The Deal Room Diagnostic
Deal Readiness Self-Assessment
Being financially ready and being deal ready are not the same thing. Rate each statement to see where your business actually stands before you put it in front of a buyer.
Financial foundation
Financial statements are current, fully reconciled, and would hold up to external scrutiny without requiring last-minute corrections.
Every material revenue figure can be traced to a source document — contract, invoice, or system record — on demand, without significant effort.
Each key metric has a defined owner, a documented calculation methodology, and a review process that would catch errors before they surface in diligence.
Normalizing adjustments — including owner compensation, personal expenses, and non-recurring items — are pre-documented with clear support, not assembled reactively.
Process & documentation
Any member of the finance team can describe the close process consistently — the answer does not depend on who is asked.
Material approvals, budget decisions, and key assumptions are documented in a retrievable system — not dispersed across inboxes or retained only in institutional memory.
Operations would continue without material disruption if one or two critical team members departed — there is no single point of failure in the organizational structure.
Buyer confidence
The organization could respond to a comprehensive data room request within two weeks without significantly diverting management from day-to-day operations.
Revenue and earnings are not materially dependent on a single customer, product line, or individual — the business has demonstrated diversification that would hold under ownership transition.
There is a well-reasoned narrative connecting historical performance to forward-looking projections — one that holds up under buyer scrutiny, not just internal review.
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Your deal readiness score
Answer the questions above to see your score.
Know where you stand before a buyer does.
Gaps found in diligence cost more than gaps found in advance — in time, in trust, and in valuation. Let's walk through your specific situation and build a 90-day readiness plan.
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Pre-Diligence Risk Checklist
Most diligence delays aren't caused by bad numbers — they're caused by the chaos around them. Check each item to find where your deal could slow down or get repriced.
Financial accuracy & process
High
Financial statements have been independently reviewed or audited within the past 12 months by a qualified external party.
High
Revenue recognition follows a defined, documented policy that is applied consistently — not informally or on a case-by-case basis.
High
All owner and related-party transactions are clearly identified, properly classified, and separated from normal operating activity.
Documentation & data room readiness
High
A data room index has been prepared — or is substantially drafted — with key documents organized and mapped to their locations.
Med
Customer contracts are centrally stored and retrievable on short notice, with key commercial terms — including duration, renewal provisions, and termination rights — readily accessible.
Med
Authorization trails for significant expenditures, capital investments, and material contracts are documented and can be produced upon request.
Controls & oversight
High
Adequate segregation of duties exists such that no individual can independently initiate, approve, and record a financial transaction.
Med
Formal spending authorization thresholds are in place and enforced — approval requirements are documented in policy, not governed by informal practice.
Med
Bank reconciliations are completed on a monthly basis, with variances identified, investigated, and resolved within the same reporting period.
People & concentration risk
High
No single customer represents more than 20–25% of total revenue unless supported by a long-term contract, demonstrable switching costs, or a multi-year relationship with a stable track record.
Med
Key personnel have executed agreements that address intellectual property assignment, non-solicitation, and confidentiality obligations.
Low
An accurate organizational chart exists that reflects current roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships — not an aspirational or outdated structure.
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Items completed
Mark each item to see your risk exposure.
Don't let avoidable gaps reprice your deal.
The items flagged red above are the ones buyers find first. A pre-diligence review gives you time to address them on your terms — not under pressure. Let's talk about where to start.
Book a free 20-minute intro call →
Process & Controls Health Check
Around $20–30M in revenue, informal oversight stops working. Use this health check to see whether your processes are scaled for where you're going — or just where you've been.
Documented processes
Core operational processes are formally documented and accessible to the relevant team members — not dependent on tribal knowledge or individual recall.
A new team member could become proficient in critical workflows using documented resources alone, without extended shadowing of existing staff.
When operational issues arise, a structured root-cause process is followed — findings are documented rather than resolved informally and left unrecorded.
Internal controls & oversight
Formal controls govern cash access, disbursement, and reconciliation — these functions are not concentrated in a single individual or managed through informal trust.
Financial reports are subject to an independent review by someone other than the preparer before distribution to leadership or external parties.
System access is provisioned based on defined roles, restricted to what each position requires, and reviewed on a regular basis to reflect current responsibilities.
Scalability & leadership delegation
A formal delegation of authority framework is in place — managers operate within defined decision rights, and routine approvals do not require founder or owner involvement.
The monthly close follows a defined schedule and is completed consistently — it is not contingent on bandwidth, competing priorities, or owner availability.
A defined set of key performance indicators is reported to leadership on a consistent schedule — not compiled ad hoc in response to inquiries.
Buyer perception & repeatability
The drivers of business performance are clearly understood and documented such that an incoming operator could replicate results without relying on the institutional knowledge of the existing team.
No critical process is wholly dependent on a single individual — each function has documented procedures, defined backups, or formal transition plans in the event of a personnel change.
Existing processes and control infrastructure could absorb significant revenue growth without material breakdown — the organization is structured to scale, not just to operate at its current size.
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Process & controls maturity score
Rate each area to see your overall health score.
Build systems that survive diligence — and scale.
Weak processes signal fragility to buyers, even when the numbers look great. The good news: most gaps can be addressed in 60–90 days with the right priorities. Let's map yours.
Book a free 20-minute intro call →
