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Answer 10 questions honestly. Pick the closest answer. About 2 minutes. Your answers stay in your browser.
A buyer is buying future profit. Every check they run asks one question: how confident can I be that this business keeps making money after the owner leaves? The ten questions are the sale-readiness score from Zero to Sellable, each scored 0 (not at all), 1 (partly) or 2 (fully), for a total out of 20.
| A buyer asks | "Yes" looks like | "No" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Does it run without the owner? | Written processes, a team or automations doing the work | The owner does the sales, the delivery and holds every relationship |
| Is revenue predictable? | Recurring revenue, contracts, steady channels | Lumpy one-off projects, a few big launches |
| Is it spread out? | Many customers, more than one sales channel | One customer or platform provides most revenue |
| Are the numbers clean? | Separate accounts, monthly bookkeeping, per-product records | Mixed personal and business spending |
| Is it legally sound? | Assets owned by the business, proper contracts | Assets in personal accounts, no contracts |
Your top 3 fixes are the lowest-scoring lines, weighted so that owner dependence (the biggest drag on value) comes first. The bands (0–7, 8–13, 14–17, 18–20) are a rough guide we chose, not an industry standard. The score doesn't value your business: valuation depends on profit, market and buyer, and needs a professional.
This tool puts a few of the named techniques from Zero to Sellable to work. Each line says how it relates to the tool.
See every technique in Zero to Sellable →
A business is sellable when it runs without the owner, its revenue is predictable, it isn't dependent on one customer or channel, its numbers are clean and verifiable, and its assets and contracts are clearly owned by the business. Each of those lets a buyer trust that the profit continues after you leave.
If you do the sales, the delivery and hold every client relationship, a buyer is really buying your job, and that leaves with you. Moving those into written processes, a team, automations and brand-owned channels is what turns your work into something transferable. John Warrillow's Built to Sell makes this argument at length.
Yes. Recurring and contracted revenue lets a buyer predict future income with more confidence than one-off sales of the same size. Ways to increase it: turn projects into ongoing plans, offer annual plans, bill automatically, and put every customer on written terms.
A set of folders that describes the business completely: overview, financials, customers, sales and marketing, operations (SOPs, tools), legal, assets, people and a growth plan. Keeping it updated monthly means you're ready when a buyer, investor or partner asks.
Every quarter. Pick the lowest line and fix it that quarter. A low score isn't a failure; it's a to-do list, and the same fixes make the business calmer to run even if you never sell.
Education only, not legal, tax, financial or valuation advice. Selling a business has legal and tax consequences: talk to an accountant and a lawyer who handle business sales.