Readiness assessment
An operator’s review of the company the way a buyer will see it: financials, people, customers, systems and risks, with a prioritized plan to close the gaps.
Consulting & transaction readiness
Prepare your company for the transaction you want
Practical, operator-led work that helps owners strengthen the business, organize the numbers and tell a credible growth story before they talk with buyers.
Why readiness matters
Value is usually won or lost before the first buyer call
Diligence will find every soft spot in a business. The question is whether you find it first, on your own timeline, or a buyer finds it during exclusivity, when it costs you leverage. Preparation gives you more control over timing, terms and the story buyers hear.
Oak Stream’s consulting work draws on the same toolkit Ryan Addis has used as a CEO, COO and operating partner, and as a buyer evaluating thousands of companies.
It is also different from a banker’s sale process. Investment bankers typically market a business as it is; readiness work focuses on strategy and operating fixes that can improve the business, and the story, before buyers see it.
The transaction readiness checklist
Services
How we help
Financial normalization
Organizing monthly closes, add-back schedules, revenue detail and working-capital history, coordinated with your CPA ahead of a quality-of-earnings review.
KPI dashboards and reporting
A one-page monthly dashboard and department-level KPIs that show what drives performance and where to act.
Integrated strategic plan
A plan that links strategy to initiatives, roles and incentives, so the growth story buyers hear is already underway.
Management and succession
Organizational design, role scorecards, a skills inventory and a credible plan for the owner’s transition.
Data room and diligence prep
Building the document set and answers buyers will ask for, before an LOI, using a diligence and M&A checklist refined over many transactions.
Pre-sale value creation
Pricing, distribution, process and customer-experience improvements that can show up in results before a sale.
Interim leadership
Interim executive support during a transition, drawing on prior roles as CEO, President, COO and operating partner.
Methodology
The integrated strategic plan
Strategy only matters if the whole organization executes it. Ryan’s integrated plan links a small number of strategic choices to the dashboard, the initiatives, every role and a monthly rhythm of accountability.
Strategic map
Maintain the core (values, the right people, what the team can be best at, and the metric that drives the economic model) and confront the brutal facts with an honest SWOT and market analysis. Each move faces one test: does it create a sustainable competitive advantage?
Dashboard
A one-page monthly view of the few numbers that matter, highlighting where leadership needs to pay attention now.
Department KPIs
Health diagnostics for every function, each with an owner and a target.
Key initiatives
A short list of cross-functional changes, defined in SMART terms, with owners and timelines.
Cascading communication
Quarterly strategy sessions, monthly operating reviews, regular project meetings and weekly department huddles. Ideas flow up as well as down, so change is co-created, not handed down from an ivory tower.
Engineered roles
Every role has a scorecard whose metrics, behaviors and incentives tie back to the plan, supported by a skills inventory.
Monthly accountability
Targets and actuals side by side. Leaders review performance to plan each month, spot deviations early and adjust.
Holding-company controls
Finance, analytics, project management, HR and strategy share clear control points, so the plan holds as the company grows or adds acquisitions.
The toolbox
Thirty-plus management tools, refined over many years
Alongside the plan, Ryan maintains a working toolbox of best practices in organizational management and execution, which we use in readiness work, diligence and post-closing value creation.
Who it is for
Owners one to three years from a transaction
- Founders planning a sale, recapitalization or succession
- Owners who want to reduce their day-to-day role first
- Companies preparing for a sell-side quality-of-earnings review
- Leadership teams that need a plan everyone can execute
- Buyers and investors who want an operator’s view of a target
How engagements work
Scoped, practical, confidential
Engagements start with a conversation and a readiness assessment, then focus on the few areas that matter most for your goals. We coordinate with your attorney, CPA and other advisors rather than replacing them.
Oak Stream Partners is not a broker-dealer, investment bank or investment adviser and does not provide legal, tax, accounting or securities advice, or act as a sell-side agent. Where relevant, if a potential conflict exists, we disclose it up front.
Confidential conversation
Want an operator’s view of your company?
Start with a confidential conversation about your goals and timeline. We will tell you candidly what a buyer is likely to see.
- Call(478) 276-4431
- Emailacquisitions
@oakstreampartners.com - Office hoursMonday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM Central