Scenario A
Unprepared
€1,000,000 ×2.0 EBITDA
Most owners never prepare. Most buyers never make an offer. The ones who do price every risk in, and the deal falls apart in due diligence.
Your business, ready to sell.
8 in 10 businesses listed for sale never sell. Most owners discover what buyers needed to see when the offer lands — by then, there is nothing left to fix.
When you sell your house,
you prepare it first.
Most business owners never do the same.
Same EBITDA. Three owners.
Three very different exits.
€500K EBITDA. The only difference is what each owner did in the years before going to market.
Scenario B
Developing
€1,750,000 ×3.5 EBITDA
Some preparation moves the multiple. A deal gets done, slower than expected. Three things in due diligence cost him the difference.
Scenario C
Exit Ready
€2,500,000 ×5.0 EBITDA
Clean due diligence. Multiple interested buyers. He negotiates from strength. The business runs without him.
Scenario C minus Scenario A
€1,500,000 Same business · same EBITDA
This is not the cost of hiring BuildExitReady.
This is the cost of doing nothing.
"I've seen good businesses fail to sell.
The businesses weren't the problem."
Niels Siskens spent nearly a decade building Parrolabs, then moved into buy-side work, evaluating acquisition targets across Europe. The same things kept appearing: financials that needed explaining, operations that only worked because the founder was in the room, revenue tied to relationships no buyer would inherit. The business was real. The evidence wasn't.
8 yrs founder and operator, building Parrolabs from 2016
Buy-side acquisition work, screening and evaluating owner-managed businesses across Europe
IE Business School MBA
The 7 Mills Score
When a buyer looks at your business, they see what can go wrong after they buy it. The 7 Mills Score measures the seven areas buyers examine: owner independence, financial clarity, documented process, revenue quality, people and management, competitive value, and owner readiness. It shows you what a buyer will find before they do.
01
Score
17 questions across all 7 dimensions. Under 15 minutes. Results by email.
02
Scan
Half a day on site. A straight verdict on whether your business could sell, and what is costing you the most. €750, credited against the Foundation.
On site across the Netherlands, remote beyond it.
03
Foundation
The fix begins here. We build the full baseline, then close the two gaps costing you the most and hand you the roadmap for the rest.
04
Build
The Build Programme closes each remaining gap month by month until your score reaches 70 and the business is ready.
You built a profitable business.
Now build one a buyer wants.
Most owners are the single point of failure in their own business. That's fine while you're running it. It's fatal when a buyer's lawyer finds it.
5+ years in business
Enough history for a buyer to build a financial picture.
3–5 years to exit
Enough runway to do the work properly.
Owner‑run built by you
You are the business operationally — the most common gap we see.
Fixed price.
Defined scope.
Work that stays.
The fix begins here · 8 weeks · fixed fee Foundation
Foundation
Programme
The Scan tells you what is broken. The Foundation starts repairing it. In the first three weeks we build the full baseline: financials, contracts, processes, the complete picture a buyer would assemble. In the remaining five weeks we close the two gaps costing you the most, together, and hand you the roadmap for everything that is left. You finish with two problems fixed, a validated score across all seven mills, and a plan you could execute without us.
Right for you if
The Scan showed you gaps you do not want to live with. You want the repair to start now, not after another study. And you want to see how we work before deciding anything longer term.
€9,500
Book a scoping call → What you leave with
- Full baseline across all seven millsbuilt from your real documents, not a questionnaire
- The two highest-cost gaps closed during the programmework done, not recommended
- A validated 7 Mills Scoreyou can measure every future improvement against
- The roadmap for the remaining gapsin the order a buyer would price them
- A delivery sessionwalking you and, if you want, your accountant through all of it
The baseline and the roadmap belong to the business. They are the foundation for the Build Programme and the starting point for any buyer conversation.
Monthly retainer · 18 to 24 months
Build Programme
Three speeds, one destination: a score of 70 and a business a buyer wants.
Refer a client.
Stay in the picture.
For accountants, solicitors, brokers and advisors. You know which clients have a gap between what they think the business is worth and what a buyer will pay. We close it — no fee to join, one-day response to every introduction, your client stays your client.
Become a referral partner →We talk first
A short call about your practice. Back to you within one business day.
You make the introduction
A short email is enough. We run the 7 Mills Score and share the outcome with you.
You receive an introduction fee
Paid when your client starts a programme. Confirmed in writing.
What founders ask before they start.
- Preparation starts 3 to 5 years before you want to sell — not 6 months. The core work is closing the gaps buyers use to negotiate price down: reducing owner dependency, cleaning up financials, documenting operations, and building a management layer that can run the business without you. Most owners discover these gaps during due diligence, when it is too late to fix them.
- Most owner-managed businesses are valued on an EBITDA multiple, typically 3× to 7× for businesses between €2m and €10m revenue. The multiple is not fixed: it is a buyer's assessment of risk. Strong owner independence, recurring revenue, documented processes, and a capable management team all push the multiple up. Weak performance in any one of these compresses it. The gap between what owners expect and what buyers pay is usually structural, not commercial.
- Selling without a broker is possible — and many owner-managed businesses are sold through direct approaches, accountant introductions, or industry contacts. The risk is not finding a buyer; it is arriving unprepared. Buyers and their advisors do thorough due diligence. Without clean financials, documented processes, and a business that can run independently, even a willing buyer will renegotiate price or walk away. Preparation matters more than the channel.
- Most owner-managed businesses are acquired by one of four types: a trade buyer in the same industry looking for revenue, customers, or capability; a private equity firm building a platform in your sector; a management buyout where your own team buys you out; or an individual buyer looking for an established business to run. Each type looks for different things and values the business differently. Knowing who your likely buyer is shapes how you prepare.
- The sale process itself — from first approach to completion — typically takes 6 to 12 months. But that assumes the business is already prepared. If it is not, the timeline extends, or the deal collapses in due diligence. Businesses that complete a sale in good time have usually spent 2 to 4 years fixing the structural issues buyers would otherwise find. The preparation period is the variable most owners underestimate.
- Not necessarily — but the data is consistent. Businesses that go through a structured preparation process achieve materially better outcomes: higher multiples, fewer conditions, cleaner completions. An exit readiness advisor works on the business before a buyer is involved, closing gaps before they become negotiating points. An M&A advisor manages the sale process once you are ready. They are different roles. Most owners engage one without the other and are surprised by the result.
- Buyers are assessing risk, not just opportunity. They look for businesses that can operate without the founder, with revenues that are predictable and not over-concentrated in a few customers, financials that are clear and auditable, documented processes that do not depend on key individuals, and a management team that will stay post-sale. A business that scores well across these dimensions is genuinely harder to negotiate down — the buyer has less leverage.
Under 15 minutes.
Find out where you stand.
Start the Free Score → Free · Under 15 minutes · Written report by email