⸻ THE RAWHIDE READINESS AUDIT
Six dimensions, one score, the work that lets the owner step out when they choose to.
The methodology behind every engagement. One composite score on a hundred-point scale. One written plan to close the gap. All built around one question.
⸻ THE ONE QUESTION
Can the company run 30 days without you?
If the answer is yes — really yes, with no late-night calls to the CFO from the airport — then the work has been done. The senior team is real. The systems hold. The company is ready to be valued at what its work has been worth.
If the answer is no, the gap between where you are and where you need to be is what determines what your company is worth when you transition out. The Rawhide Readiness Audit measures that gap across six dimensions and produces one composite score, zero to one hundred, and a written plan for closing it.
⸻ WHY IT MATTERS
The math behind the question.
Owner-dependent companies sell for one to two turns of EBITDA less than comparable non-dependent ones. Here is what that looks like on a real business.
EXAMPLE BUSINESS
$30M
Revenue. $4M of EBITDA. Owner-led, 60 to 200 employees. The companies this work is built for.
THE DISCOUNT
1–2 turns
The multiple a strategic or financial buyer takes off when the company runs through the owner instead of through the system.
EQUITY AT RISK
$4–8M
Of equity value at exit, gone — unless the work to close the gap gets done in the years before a transition.
⸻ THE SIX DIMENSIONS
The structured answer to the question
The six dimensions are how the Audit pulls apart the 30-day question into the specific gaps that drive value at transition. Each scored one to five. Combined into a composite zero to one hundred. The work is wherever the score is lowest.
01 · Owner Concentration & Equity Risk
How dependent the company is on the owner being in every room. The operational, commercial, customer, technical, financial, cultural, supplier, and intellectual property weight that lives in the owner's head, hands, and relationships.
WHERE MOST OWNERS SCORE LOWEST
02 · Senior Team Operational Independence
What the next layer can run without escalation. Whether direct reports own ninety percent of operational decisions on their own — and whether the right decision rights and org design are in place to keep them there.
THE SENIOR LAYER THAT EARNS THE MULTIPLE
03 · Decision Architecture & Reporting Maturity
Whether decisions are made on rhythm and data, or on the owner's mood. Operating cadence, top-of-house KPIs, monthly board-style P&L, thirteen-week cash, working capital, and an add-back register a buyer's diligence team will trust.
WHAT MAKES DILIGENCE MOVE FASTER
04 · Customer & Revenue Durability
How much of the revenue depends on a handful of relationships. Concentration thresholds, pipeline visibility, recurring versus contractual recurring revenue, churn, contract length and termination terms, and where pricing has been left on the table.
THE 15% RULE AND WHAT IT COSTS
05 · Talent System & Bench
Depth
What happens at every level of the company when someone leaves. Quarterly talent reviews, written succession plans for every senior role, structured hiring, performance management, and the retention drivers that matter most.
SUCCESSION AT EVERY LEVEL — NOT JUST THE TOP
06 · Strategic Optionality & Buyer Profile
How many credible exit paths the owner has when the moment comes. Strategic, financial, family office, ESOP, management buyout, generational. The transition you choose is the one the company has been prepared for.
CHOOSE THE TRANSITION — DON’T LET IT CHOOSE YOU
⸻ HOW THE SCORE WORKS
One number, on a scale of zero to one hundred.
Each of the six dimensions is scored one to five against a defined rubric — what a buyer's diligence team would actually find, not what the owner hopes is true. The six scores combine into one composite on a hundred-point scale.
The composite isn't a grade. It's a measurement of how far the company sits from a buyer-ready state — and where the highest-leverage work lives.
Most owner-led companies at this size score in the high forties to low sixties when the work is first measured honestly. The target for transition-ready is eighty plus.
0–49
50–79
80+
The composite score
Owner-dependent. The company is the owner. A buyer pays a turn or two less, or walks. Years of work to close.
The working zone. Real business, real fundamentals — but the gap to a top-of-range valuation is real. The years before a transition are when this gets fixed.
Transition-ready. The senior layer holds, the systems hold, the optionality is real. The owner can step out on the terms of their own choosing.
⸻ HOW THE AUDIT IS DELIVERED
Three weeks. Flat fee. In person.
The Audit is built around being on the floor and in the rooms where the work actually happens. Half the read comes from sitting across the desk from your senior team — not from a data room.
WEEK 0
Kickoff
Engagement letter, scope alignment, document request, interview roster. Done in one call with the owner and CFO.
WEEK 1
On-Site
Two to three days at your facility. Stakeholder interviews. Walkthroughs of operations, sales, and finance. Floor time.
WEEK 2
Financial Deep Dive
Working with the CFO on reporting maturity, add-backs, working capital, and the numbers a buyer will scrutinize.
WEEK 3
Value-Creation Plan
A written plan: scores by dimension, the composite, and the prioritized roadmap for the next six to twelve months.
+30 DAYS
Working Presentation & Follow-Up
An in-person session with you and your senior team to align on the work. Thirty days of follow-up access included.
Flat fee. All-inclusive. Travel, preparation, deliverables, and follow-up are included. No hourly billing. No success fees. No surprise invoices. Pricing is calibrated to the specific scope of your engagement and is shared directly in conversation.
⸻ THE DELIVERABLE
A written plan. Not a binder. Not a deck.
The value-creation plan is built to be used — by you, by your senior team, and, when the time comes, by the people on the other side of a transaction.
A composite score, zero to one hundred — the honest read on where the company sits today
Scores by dimension, one to five — with the specific evidence behind each rating
A prioritized 6–12 month roadmap — the work that closes the biggest gaps first, ordered by leverage and disruption
A buyer-profile view — the kinds of buyers this company is built for today, and the work to widen those options
An owner-and-team working session — to land the plan with the people who will execute it
⸻ HOW THE METHODOLOGY ANCHORS THE WORK
The same six dimensions run through every engagement.
In the Working Visit
The one-page Transition Readiness Snapshot is a fast read across the same six dimensions. It's not a guess — it's the starting score the deeper Audit later confirms or revises.
In an Operator’s Partner Engagement
Quarterly milestone reviews scored against the six dimensions. A defined exit at composite eighty plus and the senior team operating independently. The point is to leave.
In the Audit
The full diagnostic. Three weeks. A composite score on a hundred-point scale, a prioritized roadmap, and a written value-creation plan you can act on with or without me.
In a Targeted Project
When the Audit reveals one acute gap, a fixed-scope project closes the dimension that's holding the rest down. Senior Team Build, Reporting Maturity, Customer Concentration, Successor Onboarding, Pre-LOI Sprint.
⸻ START WITH A WORKING VISIT ⸻
Get a real read on where the company stands today.
Ninety minutes on-site. No fee. No pitch. You walk away with a one-page Snapshot of where you score across the six dimensions — and a direct read on which two or three matter most for your situation. Yours either way.