A Clearer View of What Buyers Will Test

Most exits don’t fall apart because owners wait too long. They lose leverage because the business isn’t prepared for the scrutiny that comes with buyers, diligence, and deal pressure.

Preparation – not timing – is what protects value.

The majority of business owners expect to exit sooner than they think—but readiness rarely keeps pace.

• Over 70% of business owners plan to exit within the next 5–10 years, yet fewer than 30% have completed a formal valuation or exit plan.
• Even fewer have addressed transferability risks – founder dependency, management depth, process maturity, and decision discipline.
• As a result, buyers often uncover execution gaps during diligence, when leverage has already shifted.

Buyers don’t penalize ambition. They penalize untested transferability.

That penalty shows up as:

• Lower valuation
• Tighter terms
• Extended timelines
• Last-minute re-trades

PRV’s owner advisory work is informed by Value Acceleration methodology and grounded in buyer-side operational diligence.

We help align three things that are often disconnected:

1. Personal and financial exit objectives
2. The value drivers buyers actually underwrite
3. The operational reality required to support them

Most advisors ask: “What could increase value?” – PRV asks: “What will survive diligence?”

That difference is where leverage is either protected – or quietly lost.

A focused, buyer-grade assessment of how prepared the business truly is for transition – before brokers, buyers, or investors apply pressure.

This is designed to surface the same issues buyers and diligence teams consistently test, including:

• Founder or owner dependency
• Leadership depth and decision rights
• Operational scalability
• KPI credibility and reporting discipline
• Execution risk under new ownership

You receive:

• An Exit Risk Heatmap – A clear view of what helps, hurts, or threatens outcomes
• A Prioritized Readiness Roadmap – What to address first to protect leverage and value
• Buyer-Language Insights – Practical findings you can use with brokers, attorneys, and advisors

This is not a valuation exercise. It’s a readiness one – focused on what will actually hold up.

But readiness is one of the few variables owners can still control.

As exit activity increases and buyer scrutiny deepens:

• Deals are taking longer
• Diligence is more invasive
• Execution risk is being priced earlier

Owners who prepare early keep control of the narrative. Those who don’t often find it rewritten during diligence.