For most owners, that reckoning lands mid-deal — a buyer’s team finds the problems, the price drops, and there’s no runway left to fix any of it.
The Sellability Score is a free, personal video walkthrough of exactly what a buyer would see when they look at your business — before you ever list it. No scorecard, no sales pitch, no invoice.
Most owners think selling comes down to finding a buyer and agreeing on a number. Then reality shows up. You get an offer, you shake hands — and a buyer’s team spends the next 90 days quietly pulling your business apart. They order a Quality of Earnings report. They read your contracts. They ask who really runs the place. And somewhere in there, they find the thing you were hoping they wouldn’t.
Then one of three things happens:
They quietly knock six figures off the offer — and use the thing they found as the reason.
They restructure the deal so you get paid if the business performs — not at closing.
They walk — and you start over, months older, with a business that now looks “shopped.”
From owners who’ve already been through it
“I was working 363 days a year, killing myself to meet the goals. … I didn’t have anybody tell me anything.”
— Owner of a pet-retail franchise, sold in 2024
“Why are you asking this? … It made me mad. I kind of got defensive.”
— A 25-year founder, on his first-ever due diligence, sold in 2026
It’s the same story again and again: deals don’t die over price. They die in diligence — over inflated earnings, handshake contracts, deferred maintenance, and an owner who is the business. And you find out at the worst possible moment: emotionally committed, exhausted, and with no runway left to fix any of it.
Picture it. You’ve decided it’s finally time. A buyer comes to the table — and the business is exactly where it sits today: running on you, books that need explaining, the handshake deals, the one person who knows where everything is. Nothing got fixed, because there was never a reason to start.
So here’s how it tends to go:
You take the six-figure haircut, because there’s no runway left to fix what they find.
Or the deal drags for months and dies in diligence — and you’re right back to running the business you wanted out of.
Or you sell anyway, then spend the next year chained to an earn-out or a training tail — still not actually free.
The owners who walk away clean — at their number, on their terms — didn’t get lucky. They started two years early. This is day one of that.
That’s the entire point of the Sellability Score. I hand you the exact read a buyer would use to renegotiate — in priority order, with the fixes — while every option is still on the table. Fix it now, and you’re not hoping the deal survives diligence. You’re the seller whose business sails through it. And it costs you nothing.
I personally review your business, your website, and your public reviews — the same things a buyer digs into before they make an offer. This isn’t an automated quiz that spits out a number.
You get a personal recording where I walk through what a buyer would flag, what those things quietly cost you at the negotiating table, and the order I’d fix them in.
Most owners find out what buyers really think during due diligence — when it’s too late and too expensive to fix. This is that feedback, years before you list.
She spent years making the business run without her — documented, clean books, the team owning the customer relationships. Then she went to market with no broker. Here’s how it went, in her words:
“All you had to do was pluck me out… it was a finely tuned machine.”
“I got my asking price, which I was amazed.”
— An auto-repair shop owner who sold at full asking price, no broker (2024)
“Business owners need this so badly,” she told me. “99% of them don’t have a clue.” The difference between her sale and the ones that fall apart in diligence wasn’t luck — it was the work, done early and on purpose. The Sellability Score is where that starts.
“Every Sellability Score is me personally going through your business and recording a real walkthrough. I cap it at five a week so each one actually gets my full attention.”
So there’s no pressure and no obligation on your end — but I read and record every one myself. If this week’s five are already spoken for when yours comes in, you go on the waitlist in the order received, and I’ll get to yours as soon as a slot opens.
Request Your ScoreThe Score is sharpest for founder-led businesses at a certain size and stage. If this sounds like you, you’re exactly who it’s for:
If you’re under $1M or just getting going, there’s no need to fill out the whole Score. Tell me where to send The Head Start Guide — seven moves that make a small business sellable, years before you sell it. It’s free.
The more honest you are here, the more useful your video will be. Everything you share is private — it goes straight to me and no one else. Takes about 8–10 minutes.
The operator you hire before the broker.
I’ve been on the buyer’s side of the table. I know exactly what makes an experienced buyer lean in — and what makes them quietly knock six figures off their offer. The Sellability Score is me handing you that read while you still have time to do something about it.
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