80% of businesses that go to market never sell. Not because the businesses weren't worth buying. Because they weren't built to be sold. The lower middle market is active. Buyers are present. Private equity firms, strategic acquirers, and family offices are all looking for businesses in the $5M-$50M range. What they are looking for - and rarely finding - is a business that runs without its owner. The ones they find command 7x to 9x EBITDA. The ones they don't command 3x to 4x, if they transact at all. The Designed CEO is for the business owner who understands that the gap between those two numbers is structural - not lucky, not market-dependent, and not fixable in the twelve months before going to market. It takes three years to build a business worth buying at a premium. This book is the blueprint. Clifford Woods is an Exit Ready Strategist and WISE Certified Consultant with forty years of experience building owner-independent business structures. He is the founder of Exit Ready Strategy and works with $5M-$50M CEOs who are three to five years from a planned exit.