How much runway do you have
Founders arrive three years out, a year out, or already under LOI. Wherever you stand, the time to start the conversation is now. How far out you feel is not the signal: more runway means more options, not a longer wait, and less runway means the work gets compressed, not skipped.
Your runway
Move the knob to where you stand
Every month of runway changes what is realistic, what we do, and what you do. It does not change when to start: wherever the knob lands, the conversation starts now. Slide from under LOI to three years out and read the band you land in.
- 1 to 3
Under LOI, or about to be
Nothing about the business gets rebuilt now. The letter names a number; the next weeks decide whether it survives.
- FNDRS does
- Diligence defense, the data room, and holding the price through to close.
- You do
- Answer fast, and change nothing a buyer has already seen.
- 4 to 6
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.
- 7 to 9
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.
- 10 to 12
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.
- 13 to 18
Eighteen months
The slow elements start to move. Owner dependence can begin to change hands; a second customer can begin to grow.
- FNDRS does
- Value advisory on the elements that move in a year, then preparation.
- You do
- Hand off the first decisions, and start the sales work that spreads the base.
- 19 to 24
Two years
Most of the list is fixable. Recurring revenue, customer concentration, and the team that runs without you all have time to show up in the numbers.
- FNDRS does
- Value advisory: score the elements, pick the few that matter most to buyers, and rebuild them.
- You do
- Run the plan quarter by quarter and let the score move.
- 25 to 36
Three years out
Everything on the list is fixable, and there is time to weigh every route to the number you have in mind. More runway is more options, not a longer wait.
- FNDRS does
- Value advisory from day one, then the sale on your terms.
- You do
- Start now. Preparation from day one is the one thing every timeline benefits from.
What time buys
More runway is more options
Time before a sale is not a waiting room. It is room to fix more of the list before a buyer looks, and more than one route to the number you have in mind. A shorter runway does not shorten the list. It shortens the number of things on it we can fix before a buyer looks. Either way, the conversation starts now.
- Three years out, everything on the list is fixable.
- One year out, the fixable half gets fixed and the rest gets documented.
- Under LOI, the list is what the buyer will find; the work is holding price through it.
Four phases, for a company that is ready. The conversation can start any time before.
From today to close
The road every runway runs on
The road is the same whatever the runway. The Go-To-Market Analysis is the step before the sale, and the sale itself runs in four phases, led by Scott Stepanik. More runway leaves more room before the first phase to fix what a buyer will price; less runway compresses that work and skips none of it.
- Before the saleGo-To-Market AnalysisThe business through a buyer's eyes, and the routes to your number side by side.
- Once the engagement is signedPrepareThe financials rebuilt to an institutional standard, and the materials a buyer will read.
- Once you approve the CIMMarketThe business goes to buyers under NDA, and the offers arrive by one date.
- Once the offers are inSelectThe shortlist meets you, sharpens its offer, and one letter of intent is signed.
- Once the letter is signedCloseThe buyer checks everything, the lawyers write it down, and the money moves.
Three ways in
Where you stand shapes the work, not when it starts
Each way in begins the same way, with a conversation now, and ends in the same two doors: a valuation conversation, or a direct call. And on every timeline, the sale can come in one step or two.
Three years out
Value advisory
Score the elements, pick the few that move the multiple, and rebuild them before a buyer ever sees the business. With this much runway, even the slowest elements have time to show up in the numbers a buyer reads: a reason to start now, not to wait.
One year out
Readiness and preparation
Fix what is fixable in the time left, document the rest, and build the story the market will test. Clean financials, contract hygiene, and a data room that answers questions before they are asked are the year's work.
Under LOI
Sell-side execution
Diligence defense, the data room, and holding price through to close. The letter names a number; the next months decide whether it survives. The deal team runs the room, led by Scott Stepanik.
On any timeline
The second bite
Some founders reach their number in two steps: a first sale of a majority stake that takes risk off the table now, with equity rolled into the buyer's company for a second sale later. The second sale may be worth more or less than the first; it depends on the buyer.
A founder who ran the process
David Ortiz, who built Inline Rail just outside San Diego
A San Diego County founder who ran the FNDRS process from the first conversation to the close. The story, in David’s own account, is on its way.
David OrtizCEO and president, Inline Rail · just outside San Diego, California
What a short runway cannot buy
The elements that take the longest to move
These decide what a runway can and cannot buy. Owner dependence, customer concentration, and recurring revenue do not change in a quarter; clean financials can, and do. Where each sits on the table tells you which timeline you are really on.
- Od19 · Owner DependenceHow much of revenue, relationships, and decisions route through the owner. Scored as control: higher is safer.
- Cc21 · Customer ConcentrationRevenue share held by the top customers. Scored as control: higher is safer.
- Rr09 · Recurring RevenueRevenue that repeats under contract or habit without being re-sold each period.
- Cf11 · Clean FinancialsAccrual books, reconciled monthly, that survive a quality-of-earnings review.
Questions
What founders ask when they are sorting timelines
Now, whatever the runway. Your own sense of when you will be ready to sell is not a good guide to when to start the conversation. If you have a number in mind, the earlier you know the routes to it, the more of them are open: fixing what a buyer will price, or a sale in two steps, a majority stake now with equity rolled into the buyer's company for a second sale later.
Yes. Under LOI the work is sell-side execution: diligence defense, the data room, and holding the price the letter names through to close. Nothing about the business gets rebuilt at that point, so the value of the engagement is in what does not get lost.
The work holds. A business that runs without its owner, with revenue that repeats and a customer base no one account can tip, is worth more in any market, and it is easier to run in the meantime. The timing of the sale can move; the elements that were fixed stay fixed.
One conversation, founder to founder, about where the business stands and what a buyer would push on. The exit score is the fastest way in: it is free, and it shows where the value sits today before anyone talks.
No. Starting the conversation commits you to nothing, and some founders never sell. The valuation conversation and the exit score tell you what the business is worth today and what would change that.
Find out what the business is worth today
Whatever the runway, the time to start is now, and the first step is the same: the number today, and the number at exit. The exit score is free and takes about fifteen minutes.