Sample ORR Issue Map
Illustrative only. Not based on an actual client.
Example company
- Industry: specialty industrial services
- Age: 27 years
- Ownership: founder-led
- Revenue: assumed $4M–$8M range
- Situation: owner is not actively selling but wants to understand what would come up if a buyer, lender, or successor reviewed the company.
High-level outside-party read
The business appears established, niche, and relationship-driven. That can be valuable. The main readiness question is whether the company’s earnings and customer relationships are transferable without the founder driving every key relationship or decision.
Likely questions a buyer/lender/successor would ask
| Area | Outside-party question | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Owner dependence | What decisions, customer relationships, and technical knowledge still run through the owner? | High owner dependence can reduce value or make transition riskier. |
| Revenue concentration | How much revenue comes from the top 5 customers? | Concentration can make earnings less reliable. |
| Management depth | Who can run sales, operations, and finance if the owner steps back? | Weak bench strength creates handoff risk. |
| Process documentation | Are estimating, service delivery, vendor management, and customer handoffs documented? | Undocumented know-how is harder to transfer. |
| Earnings quality | Are owner add-backs and discretionary expenses cleanly supportable? | Weak support reduces buyer/lender confidence. |
| Growth story | Is growth repeatable or mostly relationship/referral-driven? | Buyers pay more for repeatable systems than heroic owner effort. |
- The company may be more owner-dependent than it feels internally.
Day-to-day stability does not prove transferability. If the owner still holds the key relationships, pricing judgment, vendor history, or technical problem-solving, an outside party may discount the business.
- The value story may not be documented enough.
Buyers/lenders need evidence: customer history, margin trends, repeat/referred work, backlog, contracts, normalized earnings, and process consistency.
- The handoff plan may be unclear.
If the next layer of leadership is informal, buyers may worry that results decline after transition.
What appears to help value
- Long operating history.
- Specialized niche.
- Repeat customer base.
- Founder reputation.
- Technical/process know-how.
- Potential to professionalize and reduce owner-dependence.
What may reduce confidence in the number
- Revenue/customer concentration.
- Informal sales process.
- Owner-centered relationships.
- Weak documentation.
- Unclear management succession.
- Adjusted earnings not cleanly supported.
First 30/60/90-day cleanup priorities
First 30 days
- Build top-customer concentration table.
- Document owner’s recurring responsibilities.
- Gather 3 years of clean financial statements.
- List owner add-backs and supporting evidence.
- Identify which customer/vendor relationships depend personally on the owner.
Days 31–60
- Create a one-page management/responsibility map.
- Document core operating processes.
- Build a simple recurring/repeat-revenue summary.
- Identify 3–5 roles/tasks to delegate away from the owner.
Days 61–90
- Create buyer/lender question packet.
- Build first version of transition plan.
- Reduce one measurable owner-dependence risk.
- Prepare normalized earnings support.
- Decide whether formal valuation, readiness sprint, or transaction prep is the next step.
Practical conclusion
This example company may be valuable, but the value is not just in revenue/earnings. The readiness question is whether an outside party can trust that the business transfers cleanly. The first priority is to turn owner-held knowledge and relationships into documented, transferable business value.