"Acquisition Readiness"
The Core Concept
Acquisition Readiness is the outcome of Acquisition Prep. It is the status where a business could hypothetically accept an offer tomorrow and successfully pass the Due Diligence phase without major friction.
A business is "acquisition ready" when it is independent of the owner (the owner isn't the only one who can deliver the service), has transferable assets (contracts aren't tied personally to the founder), and has verifiable financial history.
Why It Matters
Increases Buyer Confidence: Professional buyers and aggregators prefer turnkey assets. Readiness signals low risk.
Negotiation Leverage: When a business is ready, the seller has more power because they aren't desperate to fix issues during the negotiation.
Operational Efficiency: Even if you don't sell, getting "ready" makes the business easier to run and more profitable.
Best Practices
Mock Audit: Hire a third-party accountant to review your books as if they were a buyer.
Contract Transferability: Ensure all vendor and client contracts have clauses allowing them to be assigned to a new owner.