Every business is made of the same 36 elements.
The FNDRS Elements framework names the 36 factors, in seven families, that move what a business is worth, how easily it transfers, and how much of the proceeds the owner keeps. Industry and size set the market's base multiple; the elements govern the adjustment a sophisticated buyer applies to that base.
The FNDRS Elements, in one film
Everything that makes up the value of a business, on one table
Nick walks the table: 36 elements in seven families, read left to right in the order value is created, and where an owner should begin.
01 · THE TABLE
36 elements, seven families
Each element is one thing about your business that a buyer looks at and forms a view on. Each family groups related things that tend to rise and fall together.
02 · THE ORDER
Read it left to right
The left side is where value starts, and each step to the right builds on what is to its left.
03 · THE START
Begin on the left
The order tells you where to begin, and why fixing something on the right rarely sticks while the left is weak.
The idea
What makes up the value of a business?
The value of a business is its earnings times a multiple: industry and size set the market's base multiple, and the 36 elements govern the adjustment a buyer applies to it. Each element is one specific, measurable thing. We named them, we score them, and we work on them in order.
Seven families
What each family does to the number
The table
The 36 elements
Select an element to read its definition, the compounds it forms, and where in the journey it is addressed.
Select an element
Pick a tile in the table, or a block in the landscape above, to read its definition, the compounds it forms, and where in the journey it is addressed. Every entry has a page of its own, or let the reel land on one.
Sample scores shown for Acme Industrial. Sample scores, not a client. Your own assay comes from the exit score and the valuation.
Element by element
Hear the elements explained
FNDRS Faculty explain each element of the FNDRS Elements framework: what it is, what it means to a buyer, and where an owner starts. Choose a tile to watch it here: 18 of the 36 have a session of their own so far, and the rest play their part of their family's film.
Troy HoffmanTime
Compounds
Which elements do buyers price together?
Buyers rarely price one element on its own: they underwrite six compounds, such as Quality of Revenue, where recurring revenue proves income repeats and retention proves it stays.
Quality of Revenue
The compound buyers underwrite first. Recurring Revenue proves income repeats; Retention proves it stays.
Margin Engine
Pricing power held at the gross-margin line. Growth without it is volume, not value.
Transferable Company
Runs the same on day one under new ownership. Procedures, seats, and evidence all written down.
Founder Gravity
A risk compound. Everything pulls toward one or two people; buyers discount the multiple until it dissolves.
Diligence-Ready
Nothing surfaces in diligence that was not already disclosed. Closes faster, at the agreed price.
The lifecycle
Addressed in order
Build the business. Scale the value. Engineer the exit. Secure the wealth. Every element has a stage where it gets worked, and the FNDRS process is that order.
01
Build
Build the right foundation
Establish a company capable of becoming valuable rather than merely producing founder income. Baseline valuation, health check, constraint inventory, and the first roadmap.
Discovery, valuation, and analysis in the FNDRS process02
Scale
Scale with intention
Grow revenue, profit, capacity, and capability without adding fragility or owner dependence. The earnings engine and the multiple, worked in order of dollar impact.
Rework and scale in the FNDRS process03
Sell
Maximize value and optionality
Prepare, position, market, negotiate, and transact so the outcome is the best risk-adjusted one for the owner. Or hold, from a position of strength.
Go to market and the M&A process04
Secure
Protect and grow for generations
Convert concentrated business equity into an intentional personal balance sheet: tax, estate, insurance, investment, and the life after. FNDRS helps you plan it with outside tax, estate, and wealth advisors and gives no wealth advice.
Post-exit planning
The assay
How are the elements scored?
Every element is assayed from zero to one hundred against what a sophisticated buyer expects at close, and re-run every quarter. Sample assay: Acme Industrial, readiness 47 today against a target of 75.
Sample data Sample scores, not a client. Your own assay comes from the exit score and the valuation.
- Critical gap
- 0 to 24
- Leaking value
- 25 to 49
- Developing
- 50 to 74
- Strong
- 75 to 100
- Risk elements are scored as control: higher is safer.
- Inputs are recorded, not targeted.
- Outcomes are derived from their feeding families.
Zero to one hundred, twice
Every element carries two scores: where the business is today and where it needs to be to fund the owner’s number. The gap between them is the work.
Risk is scored as control
Owner dependence, documentation debt, customer concentration, key-person risk, legal and compliance, and tech debt are scored so that higher is safer. The landscape only ever rises.
Readiness is the average
Enterprise readiness is the mean of the thirty-two non-input elements. Inputs are what you start with, so they are shown but not averaged.
Height is the score
On the landscape each block’s height is its score. Morph from today to target and you can see which families do the lifting.
The six pillars
Six things every buyer measures
The 36 elements of the FNDRS Elements framework roll up into six pillars, each scored from zero to one hundred.
The elements and the valuation
How the table meets the number
Your industry and your size set the market's base multiple; neither is something you can change, so neither gets a tile. The 36 elements are the part of value you can change: they govern the adjustment a sophisticated buyer applies to that base, whether the deal survives diligence, and how much of the price you keep.
Where the elements land
- Measured
- 16
- Tracked
- 14
- Priced by buyers
- 6
- MeasuredRead by the FNDRS valuation. The score moves the multiple.
- TrackedFNDRS records the signals. They inform the report and never move the price on their own.
- Priced by buyersOutside the valuation model. Buyers, diligence, and deal structure set its effect.
Find out what your business is made of
The exit score is the first assay: fifteen minutes, six pillars, and a first read on the elements that matter most.