Paul Lange

All three ways in

A self-assessment for owners raising money or borrowing

What an investor would see.

An investor isn't buying the business so much as working out whether it still earns when you're not in the room.

Answer 31 questions and see your business the way an investor would: a score out of 100, the seven things an investor reads, and the three answers they're most likely to press on. The full report adds the next six months, in order.

Allow 45 minutes to an hour, most of it looking things up.

Raising money and borrowing it are different conversations. An investor takes a share and lives with the outcome. A lender wants its money back, on time, whatever happens.

Both ask a version of the same question: what happens to the business, and to their money, if you're not there to carry it?

Their money would be in the business, and you'd still be free to leave it. The more of it that runs through you, the more they'll ask for in return, or the longer they'll wait.

The assessment reads your business the way an investor does, and shows you what they'd want fixed before they commit.

What comes back

Choose one: the full report or the summary report

Where I'd start

The full report on your business

USD $200

USD $200 until the end of 31 December 2026, UTC. From 1 January 2027, USD $500.

  • What an investor would see, and the answers that decide it
  • Where your score comes from, area by area
  • The next six months, each action in order, and what done looks like
  • Something in writing at the end of each action, the kind of paper a buyer or a bank asks to see
  • Read by Paul Lange before it is sent, within 72 hours
  • Your summary report in the meantime, on screen the moment you finish, and by email
Full report. What to do about your business. We provide IT support, cloud services, and cyber security to small businesses. IT managed services, Australia. AUD 11,000,000 of revenue in the year to June 2026, 34 people, trading since 2016. Where an investor would place you: 51.2 out of 100. A business that still depends on you.
A sample front page, for a made-up business.

Click below to pay by card or crypto (BTC or XMR). Then start the assessment. Your answers save as you go.

Buy the full report

Your summary report and score

Nothing to buy

Until the end of 31 December 2026, UTC. From 1 January 2027, USD $97.

  • Your score out of 100, and the seven readings behind it
  • The three answers somebody is most likely to press on
  • On screen the moment you finish, and emailed if you'd like
  • The full report can still be ordered from your score's page
Ready to raise? What an investor would see in your business today. Where an investor would place you: 51.2 out of 100. A business that still depends on you.
A sample front page, for a made-up business.
Start the free report

One action from a sample full report, for a made-up business

Every action in the full report is set out this way, starting from one of your answers. They're ordered across the next 30, 90 and 180 days, with the ones a buyer would mark you down for first at the front.

Action 11. Ask your bookkeeper for each month's profit and loss within two weeks of month end

Of the last 12 monthly profit and loss reports, four arrived within a month of the month ending.

What it costs you. Getting four of 12 monthly reports on time means you learn how a month went too late to act, and nobody can answer an investor's questions quickly.

What an investor expects. An investor expects monthly figures within two or three weeks of month end.

The move. Every month, even a rough one. A number you can act on beats a perfect one that arrives months later, and in the first year the habit is worth more than the accuracy.

Who does itYour bookkeeper
How longOngoing, monthly
What it costsUsually nothing extra
Done whenthree months in a row have arrived within two weeks of month end
You end up holdingTwelve months of monthly profit and loss reports you can hand over

Both take the same 31 questions and the same 45 minutes to an hour.

If it's for someone else, give them the full report as a gift.

The seven things an investor reads

Every owner answers the same 31 questions. Coming in this way, the report reads your answers as an investor would, and each of these seven comes back with a reading. The line under each is the reading you'd want, word for word as the report puts it. Move each one to where you think your business stands today, and see roughly where an investor would place you.

  1. Whether an investor can read your numbers

    An investor's accountant could check your figures in a week.

    Not set yet

  2. How solid next year's income is

    Most of next year's income is already secure.

    Not set yet

  3. Whether the earnings hold

    You can show what the business earns, and that it will last.

    Not set yet

  4. Whether it grows without you

    Growth doesn't depend on you, and the trend backs it.

    Not set yet

  5. How much of it is you

    The business runs without you, and an investor can see it.

    Not set yet

  6. What survives you leaving

    What makes the business work would survive a change of owner.

    Not set yet

  7. What exists outside people's heads

    Most of how the business works is written down.

    Not set yet

Your guess

Move any of the seven to where your business stands, and your guess appears here.

100Out of 100

A business

An investor would see a business. What's left to do is the difference between money on terms that are simply acceptable, and money on terms you are truly happy with.

