How We Help
Most business owners spend years building something worth selling — and weeks realising they weren't ready to. An offer landing in your inbox isn't the start of a sale. It's the result of 12 to 18 months of preparation. Get that wrong, and an offer isn't an opportunity — it's a problem you're not equipped to handle.
We work with owner-managed businesses long before the lawyers arrive. We get the numbers clean, the story straight, and the business positioned so that when interest comes, you're ready to move — not scrambling to catch up.
When the moment does come, we become your single point of contact. One voice who knows the full picture, while the lawyers, accountants, banks and advisers all crowd the room. We manage it. We take the weight.
A Structured Journey
We're not here to win a transaction. We're here to support the owner — and their family — before, during and after the exit. Where M&A firms, corporate finance advisers and lawyers focus on the deal and disappear when it completes, we focus on the person behind it. We earn our place by understanding the business deeply, long before the process begins.
The Assessment
Before anything else, we need to know exactly where your business stands today — not where it's been, not where it's headed, but its true condition right now.
We start with the shareholders. Before any work begins, we make sure everyone involved in ownership is genuinely aligned — on what they want from an exit, and on the direction they're willing to commit to together.
From there, we work through 20 questions across 8 critical business pillars — with you and the two or three people who actually make things run. No board. No org chart. Just honest input from the people who know the business best.
The output is a clear, visual roadmap — one that removes the guesswork and sets the agenda for everything that follows.
- Shareholder alignment — making sure everyone wants the same thing
- 20-question assessment across 8 critical pillars
- Involves you and the people who make things run
- Visual roadmap and prioritised action plan
- Objective, impartial third-party perspective
- Exit readiness score from day one
- Full business diagnostic report
- Prioritised action plan & roadmap
- Exit readiness score
- Results presentation & debrief
- Clear agenda for what comes next
The Implement Programme
The Implement Programme is a monthly engagement working directly on the areas the Assessment identified as highest priority. Each month, we focus on the pillars that need the most attention — building structure, reducing risk, and progressively closing the gap between where the business is today and where it needs to be for a successful exit.
Reduce risk and provide a foundation for structured growth. Address the blockers that prevent progress and create operational stability.
The organisation begins to operate with the discipline expected of a professionally managed business. Systems, governance and leadership evolve.
The business begins to resemble the type of organisation that attracts strategic acquirers. Founder dependency reduces. Value increases.
What Implement Delivers
Exit & Transaction Support
Exit is the most emotional, tiring and stressful phase of a founder's journey. Having planned and prepared makes an enormous difference — but it still requires someone firmly in your corner throughout. That's us.
We sit with the owner — not the deal. We share experience, explain what's happening, support difficult decisions, and keep the founder's interests front and centre at every stage.
In an anonymised capacity, we identify and approach potential acquirers, create buyer tension, and negotiate price and earnout terms to achieve the best possible outcome.
We coordinate legal, financial and tax advisers — many of whom the founder is meeting for the first time — acting as the single point of contact so the founder can focus on running the business.
Post-Exit Founder Coaching
Much of the groundwork for post-exit life begins before the sale completes. But the initial period of handover, integration and team communication is a critical phase that is often underestimated. We stay with the founder through it.
The six months following a sale bring a unique set of challenges — managing staff announcements, navigating earnout obligations, and adjusting to a life without the day-to-day identity of the business. We're alongside you through all of it.
- Handover and integration support
- Staff communication and team transition
- Earnout period coaching and accountability
- Identity, purpose and what comes next
- Founder coaching for the first 6 months post-sale
Why Project August?
We integrate what the market currently fragments — the only lifecycle advisory partner that combines assessment, implementation, exit support, and post-exit coaching under one roof.
| Service | Project August | Business Broker | M&A Adviser | Accountant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment (20-point) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Monthly Implementation Programme | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| The Circle (Peer Support Network) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Exit Preparation & Due Diligence | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Post-Exit Founder Coaching | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Lived Founder Exit Experience | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Integrated Financial Planning Partners | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
"In one session you managed to give us laser-like feedback and clarity on where to focus our efforts for a genuine exit strategy." — Owner, Research Business
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