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* First Name

* Last Name

* Work Email

Work/Mobile Phone Number

* Company Name

Company Website URL

Industry

1. What is the legal entity of your business?

Limited Liability Company

C Corporation

S Corporation

Partnership

Sole Proprietorship

Other

2. In one sentence, how would you describe your business to a new acquaintance (i.e. what does your company do?)

3. Would you say that your industry is:

In decline (shrinking)

Growing at about the rate of the economy

Growing a little faster than the economy

Growing much faster than the economy

Unsure

4. Which of these best describes your knowledge of a merger, acquisition, or spinoff?

I have no idea what is required to go through a merger or acquisition of a business

I have some idea of the documents I need, but I’m not sure which ones

I’m aware of what documents need to be prepared and how the process is meant to work

I’m aware of the documents I need and am familiar with the process

5. Which of these best describes how your business plan and strategy are documented?

The business plan and strategy are not documented

A business plan was developed a few years ago, but has not been updated in a few years

A simplified business plan is updated at least annually

A detailed business plan is updated at least annually. It covers all aspects of the business and incorporates market trends and insights, outputs from financial forecasts, and pricing, marketing and funding strategies.

6. What approach do you take to forecast the financial results of your business?

No formal forecasts are made.

Financial forecasts have only recently been implemented, or the last forecasts were developed more than 12 months ago.

Financial forecasts have been developed at least annually for the last 3 years and are based on historical trends.

Financial forecasts have been developed at least annually for the last 3 years and are based on a robust analysis of our market, including projections based on operational metrics, EBITDA and by business unit and product.

7. Do you have documentation identifying all the intellectual property assets held or utilized by the company?

No, there is no formal documentation.

Yes, there is documentation, but is incomplete and out of date.

Yes, we have documentation listing all patents, copyrights, trademarks, web domains, and trade secrets held.

Same as above, but with additional information including date acquired, carrying value, jurisdictions in which regulatory protection is held, and expiry date of regulatory protection for each IP asset.

8. What is the quality of your documentation, accounting and reporting of your tangible assets (buildings, equipment, etc.)?

We do not have an asset register or a central repository of asset records.

We have documentation and can generate an asset register.

We have an asset register and report at least annually using both tax and accounting asset register. We can generate key metrics like historical cost, residual value, depreciation rate, useful life, etc.

Same as above and perform regular stock takes of the fixed asset register and report monthly.

9. How is your company and client information stored? Do you have your own servers? Cloud storage? If your company utilizes cloud storage, which company provides it?

10. Are all company personnel trained in their cybersecurity roles and responsibilities, and is refreshment training provided for:

-Users
-Privileged Users
-Management and Executives
-Third Parties (e.g. outside vendors, suppliers)

Yes, and initial and refreshment training is tracked

Partial

Little to None

11. Which of the following best describes the exclusivity of your business to your customers:

We sell a commodity product/service that our customers can get from many other suppliers.

We sell a product/service that our customers can get from a few other suppliers.

We have a niche product/service that is unique in the marketplace so our customers would have to work hard to find another supplier of what we sell.

We have a monopoly on the service/product we sell.

Unsure

12. Thinking about the market share for the products / services that you sell, do you sell to:

Most of the people who buy what you provide (more than 90% market share).

More than half of the people who buy what you provide (more than 50% market share).

Less than half of the people who buy what you provide (less than 50% market share).

A very small proportion of the people who buy what you provide (less than 10% market share).

Unsure

13. Which of the following best describes the typical level of customization which you offer your customers?

We offer a complete custom solution to meet the unique needs of each customer we serve.

We have a basic set of products, methodologies and services, but we often customize them a lot for customers.

We have a standard set of products, services and methodologies that we tweak slightly for some customers.

We do not customize our products, services or methodologies for individual customers.

Unsure

14. Please estimate the percentage of your customers who are VERY SATISFIED with the services/products which your company provides:

Less than 25% of our customers are “very satisfied”.

25%-50% of our customers are “very satisfied”.

51-75% of our customers are “very satisfied”.