  1. A job
  2. A job with staff
  3. A business that still depends on you
  4. A business with things to fix
  5. A business

Worked out on this page from where you set the seven. Nothing you set is saved or sent.

An investor won't take your word for any of these.

The 31 questions ask what they'd ask, and the report reads each of the seven from your answers. It also checks two things these can't: whether the business still makes money once you're paid properly for your work, and how much rests on your biggest customer. Either can hold the number down, whatever the seven say.

Buy the full reportStart the free report

Being straight about what it is not

It's not a valuation, it won't tell you what anyone would pay, and it's not financial, accounting, or legal advice.

It isn't an investment-readiness review or a credit assessment, and it can't tell you whether you'll be offered money or on what terms. It shows you where an investor is likely to press, so you can prepare.

It scores what you tell it, so it's only as accurate as your answers. Where you're not sure, look it up rather than guess.

Every finding in the full report starts from one of your own answers, set out under its heading, so you can see exactly where it came from.

I read every full report before it's sent. That read isn't an audit: nobody checks your answers against your records.

No self-assessment can tell you what a particular investor or lender will decide. Use it to prepare, not to predict.

The full report goes further, and nothing is held back from your summary report to sell it.

What it actually asks

31 questions about how the business really runs, plus five about the business itself, in eight parts. Allow 45 minutes to an hour, most of it looking things up.

None of it is difficult. A few of them will annoy you, and those are the ones I would pay most attention to.

What comes back is a number out of 100, the seven readings behind it, what somebody from outside is likely to notice, and the three answers they're most likely to press on. You can read it on screen the moment you finish, and have it emailed if you'd rather read it later.

Before you start

How long does it take?
Allow 45 minutes to an hour for the 31 questions, most of it finding figures. Your answers save as you go, so it doesn't have to be one sitting.
I'm borrowing, not raising. Is this for me?
Partly. A lender asks some of the same questions an investor does: what happens if you're not there, and whether the earnings hold. Those parts apply as they stand. The report reads your answers as an investor would, and it doesn't look at security, covenants, or how much you could borrow.
What should I have to hand?
Last year's revenue and your most recent accounts. If your accounts are more than two years old, or you have fewer than three months of monthly profit and loss figures, your summary report will say a buyer couldn't read the business yet, and show you what's missing, instead of giving a number.
Do I have to give you my email address?
Not to see your summary report: it's on screen the moment you finish. Leave one if you'd like it sent to you, and we'll also send you two short emails about the full report, which you can stop at any time. You can have a link back to an unfinished sitting sent to you, too. The full report is sent by email, so it needs one.
When does the full report arrive?
Within 72 hours of you finishing the questions, or of paying if you buy it after your score is on screen. It comes to your email address with a link to its own private page. If you buy it before you start, your summary report comes first, on screen the moment you finish and by email.
Is there a shorter way to start?
Yes. The short version asks 15 questions you can answer from memory, and shows you roughly where you stand on three of the seven things an investor reads, as a range rather than a score. You don't have to tell us who you are. If you go on to the 31 questions, your answers carry over, so you won't have to answer anything twice. Start the short version
What changes on 1 January 2027?
The full report goes from USD $200 to USD $500. The summary report, which has nothing to buy until then, becomes USD $97, paid before you start. If you start before then, there's nothing to buy for your summary report, whenever you finish.
Can I get my money back?
We don't refund a payment because you didn't finish the questions or changed your mind. If you're buying as a consumer and the law gives you a right to cancel, you keep it: write to us within 14 days of paying and before your report is sent, and we refund what we haven't yet provided.
What currency, and how do I pay?
US dollars, by card, or by Bitcoin or Monero.
Who sees my answers?
Your answers are yours. We do not sell them. We do use anonymised data, aggregated, to establish industry, regional and other statistics. Your report goes to you alone; anyone you give its link or code to can open it. Investability Special Terms

If you would like to know

When an investor sits down with your figures, you'll already know the three answers they're most likely to press on.

With the full report, you'll also know what to do about them: the next six months, each action in order, read by a person before it's sent. Pay by card or crypto (BTC or XMR) and start straight away.

Buy the full reportStart the free report

There's nothing to buy to see your summary report, and nobody is going to ring you about it. Your answers save as you go, and the sheet will email you a link back if you'd prefer to finish another time.

If it's for someone else, give them the full report as a gift.

If you'd rather go through it with someone, that's the work I do with the firm: Manolutions.

Before you go

See your business the way a buyer, an investor, or someone standing in for you would

Answer 15 questions and get the short report: an indicator of where your business stands today.

Show me where I stand