in our new report, Boost Your Business’s Value: What to Do—and What Not to Do—When You Want to Be Worth a Fortune.

Our experts—RoseRyan’s Jim Goldhawk, Adrian Bray of Assay, Jim Chapman of Foley & Lardner and Tony Yeh of SVB Analytics—got deep into a conversation that reveals how complex valuation can be. Financial metrics are only part of the story. Qualitative factors—inflows of top talent and even the background of the founding group—can be predictors of competitiveness. But workforce won’t count as much after the close of deal. That’s when what the workforce has created drives value.

The good news is that even in skeptical times, entrepreneurs can bank against uncertainty to boost valuation. Culture, product positioning, customer mix, business infrastructure—all are within a company’s control. Moving away from commoditization, investing in due diligence, and pursuing what one of our thought leaders calls “organic growth” are a few strategies for preparing to pounce when the time is right.

Our last question: if there was one thing you could say to CEOs who are interested in or worried about their valuation, whether or not they have an exit strategy on the horizon, what would you tell them?

Check out our report to find out how our experts responded!