The Exit Readiness Checklist

What's inside

Twelve questions. One page each. No filler.

Every question is one we have watched founders fail to answer in real M&A processes. Each one is worth thinking about six to twenty-four months before you go to market, not during.

• Financial readiness — can you defend your EBITDA bridge line by line?
• Operational readiness — could your business run without you for six months?
• Owner dependency — which top-20 customer relationships are held personally?
• Contract quality — how many change-of-control clauses are hiding in your book?
• Working capital — what does a normalised trailing-12-month position look like?
• IP protection — is every material IP asset assigned cleanly to the company?
• Key-person risk — what happens to EBITDA if three senior team members leave?
• Buyer profile — who are the three most likely buyers and why?
• Timing — is the next 24 months the right window, or the wrong one?
• Deal structure — how much deferred consideration are you willing to accept?
• Tax — have you spoken to a transaction-tax specialist yet?
• Life after exit — what does your first 12 months post-completion look like?