How it works
A structured first view of an acquisition opportunity
The assessment is a diagnostic, not a quiz. It examines 31 weighted points across five dimensions, combines category scoring with rule-based issue flags, and produces a written analysis you can keep.
Free · Around 5 minutes · Personalised report
How it works
Four stages, from first view to informed commitment
Assess
Work through the diagnostic questions. Answers save as you go, and you can move back and forward between sections without losing progress.
Understand
Receive a personalised analysis of your opportunity, with category results, positive indicators and the issues your answers raise.
Validate
Use the tailored seller questions and information request to test the assumptions behind the price before committing further.
Review further where appropriate
Where the opportunity warrants it, commission independent analysis of earnings quality, valuation and structure.
The diagnostic
What is examined, and why
Each dimension is scored from your answers, then read alongside the issue rules that run independently of the score.
Financial Quality
7 pointsEarnings reliability, cash conversion and information quality.
Whether reported earnings are supported by reliable records, convert into cash, and are likely to be maintained after completion.
Valuation & Deal Economics
6 pointsPrice basis, benchmarking, forecast reliance and completion mechanics.
Whether the price is supported by a testable rationale and other valuation evidence, how far it depends on unproven future performance, and whether the completion position is clear enough to be relied upon.
Commercial & Customer Risk
6 pointsConcentration, revenue predictability, retention, margin durability and forward visibility.
How dependent the business is on particular customers and contracts, whether revenue is evidenced as repeatable, whether margins hold, and how far forward revenue is secured or visible.
Operational & Management Dependency
6 pointsOwner reliance, management depth, key people, process resilience, premises and supplier dependency.
How much of the business sits with the owner, a small number of individuals or a limited number of dependencies, and what will be required to transfer it.
Transaction Readiness & Structure
6 pointsInformation access, corporate and regulatory position, funding, documentation and process.
Whether the transaction is sufficiently prepared to be assessed and completed: whether the information exists to test it, whether the corporate, legal and regulatory position is clear, whether funding is in place, whether the agreed terms are documented, and whether the process allows enough time to validate.
Scoring and issue flags
A good aggregate score should never hide a material issue
Every answer carries a score and a weight. Category results are a weighted average of the answers in that dimension, and the overall result is a weighted average of the categories. Questions that matter more to the outcome carry more weight.
Running alongside the scoring is a set of issue rules. Certain answers — material customer concentration, an owner central to delivery, adjustments without evidence, incomplete financial information, unresolved disputes — raise a flag regardless of the aggregate result.
Where material concerns are identified, the overall classification is adjusted downwards to reflect them, and the report explains why. The result is a four-point classification that describes how much validation remains, rather than a verdict on the business:
- Lower Initial Concern
- Generally Sound – Validate Key Assumptions
- Further Validation Required
- Several Material Issues Identified
The system does not tell you whether to buy a business. It identifies where further validation is required, and why.
What you receive
A preliminary analysis, not a scorecard result
The assessment produces a written analysis of your opportunity, followed by a report you can keep.
Overall assessment
A considered interpretation of your answers, classified against a four-point scale that describes the level of validation still required.
Category analysis
Scores and commentary across financial quality, valuation, commercial risk, operational dependency and transaction readiness.
Positive indicators
The factors that appear supportive, explained so they can be evidenced rather than assumed.
Issues requiring validation
The specific points created by your own answers, with the reasoning behind each one.
Material concerns
Raised only where the rules genuinely trigger them, and never hidden by a favourable aggregate score.
Questions for the seller
A tailored checklist drawn from your responses, ready to use in the next conversation.
Information request
The documents that would resolve the open points, listed in the order they matter.
Next-step guidance
What to do next given the position you are actually in, and when independent analysis becomes worthwhile.
Printable PDF report
A paginated A4 report suitable for your acquisition working papers, or to share with a lender or adviser.
The report
A document, not a screen
The result page gives you the analysis interactively. The report is a separate A4 document, generated from a dedicated print layout rather than a print of the web page, so pagination, charts, headers and page numbers are preserved.
The report length varies with the assessment and the number of findings, typically around 12–27 pages: cover, executive assessment, deal snapshot, diagnostic overview, one page for each dimension, issues requiring validation, seller questions and information request, and next steps with the important notice.
It is designed to be readable at 100%, printable in colour or greyscale, and suitable for your acquisition working papers or for sharing with a lender or adviser.