Operations
Buyer-Readiness Score
Owners planning an exit, raise, or succession; advisors preparing a client
A 0-100 sellability score across the six pillars a buyer, lender, or board actually diligences — financial hygiene, customer concentration, owner dependence, documentation, growth durability, and legal risk — with a ranked list of the gaps that cost you money at the table.
What you can do
- Score the business against records already in BlackKey
- Read the ranked gap list and what each one is worth in points
- Save snapshots and watch the score move as gaps close
- Generate a plain-English advisor read of the result
Use it when you want to
- Find out what a buyer would discount before they do
- Build a 90-day pre-sale cleanup plan
- Show a lender or board that risk is being retired on a schedule
Tour
1. How sellable are you today?
This scores what an acquirer diligences, using the financials, roles, SOPs, pipeline, and risks you already track here.
2. Score now, or score and save
Scoring is free to run and stores nothing. Save when you want a dated baseline to measure against.
3. The gap list is the plan
Each gap shows why a buyer cares and what closing it is worth in points. Work top down.
4. Trend beats snapshot
A rising score across saved snapshots is the evidence that the cleanup work is real.
Sample walkthrough
We'll walk the four inputs that move a readiness score the most, using an owner-operated services business as the example.
1. Financial records quality
Whether the books are reviewed or audited, and how many clean years exist.
Example: 3 years reviewed by a CPA firm, no audit
Unlocks: Sets the ceiling on your score and the first gap in the ranked list.
2. Customer concentration
Share of revenue from your top customer and your top five.
Example: 31% of revenue from one customer, annual renewal
Unlocks: A priced gap showing what de-risking that account is worth in points.
3. Owner dependence
Which decisions, relationships, and approvals still route through you.
Example: Owner signs all quotes over $50k and holds both key accounts
Unlocks: A delegation sequence you can start this quarter.
4. Contracts & documentation
Signed customer contracts, leases, IP assignments, employee agreements.
Example: Leases signed, no written customer contracts
Unlocks: A document checklist ordered by what a buyer asks for first.
What you get
- A 0–100 readiness score with the weighting shown
- A ranked gap list priced in score points
- Dated snapshots so improvement becomes evidence for a buyer