TRANSACTION READINESS ASSESSMENT

Eight weeks to see everything a buyer will see - with the price tag on each item.

The full business, through the buyer’s lens, scored against written anchors - no adjectives, no vibes.

The six dimensions

Financial Readiness

The earnings a buyer’s QoE team would land on.

Governance & Structural

Clean perimeter, aligned shareholders, chain of title.

Commercials & Contracts

Concentration, change-of-control, pricing power.

Operational Readiness

A business that runs without you.

IP & Registered Intangibles

Owning what you’re selling - provably.

The Acquirer’s Lens™

The buy-side simulation: who buys you, what they pay a premium for, and how they’ll structure around their doubts.

How scoring works

Every item is scored 1–5 against a written anchor - a sentence describing exactly what a 1 looks like and what a 5 looks like. Red and Amber items each generate a finding: what was found, why a buyer cares, the fix, an owner, a timeframe. Every material finding is priced into the Value Recovery Bridge.

A re-score later, against identical anchors, is evidence a buyer can’t argue with.

What you receive

  • A board-ready findings report with the bridge
  • A 100-day remediation roadmap with named owners
  • A two-hour shareholder debrief
  • Optional extensions - each individually scoped at a fixed fee, added only where the bridge shows the return

Investment

Fixed fee - agreed before you sign

Set by a scoping matrix (entities, shareholders, contract volume) in the scoping conversation and confirmed in writing before commencement - the fee is a fact, not a negotiation, and it never converts to hourly billing. Shadow Bid™ and Offer Triage fees credit against it in full.

Where it can lead

For a small number of clients each year, the assessment ends with an invitation: a Northtrail-run sale process, capped at two at any time, offered only where the work supports it. Terms come with the invitation.

“A buyer will find it. The only question is whether you find it first.”
Take the 7-minute self-assessment Book a call