Find it yourself, a year early. Not during exclusivity.
The same exam a buyer would run, aimed at you, while there is still time for fixing something to be the answer. A problem found a year out costs what it costs to fix. The same problem found under contract costs a price reduction, an escrow, or the deal.
- What a buyer’s diligence will surface
- What each finding costs you if it stays
- A sequenced fix list, price impact first
- What makes the business transferable
- Written to sit beside your broker and CPA
- Not offered once you are under contract
The same finding costs very little, or costs you the deal.
The problems a buyer does find will cost you more during exclusivity than they would have a year earlier. Found early, a finding is something you fix. Found under contract, the only available response is a price reduction.
We do not take sell-side engagements on a business already under contract. Run then, the same report is a weapon pointed at you.
What a buyer’s diligence will surface
We read the operation the way the other side will, and tell you what they are going to find before they find it.
What it costs you if it stays
Not every finding is worth fixing before a sale. Some are cheap to resolve and expensive to leave. We tell you which is which.
What to fix, in what order
Sequenced, with the ones that materially affect the asking price first, and the timeline each needs to be genuinely done rather than visibly in progress.
What makes the business transferable
Documented process, systems that do not depend on you personally, and data a new owner can actually take over. That is what a buyer is really paying for.
This is not a valuation and it does not replace your broker.
What this is
An operational and technology read on the business you are about to list, aimed at what a buyer’s advisors will examine and what it will cost you if they find it first.
What this is not
A valuation, a financial cleanup, or advice on price. Your broker and your CPA own those, and this is built to sit beside their work rather than overlap it.
Most of these arrive through the person listing the business.
A broker with a stale listing has two options: cut the price again, or fix the reason it is stale. Pre-listing work is the second one, and it raises the number the business goes to market at.
Before you decide.
What is a sell-side readiness assessment?
A pre-listing operational and technology review that identifies what a buyer's diligence is likely to surface, what each finding will cost in price or escrow if it remains, and the sequence to fix them.
When should a seller run one?
Before listing, ideally six to twelve months out. Findings identified early can be fixed. The same findings surfaced during exclusivity give the buyer grounds to renegotiate.
Will you run this on a business already under contract?
No. Once a business is under contract, the same report becomes material the buyer can use against the seller. Onizuka Studio declines those engagements.
Does this replace a valuation or a broker?
No. It does not value the business, clean up the financials, or advise on price. Those belong to a broker and a CPA.
How does it affect the asking price?
Buyers pay for transferability. A business with documented process and systems that do not depend on the owner personally is worth more than one where the operation lives in somebody's head.
Twelve months out is early. Under contract is too late.
Two to three weeks, and you get the findings while there is still time for fixing them to be the answer.