You are going to market, or you will be.
Owners and sponsors somewhere between “thinking about it” and “under LOI”. The earlier the better, because early enough means findings can be fixed rather than merely disclosed.
The common factor is that the value you have built is real, and you would rather not discover in week three of diligence which parts of it you cannot evidence.
A buyer does not reprice because the numbers are wrong.
They reprice because the numbers cannot be shown to be right. Those are different failures with the same consequence.
A buyer who cannot trace your revenue figure back to a system does not conclude that you are lying. They conclude that they are inheriting a rebuild — and they price that rebuild, hold money back for it, or push it into the earnout. None of it is fraud. All of it is discount.
The same competence that made the company easier to run makes it easier to sell. It is simply being examined by someone else, on their timetable, at the least convenient moment.
Six things a buyer's operational read will pull on
These are the six sections of the operational diligence report Aptum AI writes for acquirers. Nothing here is speculation about what a buyer might ask. It is what gets asked, stated from the other side of the table.
Where each number comes from.
For every figure that matters to their model: the system, export, or person that produces it — and whether it still works after you leave.
How much of it is you.
The knowledge, relationships, logins, pricing judgement, and undocumented process that exist only in your head. Every item on that list is a reason to hold money back.
What the business actually runs on.
Every system in use, its contract and renewal position, its integration state, and what a buyer inherits versus what they will have to replace.
Whether reporting survives the handover.
Whether a new owner can produce a defensible monthly close and operating report on day one, on day thirty, or not until something is rebuilt.
The cleanup they are buying.
The operational and systems work waiting on the other side of close, in priority order, with rough effort and cost. Their number for this becomes your problem at the negotiating table.
The findings that move terms.
The items that change price, structure, the transition services agreement, the earnout, or the first-100-days plan — each one evidenced.
When this is worth doing.
The case is strongest when one or more of these is true:
- →Your numbers arrive as spreadsheets rebuilt by hand each month rather than system exports
- →You are the operator, and you are leaving
- →The business has made acquisitions of its own and never fully integrated them
- →The same KPI is defined differently in different parts of the business
- →Nobody except you can produce the monthly close without help
And if none of them are true, you are probably already in good shape. You will hear that on the call rather than after an invoice.
A read first. A build only if it earns it.
It starts with thirty minutes on what a buyer's diligence team will pull on, and how far your numbers and operations are from surviving it. You leave that call with a straight read on which parts are most exposed and which of those are worth fixing before you go to market.
Where the gap is genuinely structural, the work is the same Architecture Assessment and Build Sprint described under how we work — quoted separately, with no obligation. Where the gap is narrow, it is a much smaller piece of work, and we will say so.
Where a sell-side M&A partner is the better first call than we are, we will say that too, and make the introduction.
What this is not.
This engagement does not include:
- —A Quality of Earnings report, sell-side or otherwise. Run one. This sits beside it.
- —Investment banking. We do not run your process, market the business, or find you buyers.
- —A valuation or an opinion on what the business is worth.
- —Legal or tax diligence and structuring.
- —Dressing anything up. The work is to make the operating reality defensible, not to present it more favourably than it is.
Before you go to market
01How is this different from a sell-side QoE?
A sell-side QoE gets your earnings ready to be confirmed. This gets the systems and operations underneath them ready to be confirmed. A buyer tests both. The two do not overlap and they do not compete for the same budget line.
02How do you know what a buyer will look for?
Because we are often the ones looking. Aptum AI runs operational and data diligence for acquirers — the six areas on this page are the sections of that report. This is the same read, run against you, while there is still time to act on it.
03When should this happen?
Early enough that findings can be fixed rather than just disclosed. Once you are in a buyer’s diligence, the work changes from remediation to explanation, which is a much weaker position. If you are already in market, say so on the call and we will be direct about what is still worth doing.
04Do you work with my banker?
Yes. This is delivered alongside sell-side M&A partners, and where a banker is the better first call than we are, we will say so and make the introduction.
05What if we are already in good shape?
Then you will hear that, and you should spend the money elsewhere. Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell.
06What if fixing it means a real build?
Sometimes it does, and that is the Architecture Assessment and Build Sprint described under how we work. It is quoted separately and you are under no obligation to buy it.