Can a buyer discount my price for risks that haven't actually happened yet?

Yes — buyers routinely price in risks that haven't materialized, because valuation is inherently forward-looking, and a buyer is paying for what they reasonably expect the business to do after closing, not just what it has already proven. A risk that hasn't happened yet, whether it's customer concentration, a pending lease renewal, or dependency on you personally, still represents a real chance that future earnings could be lower than your historical numbers suggest, and pricing for that possibility is standard practice, not an accusation that anything is currently wrong.

The nuance is that this is a legitimate area for negotiation, not something you have to simply accept. You can push back on how likely a buyer's advisors think a particular risk actually is, present evidence that reduces the perceived likelihood, such as a long-standing customer relationship or a strong lease renewal history, or propose structures like an earn-out that only reduces your payout if the risk actually materializes, rather than accepting an upfront discount for something that may never happen.

Understanding which risks a buyer is actually pricing, and why, lets you negotiate the discount itself rather than just accepting it. A business lawyer can help you respond to these arguments with structure rather than simply a lower number.