Founder Briefing
The five operating questions every founder should be able to answer — and what the inability to answer them costs at a transaction.
Execution · Cash · Leadership · Growth · Founder Dependency
Each question is answered at the operational level — with context, diagnostic signals and connected resources.
Is the business executing consistently without requiring the founder to be personally involved in daily decisions?
Execution consistency is the first thing a buyer tests during operational due diligence. Not whether the business performed well last year — but whether that performance is repeatable without the founder managing it personally.
- Where in the business is execution still personally dependent on you?
- What decisions can your management team make without escalating to you?
- Which operational problems require your personal involvement to resolve?
Is the working capital position controlled — and does the founder understand the working capital peg mechanism in a transaction?
Working capital is the most reliably surprising element of a founder-led transaction. The peg mechanism adjusts effective settlement proceeds based on the normalised working capital position at completion.
- Do you know what normalised working capital looks like for your business?
- Is your debtor collection discipline consistent enough to maintain the normalised position?
- Do you understand how a shortfall at settlement reduces your net proceeds?
Does the business have sufficient management depth to operate without the founder — and to demonstrate that depth to a buyer?
Management depth is tested during diligence by asking the management team to explain their own decision authority — what they can decide without the founder, what they escalate, and how they would operate the business through a six-month transition.
- Can your management team operate the business for six months without you?
- Do they have genuine P&L accountability or theoretical accountability?
- Can they articulate their own decision authority clearly?
Is the revenue growth being generated by a system — or by the founder's relationships and personal commercial effort?
Revenue quality is the commercial dimension of the execution consistency question. Growth generated by the founder's personal commercial effort is real — and it is also not transferable.
- Is your revenue growth generated by a commercial system or by personal relationships?
- Can your commercial team sustain growth without your personal involvement in major accounts?
- Is your pipeline visible to leadership — or does it exist in your head?
Is the founder aware of how their personal involvement in the business is being priced by institutional buyers?
Founder dependency is the most universally discounted enterprise value factor in Australian founder-led transactions. The founder sees their involvement as the reason the business is successful. The buyer prices it as evidence the business cannot operate without them.
- Do you know how a buyer calculates the founder dependency discount?
- Have you been told by an adviser that management depth will be a diligence issue?
- Can you describe what the business looks like after you have stepped back?
Operator-built. Evidence-grounded. Execution-first.
The platform exists to demonstrate operational credibility. If the problem your business faces is on this page, the conversation starts here.
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