The Exit Ready Series
The list a buyer's diligence team builds when they look at your business — and the work that shortens it before the buyer shows up.
The Six Areas That Make or Break Your Exit
Series 2 opens with the man who thought he had plenty of time. Meet Ed.
What the buyer sees when they look at how the business actually runs.
The QoE Haircut
The buyer's first cut happens before negotiation. It's the gap between the number in your head and the number in the LOI.
The Market You Couldn't See
Your revenue grew every year. The market you sell into didn't. The buyer's analyst will know which one matters.
The 25% Cliff
Customer concentration is the most preventable item on the deduction list. It is also one of the slowest to fix.
The Blended Number
Ed's P&L showed one margin. The buyer's commercial team found two businesses inside it.
What the buyer's attorney finds when they read the documents you haven't read in a decade.
The License That Walked
Two of nineteen technicians hold the gas certification. One of them is the founder. When Ed leaves, half of Meridian's gas capacity walks out with him.
Getting Your Legal House in Order
The first question the buyer asks is "who owns what?" If you can't answer it cleanly, you've already lost your first deduction.
Contracts: The Ticking Time Bombs in Your Filing Cabinet
Your filing cabinet contains agreements you haven't read in a decade. The buyer's attorney is going to read every one of them.
Intellectual Property — If You Can't Prove You Own It, You Don't
If the valuable knowledge in your business lives in one person's head, the buyer can't value it. And they won't.
Risk, Lawsuits, and Insurance — What Buyers Are Really Asking
Buyers don't mind risk. They mind undisclosed risk. The difference is the whole Legal diligence process.
How buyers price your books — and where the gaps cost the most at the closing table.
The Books That Built the Business Won't Sell It
Your books were built to file taxes. A buyer needs books built to underwrite a purchase. Those are not the same document.
The 7× Decision
Every operating decision in the last 5 years before a sale gets multiplied by the multiple. Founders do 1-year math. Buyers pay 7-year prices.
Loans, Liens, and Personal Guarantees
At exit, every loan becomes the buyer's problem. The founder who hasn't read the loan documents is the one who pays for the surprise.
The Reverse Deduction
Founders prepare for what the buyer will deduct. They do not prepare for what the buyer will quietly take.
The Virtual Data Room: Where Deals Are Won or Lost
The data room is not where the buyer reads your documents. It's where the buyer decides how well you've run your business.
The people who run the business, and what happens to its value when they leave.
Founder as Single Point of Failure
The buyer doesn't ask whether you're replaceable. They watch the room to see who has to answer when they ask a question.
The Informal Role
The role that was never written down because everyone knew what it was becomes, at exit, the role the buyer can't evaluate, bind, or price.
No Non-Competes
The non-compete you never asked your best people to sign costs nothing to put in place and everything to not have.
Documentation That Doesn't Exist
Every undocumented bonus Ed handed out in a December envelope became, at exit, an implied obligation the buyer had to price.
Where revenue actually comes from, and whether the buyer can keep it after you go.
The Call They Weren't Expecting
The buyer's diligence team will call your customers. The question is whether they already know something is happening — or whether the call is how they find out.
The Pipeline That Lived in Someone's Head
A pipeline that lives in three people's heads is not a pipeline. It is a management failure the buyer prices on day one.
Marketing as the Founder's Hobby
If the marketing department is the founder's golf calendar, the buyer is paying for a department that walks out at closing.
The systems holding the business together, and what happens when the buyer's diligence team looks at them.
The Backup That Wasn't There
The buyer's IT team asks one question about disaster recovery. The answer tells them everything they need to know about how Meridian thinks about risk.
The Spreadsheet Empire
Fourteen spreadsheets ran the business for fifteen years. At exit, the buyer priced the migration to replace them.
The Sticky Note on the Router
The buyer's IT consultant asks for a cybersecurity policy. The answer tells him everything. The wifi password, unchanged since 2014, tells him the rest.
The App Nobody Approved
The buyer's IT consultant asks for the application inventory. Kevin names five systems. The audit finds twelve more — none of them his.
The Wire
Ed walked in expecting $40M. The wire was $23.8M. Sixty cents on the dollar. Twenty-one findings. Twenty-eight years of small ordinary decisions.