One year out
Readiness and preparation
Start the conversation now. A year is time to fix what is fixable, document the rest, and build the story the market will test: half the list gets fixed, the other half gets documented, and the story is built around both.
Where you stand
A shorter runway does not shorten the list
It shortens the number of things on it we can fix before a buyer looks. The work does not disappear when the runway shortens. It gets compressed.
Two quarters
Time to clean, not to change. The books and the contracts can be made presentable; the business itself is what it is.
- FNDRS does
- A readiness review, the financial tie-out, and the story the market will test.
- You do
- Get the books to a quality-of-earnings standard and the contracts in one place.
Three quarters
The first fixes are possible: the ones that take a quarter, not a year. Documentation does the rest.
- FNDRS does
- Readiness and preparation, with the fixable elements picked first.
- You do
- Fix the financials and the contract hygiene; document owner dependence rather than fix it.
One year out
Half the list gets fixed, the other half gets documented, and the story is built around both.
- FNDRS does
- Readiness and preparation across the year, then the go-to-market.
- You do
- Fix what is fixable in the time left, and be honest in the data room about the rest.
Every time given here is an estimate drawn from past engagements, not a commitment. Each sale runs on its own calendar, set by how ready and how complex the company is, by the buyers and their lenders, and by the lawyers on both sides. We set a calendar with you at kickoff and revisit it as the process moves.
The work
Readiness and preparation across the year
A readiness review, the financial tie-out, and the story the market will test, then the go-to-market.
What can change
What can still change, and what a buyer will test
What can go wrong one year out is rushing to market with numbers that have not been tested.
What you can still change
- Accrual books and reviewed statements.
- Licenses and leases made transferable.
- Add-backs documented, and personal expenses out.
- The category and the story decided, and the diligence flags fixed or framed.
- Whether the sale is one step or two: all cash at close, or a majority stake now with equity rolled into the buyer's company for a second sale later.
What a buyer will test
- Financials a buyer can rely on: books built for a buyer, not for tax, with every adjustment documented
- A growth story with evidence behind it: the numbers that show where the next dollar comes from
- The diligence file built before diligence starts: the questions answered before a buyer asks them
Documentation debt
What exists only in people’s heads, a buyer has to pay to recreate, and subtracts from your price. The test: can someone else do the job from the page?
Nick Long CEO and co-founder
The sale, phase by phase
The phases ahead of you
The Go-To-Market Analysis is the step before the sale. The sale itself runs in four phases, and these two open it: preparation, then the go-to-market. Two gates decide when it moves: nothing goes to market before the engagement is signed, and no buyer sees the CIM before you approve it.
Phase 1 of 4
Go-to-market preparation
The financials rebuilt to an institutional standard, and the materials a buyer will read.
More on this phaseWhat happens
- Onboarding: the plan, the documents, and who does what
- The financials rebuilt to the standard an institutional buyer expects
- The confidential information memorandum (CIM) and the anonymous teaser written
- You review the CIM, and it is designed for buyers once you approve it
Who holds the clock
- You
- Documents, answers, and your review of the CIM
- The deal team
- The financials, the CIM, the teaser, and the buyer list
The gate You approve the CIM. No buyer sees it before you do.
Phase 2 of 4
Market launch and offers
The business goes to buyers under NDA, and the offers arrive by one date.
More on this phaseWhat happens
- The business goes to a list of buyers you have seen first
- Buyers who sign an NDA receive the CIM
- Indications of interest and letters of intent arrive by a set date
- Every offer compared side by side, and reviewed with you
- A shortlist of the strongest buyers
Who holds the clock
- You
- Your say on the list and on the shortlist
- The deal team
- The outreach, the deadline, and the comparison
- The buyer
- Its own review, and its offer
Signing to the wire Seven to twelve months from signing to the wire, for a company that is ready.
Every time given here is an estimate drawn from past engagements, not a commitment. Each sale runs on its own calendar, set by how ready and how complex the company is, by the buyers and their lenders, and by the lawyers on both sides. We set a calendar with you at kickoff and revisit it as the process moves.
The year's work
The elements a buyer reads first
Clean financials, contract hygiene, and a data room that answers questions before they are asked are the year's work. Where each sits on the table tells you which timeline you are really on.
- Cf11 · Clean FinancialsAccrual books, reconciled monthly, that survive a quality-of-earnings review.
- Lc23 · Legal & ComplianceContracts, licenses, and filings in order and enforceable.
- Dr27 · Data RoomDiligence documents assembled and indexed before a buyer asks.
- Dd20 · Documentation DebtProcesses, contracts, and records that exist only in people’s heads. Scored as control: higher is safer.
Questions
What founders ask a year out
Then start the conversation now, as you would three years out or three months out: how far out you feel is not the signal. The Go-To-Market Analysis is the step before the sale, and it does not rush one. It shows where value is being left on the table, what the next year can improve, and how a sale for cash compares with a sale in two steps: a majority stake now, with equity rolled into the buyer's company for a second sale later that may be worth more or less than the first.
Three years of financial statements, trailing twelve months by month, a conversation with you and your CPA, and a mutual NDA before any information is shared more widely.
Your deal team and the people you name. Nothing is shared with a buyer in phase one.
A sale usually takes seven to twelve months from signing to the wire, for a company that is ready, in four phases: prepare, market, select, and close. The Go-To-Market Analysis comes before it. Time before the sale is not a wait; it is time to fix what a buyer would price, and the conversation can start now. Every time given here is an estimate drawn from past engagements, not a commitment. Each sale runs on its own calendar, set by how ready and how complex the company is, by the buyers and their lenders, and by the lawyers on both sides. We set a calendar with you at kickoff and revisit it as the process moves.
Buyers receive a blind teaser with no identifying details. Anyone who wants more signs a non-disclosure agreement before receiving the CIM. We control who is contacted, in what order, and what they receive. Competitors and customers can be excluded at your direction.
Find out what a buyer would question
Bring us the business as it is, now. We will tell you what a buyer would question, what it would take to fix, and what the routes to the number you have in mind look like.