Why buyers price against it
A buyer needs the business to keep running on the Monday after completion, with the founder stepping back. People and management is their read on whether it will. Two questions sit underneath it. Is there a management layer that already runs the business without the owner in every decision? And will the people the business depends on still be there once the deal, and the change it brings, has landed? A weak answer to either turns into risk in the price or conditions in the deal.
What weak looks like
Everything routing back to the owner because there is no one else to decide. A flat structure where skilled people do the work but no one manages the business. Critical knowledge or relationships held by an individual with no reason to stay through a sale. No clarity on who does what when the founder is gone. Buyers read this as key-person risk, and they either discount for it or require the owner to remain until the team has proven itself.
How to strengthen it
Build the layer of managers who run the business day to day, and let them actually run it. Give the people the business depends on reasons and structure to stay through a transition, from clear roles to sensible notice and incentives. Move knowledge out of individuals and into the company. The buyer is asking whether the team is a reason to pay more or a risk to pay less. Your work between now and exit decides which.