Every owner walks through one of four doors at exit. This scorecard tells you, honestly, which ones are open right now — and what's keeping the others closed.
Enter your name and email to begin. Your results — and which door fits you best — will be shown immediately after question 16.
We'll never share your information. No spam — just your results and an option to book a consult if you'd like one.
Answer honestly, not aspirationally.
Sixteen questions, four to a door. Each one maps back to the same four variables that determine whether a business can actually transfer: owner dependency, documented systems, successor readiness, and timing. Your score reflects where the business stands today — not where you intend to take it.
The open-market exit — a strategic buyer, a competitor, or a private equity acquirer.
If you took a 30-day vacation with no phone, would revenue, key client relationships, and daily operations continue without disruption?
Could a buyer's due diligence team find clean, audit-ready financials for the past three years without your involvement?
Is there a management team in place that a buyer would keep and trust to run the business post-sale?
Do you know your business's current market value, and have you built toward a target sale date — or is "someday" the plan?
Keeping the business in the family — across generations, not just in name.
Have you actually delegated real decision-making authority to a family successor — or do final calls still come back to you?
If your successor had to run the business tomorrow, do written processes exist — or does the knowledge live only in your head?
Has the intended family successor been deliberately developed for this — training, mentorship, time in the seat — or simply assumed by birth order?
Is there a written succession and estate plan — with tax, governance, and ownership-transfer timing addressed — or is this an unwritten understanding?
Equity transfers gradually to a partner, key employee, or management team already inside the business.
Do your key employees currently have enough authority and visibility into the business that they could credibly buy in as part-owners?
Is there a clear, defensible valuation methodology and buy-in structure already defined — or would a buyout price be negotiated from scratch?
Has a specific internal candidate (or candidates) expressed genuine interest and financial capacity to buy in?
Is there a phased timeline for transferring equity and control — with milestones — or would this happen all at once under pressure?
The default door — what happens when the other three weren't built in time.
Honestly — if none of the other three doors materialize, is liquidation or simply closing the doors the most likely outcome?
Have you calculated what wind-down actually nets you — asset liquidation value, debts, taxes, closing costs — versus what a transfer could net?
If wind-down became necessary, is there a plan for what happens to employees, clients, and your own next chapter — or would it be entirely reactive?
How many years of runway do you realistically have before circumstances — health, energy, market conditions — force a decision rather than letting you choose one?
This is the question at the center of my 3-Question Transferability Test™: can the business run without you, is its value documented rather than assumed, and is there someone — a buyer, a successor, or a partner — actually ready to step in. Most owners can answer that question honestly only once they're forced to. The advantage belongs to the ones who answer it years before they have to.
"The door you walk through isn't really chosen on your way out. It's chosen years earlier, by whether the business can run without you."
A scorecard gives you a signal. A Business Transferability Consult gives you a plan — a clear-eyed look at which doors are open, which are closing, and what to do about it before the clock decides for you.
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