Buyers do not only measure your company. They measure you.
See your company, and yourself, the way a buyer will. The Index measures both before they do, while there is still time to act on it. Before you sell · raise capital · hand over · take that call, know your score.
Most founders and owners discover their score at the negotiating table. Every buyer runs the same quiet calculation. And buyers now run software that reads numbers , contracts and customer lists faster than ever.
Arrive unprepared and you are negotiating with a hand the buyer or investor can already read. The answers arrive as a lower price, a longer earn out, or a deal that falls apart in exclusivity.
The Index evens the odds. It gives you a buyer's view of your company and of you, so the answers reach you while you can still change them.
One assessment, two scores.
Your company. Eight dimensions buyers and investors actually price, from the quality of your earnings to how much of the business rests on you. We show what attracts a buyer and what decides the deal. You. The part no one else measures: how attached you are, what you want next, how much control you are ready to hand over, and whether your family and team want the same thing. Assessed in a structured conversation, because the answers that matter most are the hardest to see in yourself. How the two fit together. A strong company with an owner who is not ready fails in a predictable way. We show you which.
You receive a written report with both scores, the reasoning behind every finding, and the three steps that would raise your score most, discussed with a senior dealmaker.
What the Index is, and is not.
Not a valuation. A valuation estimates what you might be worth. The Index explains why a buyer would pay less, and where to start. Not a questionnaire. A questionnaire is a thermometer: it tells you what you already feel. The Index works more like a diagnostic clinic. Software reads your documents and checks them against each other while a senior dealmaker judges what they mean. Not a sales pitch. The report is yours to use with your own team or with any adviser you choose. Not a compliment. If your score is 38, we will tell you, and show you what 70 looks like.
You cannot improve what you have not measured.
The difference between an average outcome and a premium one is rarely decided in the negotiation. It is decided in the years before: in governance, in the quality of earnings, in how much rests on the owner, and in a story a buyer can believe.
The Index gives that work a starting point and a way to track it. Measure now, act on the findings, and measure again in six or twelve months to see what has moved. M&A is a transformation. It’s not just a transaction.
Built from the buyer's side of the table.
The Index draws on more than 20 years of company sales, capital raises, acquisitions and the handovers that follow them, across Europe.
It is designed for companies a buyer would rather buy than build: those with technology, a brand, know how or a market position that cannot simply be copied. From cybersecurity and insurance to healthcare, media, luxury brands, consumer safety, services, and logistics.
Your score. Your decision.
A score is the start of a conversation, not a verdict. Act on it with your own team, share it with the advisers you trust, or ask for help.
If you would like help, DoneDeal, our sister firm in corporate finance, prepares companies and their owners for a transaction and then runs it. We say so openly. Requesting an Index commits you to nothing more. Calm, clear and in control.
Built for
Founders and Owners
What you will know
- What a buyer would discount, and why
- How much of the value depends on you - What due diligence would bring to light
- Whether you are ready, and what that means for the terms you can accept
What you can do with it
- Choose your moment based on evidence: sell, raise, hand over or wait - Give your board, family and fellow shareholders one shared picture
- Give any adviser a head start
- Measure again, and show the progress
What we measure
- Your company: financial quality, growth, management and governance, customers, scalability, legal and compliance, strategic position, transaction readiness
- You: attachment and identity, plans for what comes next, control and trust, family and team alignment, the handover planFounder Psychology & Emotional Intelligence
- How the two fit togetherBusiness and Operational Literacy
Why WizeFlow
- It measures the owner as well as the company
- Designed by people who have run transactions and businesses
- Scored on evidence, with the reasoning shownDecoding the Founder Mindset
- Reviewed by a senior dealmaker, every time
Our
approach
How it works. Two to three weeks from start to finish.
01
Share
A short intake and your key documents, under a confidentiality agreement.
01
02
Talk
A structured conversation of about [90] minutes about you, your plans and the people around you.
02
03
Score
Both scores with the reasoning shown, reviewed by a senior dealmaker before you see them.
03
04
Review
We walk you through the findings and the three steps that matter most. Measure again whenever you choose.
04
Our
team
Senior people who have run businesses.
Gert Van der Linden
- Founder - Designed the Index from the buyer's side of the table. - Former CEO and COO. Advisory board roles across cybersecurity, luxury brands, services and industrial logistics - 20+ years in corporate finance and M&A
John Leggate
CBE, FREng
- Chairman - Former Group Chief Information Officer at BP and Chairman of Gresham House Energy Storage Fund - Brings the boardroom and investor view to every review.
Monique Wolvekamp
- Partner, company score
- More than 20 years in banking, accounting, corporate finance and as a CFO, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and KPMG. - Leads the company assessment.
Patricia O
- Associated Partner, founder score
- Executive coach with more than 30 years guiding owners and boards through leadership and succession. - Founder of Dare
Our strategic
advisors and ambassadors
Antony Stack
The founder's view, from several financial services companies he founded and led, with governance roles across international jurisdictions.
Martyn Porter
The governance view, from more than 20 years in executive and non-executive roles in banking. Co-founder at Carbonaires where he develops the carbon-credit investment space and environmental finance.
Peter Magnus
The investor's view, as co-founder of Hermes Europe Railtel. Fund director and serial entrepreneur.
David Gregory
The family wealth view, from more than 40 years in corporate and private banking in the UK and Monaco, including Natwest, St James's Place, Coutts, J. Safra Sarasin and EFG
Contact us
Start by knowing where you stand
Planning a sale, a raise or a handover in the next one to three years? Tell us about your company. We reply within two working days, and what you share stays confidential.
