The report tells you where you stand.
The briefing tells you what to do about it.
Understanding the structural risks in your business is necessary. Understanding what they mean for your specific situation — and what to address first, in what order, and why — requires a conversation.
For owners who are serious about preparing. Not for those who want reassurance.
Diagnostic reviewed and delivered within 1–3 hours. Briefing scheduled at a time that suits you.
A report without a conversation is incomplete information
Consider what you would do with year-end accounts from your accountant. You would not simply file them and move on. You would sit down, ask what the numbers mean, discuss the implications, and agree what to do next. The accounts inform the conversation. They do not replace it.
The same logic applies here — and the decision you are preparing for carries considerably more commercial weight than a tax return.
An exit is one of the most consequential financial events in a founder's career. The diagnostic gives you a structured, evidenced picture of where your business stands across five structural lenses. What it cannot do is interpret that picture in the context of your specific situation: your timeline, your sector, your likely buyer profile, and the sequence of changes that would actually move the needle given where you are now.
That interpretation is the purpose of the 90-minute private briefing.
What happens in the briefing
This is not a presentation of the report. It is a working session.
Matthew reviews your diagnostic findings before you meet. The session begins where the report ends — with the implications, not the scores.
The conversation is specific to your business. Where the questionnaire surfaces patterns, the briefing interrogates the context behind them.
You leave with a clear view of which structural issues carry the most commercial weight and what the realistic sequence of remediation looks like given your exit timeline.
If there are dependencies, blind spots or contradictions in the findings that require direct discussion to surface, that is where they surface.
The questions that do not fit in a questionnaire
Owners who complete the full diagnostic and briefing consistently identify things the written report could not surface alone.
Which structural risks a buyer would weight most heavily in your specific transaction — not the general case, but your case.
Where your instincts about the business diverge from how it would be read under diligence conditions.
Which relationships, informal processes or dependencies a buyer's advisors would surface that the questionnaire alone cannot.
The realistic sequence of changes that would move your regime — not a list of everything that could be improved, but the specific changes that carry the most weight given your timeline.
What your exit timeline actually allows for, given the structural position the diagnostic reveals.
The perspective that informs the briefing
Matthew Broadbent has spent thirty years inside businesses and transactions — as Chartered Accountant, as Managing Director, as Chief Executive, and as a fund manager investing government capital into SME acquisitions.
Trained at Deloitte and operating across more than fifty transactions, he has sat on both sides of the table: as the adviser running the analysis, as the executive being scrutinised, and as the investor deciding whether to proceed and at what price.
He knows how buyers underwrite risk. He knows where advisers find the discount. He knows what ends up in the report. That is the lens the briefing applies to your findings.
He has also been where you are. In his thirties, he received an offer for his own business — and nearly missed it for exactly the structural reasons this diagnostic tests. Owner dependence. Operational systems built around one person. Relationships that sat in the wrong place for a buyer. That experience is the foundation of what the briefing is designed to do.
“One of a rare breed who demonstrates not only a high level of financial expertise, but also a high degree of business acumen. He translates the financial aspects of running a business to both the strategic and tactical needs of the organisation. He consistently shows a great deal of insight and commitment.”
“Hard-won through years in boardrooms, high-stakes meetings, late-night document reviews, reading people acutely, and skilfully navigating conversations to uncover the truth. Time spent in Matthew's company is always an investment.”
“Robust financial analysis of investment opportunities, helpful strategic input, absolute integrity.”
The complete diagnostic
The written report and the private briefing are designed to work together. Neither is a reduced version of the other.
- Full five-lens written Saleability Diagnostic
- Composite score and Saleability Confidence Index
- Regime classification with supporting analysis across all five lenses
- Top three buyer-priced structural risks, with supporting evidence
- Prioritised remediation roadmap, sequenced by impact not difficulty
- 90-minute private briefing with Matthew Broadbent
- Contextual analysis of your specific situation — not the general case
- Clear action pathway tailored to your exit timeline and objectives
- Owner Dependence answers carried forward automatically if you have completed the free score
For owners who are ready to see the full picture
The diagnostic is completed first. Matthew reviews the findings before your session. The briefing is then scheduled at a time that suits you. You leave with a clear, structured view of where you stand and what to address — in the right order, for your specific situation.
£2,500 + VAT · One-off payment · Report reviewed and delivered within 1–3 hours
Already have the Saleability Diagnostic? If you completed it within the last 30 days, you can add the Private Briefing for £2,000 + VAT — your Tier 2 fee is offset against the total.