The BASE Check: Where does your company stand, and what is it worth?
An honest assessment is the starting point for every strategic roadmap, whether you want to sell, raise capital or simply find out how much value is still being left on the table.
Get the best out of your company, or leave value on the table?
Every ascent begins with an honest assessment of where you stand. The BASE Check shows where your company stands today, how attractive it is to buyers and investors, and which route leads most reliably to the summit.
Where you stand
Where you are today and what your company is worth.
Summit picture
The target picture and the strategic architecture to get there.
Ascent plan
The route plan: the right team, the right board.
Summit and handover
Handing over at the high point, to the right partner at the right time.
Four occasions, one question: Where does your company stand?
The BASE Check is not a sale appraisal. It answers the questions that come before every major decision, whether you want to sell, hand over or keep growing.
M&A transactions: sale and financing
- Transaction-ready?
- How to prepare?
- Who are the target buyers or ideal investors?
Plan and execute succession
- How ready is the company for handover?
- Family, management or external solution?
- What needs to happen before the handover?
Review and prioritize your portfolio
- Valuation of the assets and their transaction readiness
- Which assets can be developed, and how?
Value and evaluate strategically
- Input for brand positioning
- Opportunities to scale
- Input for the company development strategy
After the BASE Check, you know where you stand.
You understand how attractive your company is to the market.
You know how far your company is from your goal.
You see how to increase the company value.
You have a concrete route plan to your goal.
What we assess, how we proceed, what you get
We look at your company the way an experienced entrepreneur, buyer or investor would: the offering, its execution and the environment. If a transaction is on the table, we also check the readiness of those involved.
Is the idea sound?
- Does it solve a relevant problem?
- Does the solution have a USP?
- Is there a sustainable secret sauce?
- Is there a business model that makes money?
How is the idea executed?
For succession or strategy planning this part does not apply. What we check depends on your goal.
Approach
Depending on the depth you need, see packages:
- Desktop research in public sources and databases
- Workshops with the company
- Interviews with market participants
What the BASE Check delivers
- Status assessment
- Recommendations to increase value
- Input for the roadmap, for transactions for example the equity story
An honest assessment and the most promising route to your goal
Goal
Where should your company go: sale, financing, succession or the next growth stage?
Status
Where it stands today: offering, execution, environment and company value, for transactions also readiness.
Roadmap
The steps from status to goal: which ones increase the company value the most, what they cost and when each milestone is reached.
Four answers at a glance
Based on a mid-sized industrial services company: about €28m revenue, €3.1m EBITDA, owner-managed, succession planned in three to five years.
Illustrative example, all figures chosen freely
How attractive is the company compared with an average competitor?
Five dimensions, 26 criteria, each on a scale from −2 to +2. Zero stands for an average competitor in the segment. This shows where the strengths lie and where buyers would apply discounts.
Solid base
Strongest levers
Market position in a niche with high entry barriers and loyal core customers.
Biggest gaps
Dependence on the owner, little recurring revenue and reporting that no buyer would accept unchecked.
What is the company worth today, and how much more would be possible?
We value the company with several recognized methods and lay the results side by side as ranges. Only the comparison shows where the realistic negotiation range lies and what value a strategic buyer sees.
Which steps increase the value the most, and what do they cost?
The Development Roadmap translates the gaps from the scorecard into stages. Each stage pays off on its own, can be stopped individually and makes the company interesting to a further group of buyers or investors.
- Strong customer base, owner carries sales
- Reporting only for the bank
- Second management level, owner relieved
- Monthly reporting, integrated planning
- Pricing discipline in the service business
- Maintenance contracts: 30% recurring
- Sales extended across DACH
- Processes digitized, AI in the offering
- Add-on acquisition integrated
- Independent management
- Data room and equity story ready
How ready are the company and its shareholders for a transaction?
Only if the goal is a sale, financing or an external succession. An attractive company loses value if it cannot be presented. We check what a buyer or investor wants to see first, and what has to be done beforehand.
Equity storyPartial
Clear niche and customer base; the story for the time after the owner is still missing.
Financial modelOpen
Historical figures available, but no integrated plan; outlook not reliable.
DocumentsPartial
Presentation material outdated; open issues with contracts and IP to be cleared before the process.
Data roomOpen
Not set up yet; documents scattered and partly on paper only.
ShareholdersReady
Family goals aligned, time frame and the owner's role clarified.
As deep as your decision requires
The BASE Check can be tailored individually and in the depth you need, from a quick outside view to an in-depth analysis with a market survey.
Basic
- Desktop research from public sources and databases
- BASE Scorecard from the outside view
- First estimate of the company value
- Workshop with the company: not included
- Survey of market participants: not included
Standard
- Everything in Basic
- Workshops with owners and management
- Company valuation with valuation ranges
- Development Roadmap with investments and value gain
- Survey of market participants: not included
In-depth analysis
- Everything in Standard
- Interviews with customers, competitors and investors
- For transactions: options for the equity story and a check of transaction readiness
- Recommendations for value growth and preparation
Available for individual companies or as a portfolio analysis for shareholders and investors.
Board Advisors is a partnership and a network of (former) entrepreneurs who have built, grown and sold companies. With the aim of creating value and rewarding entrepreneurship, we use our experience to scale companies and to support our clients in their M&A transactions.
In the BASE Check, AI covers the breadth: market data, transactions, competitors. Our partners bring the depth: different experience at the table, so that blind spots become visible.
What entrepreneurs want to know before the BASE Check
Do I have to want to sell?
No. The BASE Check is an assessment of where you stand. Many entrepreneurs use it to sharpen their strategy, prepare financing or simply to know where their company stands. Whether and when a transaction follows is your decision.
Which documents do you need from us?
For the Basic package, none: we work exclusively with public sources. From Standard onwards, annual accounts, planning and a workshop with you and your management help. We agree what exactly in the intro call.
How confidential is the BASE Check?
Completely. We only conduct interviews with market participants in the in-depth analysis and only with your approval, without naming your company.
How reliable is the valuation?
The valuation shows ranges, not a single point value: each method delivers a range, and we state openly which assumptions are behind it. It does not replace a formal appraisal, but it gives you a realistic idea of what the market would pay.
What happens after the BASE Check?
You receive the scorecard, valuation, roadmap and recommendations. On that basis you can continue on your own or bring us in as a partner for value growth, financing or a transaction.
Where does your company stand?
In a no-obligation intro call, we clarify which depth of the BASE Check fits your situation.
Book an intro call