More than 75% of our customers are very satisfied

I’m not sure - we don’t measure customer satisfaction.

15. Which of the following best describes your business model?

Our net profit margin goes down with each new customer who buys from us.

Our net profit margin stays about the same with each new customer who buys from us.

Our net profit margin improves a little, the more customers buy.

Our net profit margin improves a lot with each new customer who buys from us.

Unsure

16. How do you typically get paid by your customers?

100% billed after the customer receives what they have purchased.

An upfront deposit, followed by the full balance after the customer receives what was bought.

Spread equally over the time it takes us to deliver what the customer bought.

100% billed when the customer agrees to buy.

Unsure

17. What percentage of your sales/revenue (i.e. turnover) is “recurring”? Recurring is defined as subscriptions, maintenance contracts, or annuity streams that your customer must proactively turn off or cancel in order to stop receiving the product or service.

None

1-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%

Unsure

18. In the next 12 months, do you expect your revenue (i.e. sales / turnover) to:

Decrease

Remain at its current level

Increase by up to 10%

Increase by between 11 and 20%

Increase by 21-30%

Increase by more than 30%

Unsure

19. Which of the following best describes the possibility of your company selling more to your existing customers?

Our customers are pretty much tapped out - we already sell them everything they need when it comes to our products/services .

There are one or two complementary products or services we could be selling to our existing customers.

There are a reasonable amount of other products and services we could be selling to our existing customers.

There are lots of other complementary products and/or services we could be selling to our existing customers.

Unsure

20. If you could achieve just ONE of the following goals in the next 12 months, which one would it be?

Grow your top-line revenue (i.e., sales).

Grow your bottom-line profit.

Enhance your company reputation.

21. Which of the following best describes your long-term goal for your business? I plan to:

Sell my business to a third party

Transition my business to my kids

Transition my business to the next generation of managers

Shut down my business

Not exiting in the foreseeable future

Other

22. Why is your company acquiring?

Improve the target company’s performance.

Consolidate to remove excess capacity from industry.

Get skills or technologies faster or at lower cost than they can be built.

Accelerate market access for the target’s (or buyer’s) products.

Exploit a business’s industry-specific scalability.

Pick winners early and help them develop their businesses.

Other

Not Sure

23. Is there agreement among the Executive Team and/or Business Owners on why the company is acquiring?

Yes

No

Not sure

24. What was your profit margin (before tax) in your most recent completed financial year?

Note: Please adjust your profit margin to reflect a market rate salary for the owner(s). For example, if you withdrew $350,000 in compensation but you could hire someone to replace you for $120,000, then estimate what your profit margin would have been if you had only withdrawn $120,000.

We lost money.

0-10%

11-20%

More than 20%

Unsure

25. What was your company’s annual revenue (i.e. sales / turnover) in US DOLLARS last year?

Less than $100,000

$100,000 - $499,999

$500,000 - $999,999

$1,000,000 - $2,999,999

$3,000,000 - $4,999,999

$5,000,000 - $9,999,999

$10,000,000 - $19,999,999

$20,000,000+

26. When comparing your most recently completed financial year with the previous year, did your revenue (i.e. sales / turnover):

Decrease

Remain at its current level

Increase by up to 10%

Increase by between 11 and 20%

Increase by 21-30%

Increase by more than 30%

Unsure

27. How much money can you borrow today without collateral being required?

28. What results has your executive team achieved performing business process integration?

We have not performed any process integration activities in the last few years

We have done few process integration activities in the last few years with mixed results

We have done some process integration activities in the last few years with mixed results

The majority of our business process integration activities have been successful

We have a team that that excels at business process integration activities on a regular basis

29. How much experience does your executive team have performing technology or information system/platform integration?

We have not performed any technology or information system/platform integration activities in the last few years

We have done few technology or information system/platform integration activities in the last few years with mixed results

We have done some technology or information system/platform integration activities in the last few years with mixed results

The majority of our technology or information system/platform integration activities in the last few years activities have been successful

We have a team that that excels at technology or information system/platform integration activities on a regular basis

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