Internal Development

Every other number in this system inherits its credibility from this one. Undocumented variance between book profit and cash is treated by a quality-of-earnings team as risk rather than noise, and risk is priced.

Enterprise logos prove the product survives procurement, security review and multi-rooftop rollout. That is the single strongest signal to a strategic buyer that the company can be sold into their install base without rebuilding it.

NRR is the metric that most directly sets the ARR multiple. It is also the metric a buyer will diligence hardest, because it predicts what the asset is worth to them after integration.

Converts operational exhaust into a defensible data asset. Data assets attract a different multiple than software seats, and an index is the clearest way to demonstrate that the company owns signal nobody else has.

Founder dependency is priced directly into deal structure: it is what turns cash at close into earnout and multi-year employment obligations. Reducing it improves the terms even when it does not move the headline number.

A data asset a buyer cannot legally exploit post-close is worth nothing to them. This audit is what makes the data moat transferable rather than decorative.

Concentration is the most common source of valuation discount and the first thing a quality-of-earnings team quantifies. Every point of concentration removed is a point of discount removed.

Every likely buyer has a stated AI strategy. A measurable accuracy figure turns 'we use AI' into a diligence-proof capability claim, which is the difference between a product story and a technology asset.

A slow data room extends the process, and an extended process kills competitive tension. Completing it early is how the timeline stays under our control rather than the buyer's.

Cohorts are how a buyer separates durable revenue from a good year. Without them, growth is asserted; with them, it is demonstrated.

Enterprise dealer groups and strategic acquirers both run security review before they buy. Failing one costs a quarter; passing one pre-emptively removes a gate from the process.

Contracted revenue duration converts directly into revenue quality. Month-to-month revenue is discounted heavily in diligence regardless of how sticky it has been in practice.

A single unassigned contractor contribution can hold up a signing. This is cheap to fix now and expensive to discover in confirmatory diligence.

A buyer's corporate development team needs something it can show internally. Quantified customer outcomes are the artefact that travels through their organisation when we are not in the room.