A business should give its founder options.
Opsist builds companies toward the operating quality, EBITDA profile, management independence and transaction readiness that create more than one path to liquidity.
Sequence
Exit is engineered long before a transaction.
Buyers price what they find in diligence. The work that determines how a business is received happens years earlier, in the operating detail.
- 01Clean financials
- 02Repeatable operations
- 03Management depth
- 04Durable EBITDA
- 05Quality of earnings
- 06Scalable technology
- 07Buyer readiness
- 08Transaction pathway
Pathways
Liquidity pathways.
Which pathways are realistic depends on the business, the market and the buyer universe at the time.
Keep and compound
No transaction at all. A business that runs without you, distributes cash and keeps compounding is a legitimate outcome, and often the best one.
Become a platform company
Use the operating base as the core of a group, acquiring and integrating add-ons rather than being acquired.
Join a broader portfolio
Combine with other operating companies so shared services, reporting and scale apply across the group.
Strategic acquisition
A buyer in or adjacent to your market acquiring for capability, customers or geography.
Private equity acquisition
A financial buyer acquiring a business that can be operated and grown institutionally.
Majority recapitalization
Selling control while retaining meaningful equity in the next stage of the business.
Minority / partial liquidity
Taking some value off the table where the structure and the counterparty allow it.
Platform-company sale
Selling a business that has become the operating core other companies can be added to.
Portfolio / roll-up exit
A combined group sold as one asset rather than several disconnected companies.
Pathways describe possible outcomes. Opsist does not guarantee an exit, a buyer, a valuation, a multiple or timing.
Readiness
Transaction readiness.
- Normalize reporting and the KPI set so each month is comparable to the last
- Establish a recurring operating cadence that does not depend on who is in the room
- Reduce key-person and founder dependency across finance, customers and delivery
- Build SOP and process documentation for every recurring workflow
- Stand up portfolio-level reporting where more than one company is involved
- Improve EBITDA and cash discipline through the operating plan
- Prepare operating diligence materials and data-room readiness
- Identify potential transaction pathways and coordinate with the appropriate external advisers
Opsist provides operating, reporting and readiness work. Regulated transaction services are performed by licensed legal, accounting and financial advisers engaged by the company, with whom Opsist works alongside.
Diligence
What buyers underwrite.
Each readiness workstream exists to make one of these statements defensible in diligence.
Earnings are repeatable
The business runs without the founder
The growth engine can scale
Controls and reporting are reliable
Concentration and operating risks are measured
Technology and process support a larger organization
Self-assessment
Illustrative onlyExit Readiness Scorecard.
Rate the business from 1 to 5 in each of the eight areas a buyer underwrites. The score is a 0 to 100 view of operating readiness, with the three lowest-scoring areas shown as the priority workstreams. It opens at 3 in every category.
- 01
Financial reporting quality
What a buyer looks for. Monthly financials that close on a calendar, reconcile to the bank and the ledger, and can be handed to a third party without a rebuild.
- 02
EBITDA durability and quality of earnings
What a buyer looks for. Earnings that recur across customers, contracts and years, with adjustments a quality-of-earnings provider would accept.
- 03
Founder independence
What a buyer looks for. Decisions, customer relationships and approvals that continue when the founder is not in the room.
- 04
Management depth
What a buyer looks for. A second layer of leadership with clear ownership of finance, operations, sales and delivery.
- 05
Customer and supplier concentration
What a buyer looks for. Measured exposure to any single customer, supplier or channel, and a credible plan for reducing it.
- 06
Process documentation
What a buyer looks for. Written procedures for recurring work, so a new owner can see how the business produces its results.
- 07
Technology and reporting infrastructure
What a buyer looks for. Systems that produce one version of the numbers, scale with volume and do not depend on spreadsheets held by individuals.
- 08
Diligence and data-room readiness
What a buyer looks for. Contracts, financials, legal, tax, people and systems documentation organized so diligence can start without a scramble.
1 is informal or absent; 5 is institutional. Each category carries equal weight.
Early readiness
The operating base exists. The remaining work is closing the gaps a buyer would find first.
- Foundational work required0 to 39
- Early readiness40 to 59
- Transaction preparation60 to 79
- Advanced readiness80 to 100
- 1
Financial reporting quality3 / 5
Normalize the chart of accounts, install a close calendar and reconcile every month.
- 2
EBITDA durability and quality of earnings3 / 5
Build a normalized EBITDA schedule and evidence for every adjustment.
- 3
Founder independence3 / 5
Map every decision the founder owns and transfer each one to a named owner.
Score = ((sum of ratings - 8) / 32) x 100, rounded
A self-assessment of operating readiness, not a valuation. A high score does not guarantee a transaction, a buyer, a multiple or timing. Buyers, lenders and their advisers perform their own diligence.
Proceeds model
Illustrative onlyIllustrative founder proceeds.
Enterprise value is not what a founder receives. The bridge below moves from enterprise value to equity value and then to the founder's share, using a $20M example that can be edited line by line.
Advisory, legal, accounting and other costs of the transaction.
Preferred equity, investor preferences, earned bonuses or other claims paid ahead of common equity.
$17,400,000
EV less debt, plus cash, less costs and senior claims
$13,920,000
80% of equity value, floored at zero
| Enterprise value | $20,000,000 |
|---|---|
| Less debt outstanding | ($3,000,000) |
| Plus cash retained or added back | +$1,000,000 |
| Less transaction costs | ($600,000) |
| Less other senior claims or preferences | ($0) |
| Illustrative equity value$20,000,000 - $3,000,000 + $1,000,000 - $600,000 - $0 | $17,400,000 |
| Founder ownership | 80% |
| Illustrative founder proceeds$17,400,000 x 80% | $13,920,000 |
Illustrative only. This is not a valuation, tax estimate or transaction forecast. Actual proceeds depend on working-capital adjustments, debt-like items, tax, rollover equity, preferences, earn-outs and negotiated transaction terms.
Opsist partnerships may include a 10% exit participation, with the calculation base and mechanics defined in the partnership agreement. This model does not deduct it. See fee structure for both parts of the Opsist economics.
Build transaction readiness.
The Ops Audit includes a founder outcome discussion: hold and compound, recapitalize, build a platform, or work toward a sale. The operating plan is then built backwards from that objective. Time horizons are treated as goals.
Start Your Free Ops Audit
The Ops Audit identifies what would need to change operationally before a transaction is a realistic conversation, and whether a partnership fits.