Most founders don’t realize their business isn’t exit-ready until they’re in negotiations. By then, it’s too late to fix the problems that reduce your valuation by 30%, 50%, or more.
We’ve identified the 12 critical factors that determine whether your business is attractive to buyers—or a hard sell. This rapid assessment gives you a clear, scored baseline across all 12 factors, so you know exactly where you’re strong and where you’re leaving money on the table.
When buyers evaluate your business, they’re not just looking at revenue and profit. They’re assessing risk.
Every weakness in your business represents risk to them—and they’ll either walk away or discount your valuation to compensate for it.
The Dirty Dozen framework evaluates the 12 areas buyers scrutinize most:
Each factor is scored. Together, they create a comprehensive picture of your exit readiness and identify your biggest value blockers.
Think of the Dirty Dozen Assessment as your diagnostic scan—fast, focused, and data-driven.
Start here if:
Start with the Full Exit Strategy if:
💡 Good news: The Dirty Dozen Assessment is included in our Full Exit Strategy service. If you complete the Dirty Dozen and want to continue, your £195 investment is fully credited toward the comprehensive service.
Take or free online assessment or with our full assessment we will use a facilitated workshop, follow up meetings and assessment of the information you provide us. We have specialised tools to help us and this will always be a collaborative process.
Also, our services don’t stop here. With our Journey 2 Exit service we will work with you every step of the way from this starting point to your exit.
We’re entrepreneurs ourselves, and know how daunting the idea of exiting a business can be.
We created this offer because we couldn’t find a clear, founder-focused process that combined strategy with personal goals when we were previously building businesses.
This is what we wish we had when we first thought about exiting.
Includes full assessment, workshop, 1:1 sessions, and personalised action plan, all led by one of our experienced directors.
If you don’t leave the process with more clarity, confidence, and value than when you started — you don’t pay.
Happy with the service, you can still get a £195 Assessment Credit against future purchases.
It’s a structured diagnostic that evaluates your business across 12 essential value drivers that buyers care about most. It highlights where you’re strong, where you’re at risk, and how to close the gaps.
It’s designed for founders of small to mid-sized businesses (typically 5–50 people) who want to plan a successful exit — whether that’s 1 year or 5 years away. If you’re serious about increasing your business’s appeal and reducing reliance on you as the owner, it’s a fit.
Not at all. In fact, the best exits are planned well in advance. This service helps you build value over time — so when the time comes, you’re ready to maximise it.
The Dirty Dozen framework is relevant whether you’re considering a trade sale, MBO, succession, or long-term investor exit. It’s about building a business that’s valuable and transferable — regardless of your exit route.
This is founder-first strategy led by exited founders — not just about financials or handing you off to a buyer. It’s about helping you create a business that others want to buy and you’re proud to exit. No hidden agendas. No cookie-cutter checklists.
You’ll have a clear picture of where you stand and what to do next. Some founders take the action plan and implement it themselves. Others choose to continue working with us to help execute and track progress using our Journey 2 Exit framework.
We will only ever give you advice that we are prepared to help you deliver ourselves.
We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on this Readiness Assessment.
We believe in the quality of our work and want to develop a long-term, valuable relationship with you.
If you don’t leave the process with more clarity, confidence, and value than when you started — you don’t pay.
No awkwardness, no hard feelings.
It only takes 2–4 days from start to finish. It includes a facilitated workshop, follow up meetings as needed, time for assessment review and report creation, and a follow-up presentation and advisory session.
This particular service wouldn’t be best for you. We are happy to have a free consultation to understand more and see if we can help, or if we know someone else who can. Just don’t choose this service.
This particular service wouldn’t be best for you right now (e.g. we look at things like customer quality, operating systems and financial controls). We are happy to have a free consultation to advise you on where we can help and when this service would be suitable. Just don’t choose this service right now.
Whilst we do have a good network of contacts and can certainly help you find a buyer, this service is all about the early stages.
We have nothing against lifestyle businesses, but they are generally heavily dependent on the skills, reputation and effort of the founder(s). This service is all about finding ways to add value above and beyond what is on the balance sheet and what the founders can provide.
Book a free 30 minute online consultation.
