Scale · Chapter 9 · AI Launch Pad
Prepare My Exit
This Launch Pad takes you through the complete exit preparation process, whether you are keeping, selling, or closing: a rough valuation, a buyer profile, a dependency test, a trigger count, and a recommendation you can defend.
Bring to the session
- Your business financials (annual revenue, monthly profit, EBITDA if known)
- Your Owner Dependency Score from Chapter 1
- A description of your market conditions (growing, stable, shrinking)
- Your personal goals for the next three years
- Your honest emotional state about the business
What you walk away with
- Your Napkin Valuation, a rough but honest number based on your actual financials - Your Buyer Profile, who would buy your business and what they would pay for it - Your Clockwork Test assessment, can the business run without you, and what would break - Your Exit Decision Trigger count, how many of the 6 triggers are currently active, with an honest assessment of whether the signal is real or noise - An exit recommendation (keep, sell, or close) with reasoning based on all of the above - For the SELL path: an Adjusted EBITDA calculation and preliminary valuation range - A preparation timeline with milestones for your chosen path - A draft confidential teaser (if selling) - A post-exit transition plan (what comes next)
The AI does the arithmetic. You make the decision. It can calculate a multiple and count triggers. It cannot sit with the question "is this over?" at your kitchen table. That is your job.
The guided version opens with The Builder's Desk
A 5-step guided session that structures the work, saves your outputs, and connects them across chapters. Until then, the full briefing is in your copy of the book — it works with any capable AI assistant.