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Diagnostic · 4–6 weeks

A buyer's-eye view of your business - before scrutiny starts, not during.

Built for founder-led businesses approaching a transaction. The commercial engine is working. The question is whether the business will hold up under a buyer's scrutiny - and what it would take to get there. An optional Sprint extension is available for businesses that want to close the gaps the Diagnostic surfaces.

Who this is for

This is the moment the Diagnostic is built for.

A transaction is on the horizon - twelve to eighteen months out, ideally. The founder knows the business has been built well. But they also know the business has been held together by a particular kind of work - and that a buyer's diligence team does a different kind of work. The gap between those two views of the business is exactly what the Diagnostic is designed to surface.

  • A transaction is on the horizon - and you're quietly wondering whether the business is actually ready for the scrutiny that's coming.
  • You know the business has been built well, but you also know it's been held together by a particular kind of effort that a buyer's diligence team sees differently.
  • You haven't had a reason to examine the financial, operational and governance disciplines the way a buyer's eye would examine them.
  • The leadership team is competent and committed - but the strain of running a business and running a transaction in parallel is something you haven't thought through properly.
  • You want an honest view before the spotlight arrives, not a surprise in the data room.

Typical shape. A successful founder-led business approaching a credible transaction - sell-side M&A, Series B, PE investment, or strategic recapitalisation. Operating Rhythm and Governance Foundations may already exist informally, but neither has been pressure-tested under DD conditions.

What we build together

Two tiers. One decision at a time.

Commissioned together or in sequence - the Diagnostic always comes first.

Tier 1

The Diagnostic

4–6 weeks

Fixed-fee, fixed-scope. Deliverable: a board-readable findings document - a buyer's-eye view of where the business stands, with prioritised gaps and the work needed to close them. The Diagnostic stands alone - the Sprint is there if the findings warrant it.

Tier 2

The Sprint Extension

8–14 weeks

Scoped from the Diagnostic findings. Separately contracted at the end of the Diagnostic. No obligation to commission. If the findings show the business is in good shape, that's the right answer. The Sprint closes the gaps the Diagnostic surfaces - DD-ready disciplines, financial story, leadership readiness.

Tier 2 is an optional extension.

What the Diagnostic covers

Six areas of assessment. One honest picture.

A buyer's diligence team will examine all of it. The Diagnostic examines it first - before they do.

01

Operations & rhythm

DD will examine how the business runs day-to-day - the decision rights, the cadence of reviews, the quality of management information. We assess what's there and what holds up under scrutiny.

02

Governance & board evidence

The quality of board governance, the documentation of decisions, the board papers and reporting disciplines. How the governance story looks under a forensic eye.

03

Compliance posture

The regulatory and compliance obligations the business carries - and whether the posture is current, documented, and defensible to a buyer who will look for the gaps.

04

Financial story

The financial disciplines, the quality of the financial data, and the strength of the financial narrative. Whether it holds up to a forensic review - and where the story needs strengthening.

05

HR & people risk

Employment contracts, policies, culture documentation, and people risk - the HR disciplines that buyers examine carefully and founder-led businesses frequently underestimate before the spotlight arrives.

06

Risk register

The identified risks, the mitigations in place, and the honest gaps. What the business knows about its own risk posture - and what a buyer's team will find that the business doesn't know it knows.

What's not in scope for the Diagnostic alone: remediation. That's the Sprint extension - scoped from the Diagnostic findings and separately contracted.

How it runs

Four phases. Four to six weeks.

The boundaries between phases are deliberately soft, because real work doesn't fit neatly into stages. The cadence is the work.

01 / Immerse
Week 1–2

In your business, examining everything a buyer would examine.

Reading the financial and operational data. Interviewing the leadership team. Examining the governance documentation and the compliance posture. Watching the operating cadence as if I were on the buying side.

02 / Assess
Week 2–3

The gap analysis. Where the business stands, honestly, against what DD examines.

Against the six disciplines: operations, governance, compliance, finance, HR, and risk. Not a benchmark exercise - a realistic assessment of where the gaps are, what they'd look like to a buyer, and what the remediation work involves.

03 / Draft
Week 3–5

The findings document takes shape. Prioritised, specific, actionable - a map, not a verdict.

Drafted and reviewed with the founder and leadership team - not presented as a verdict, but worked through together, so the team owns the picture as much as I do. Gaps named. Remediation prioritised. Sprint scope sketched if the work is warranted.

04 / Deliver
Week 5–6

Board-readable. Honest. The optionality is yours from here.

The findings document is delivered. What it contains, what it recommends, what the Sprint would look like if commissioned. The Diagnostic stands alone - the Sprint is there if the findings warrant it. You decide. No obligation, no pressure.

One to two days a week in the business. Short engagement, focused work. The document is the deliverable - not a deck, not a presentation. Something the board can read and act on.

What changes

What changes is what the business looks like under scrutiny.

After the Diagnostic:

  • 01

    A clear, honest, board-readable view of where the business stands against DD-readiness - across operations, governance, compliance, finance, HR, and risk.

  • 02

    A prioritised remediation plan the leadership team can act on with or without me.

  • 03

    The conversations with the leadership team that needed to happen before a real buyer's diligence team forced them.

  • 04

    The optionality - to act, to wait, to extend into the Sprint, or to decide the business is ready as-is.

This isn't for everyone.

A few honest filters.

The work is built for a specific kind of business and a specific kind of relationship. I'd rather tell you here than in week three.

  • -
    …you're already in due diligence.

    The Diagnostic is built to be done before the spotlight hits - twelve to eighteen months out, ideally. Once a buyer is in the data room, the window for this work has closed. If you're already in the process and need urgent operator support to get through it, that's a different conversation.

  • -
    …you want a buyer-friendly story painted over a business that isn't ready.

    The Diagnostic is honest. The deliverable tells you what's actually true, not what would sound best in a CIM. If the business has gaps, the document names them. Bad news early is far cheaper than bad news in the data room.

  • -
    …you want the engagement to find no problems.

    Every business has gaps before DD-readiness work happens. The whole point of the Diagnostic is to find them when they can still be fixed. If the expectation is "prove there's nothing to worry about", the engagement will disappoint - and that's a misalignment worth surfacing now.

Commercial shape

Scope, deliverables and outcomes - agreed before the work begins.

Delivered as a fixed-scope, fixed-fee engagement. Fees set against the agreed scope. No day-rate creep. No scope-of-work surprises. No retainer-by-stealth.

Tier 1 · Diagnostic
4–6 weeks
Tier 2 · Sprint
8–14 weeks · optional
Cadence
Embedded, weekly

The right time to start is when scrutiny is on the horizon but not yet imminent - typically 12–18 months before a planned transaction. Earlier is always better than later. Once a buyer is in the data room, the window for this work has closed.

Exit Readiness Diagnostic

If this sounds like your business - let's talk.

The next step is a thirty-minute conversation. No deck, no pitch, no pressure - just an honest read on whether the engagement is the right shape and the timing is right.

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