Service
What It Is How It Works Six Focus Areas Sample Report
Your Score
What Your Score Means What You Receive
Resources
Case Studies Research & Methodology For Advisors Pricing The Market DealFax Today Founder Privacy Contact Founding Seats
Advisor-run readiness assessments

You spent years building it.
Know what a buyer will find.

DealFax scores a business against written rules and public benchmarks. The report carries the advisor's own firm name.

For Advisors: Founding Seats See a Sample Report
300 indicators, 30 dimensions, six areas
Nine public datasets
Seats from $299 a month
Sample report
2.8
/ 5.0
Conditionally Ready
Owner Dependency
Revenue Quality
Customer Health
Know before a buyer looks Six areas of operational risk Scored against written rules Seats from $299 a month
The Market
Why This Matters

2.9 million business owners over 55.

$14 trillion in business value approaching transition.

2.9M
Business owners over 55
$14T
In privately held business value
10,000
Transactions per year
70-80%
Of listed businesses don't sell
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (2022); Project Equity (2024); International Business Brokers Association Market Pulse (2024); Exit Planning Institute (2023)
What It Is
Operational Readiness

A structured assessment of the business,
scored against written rules and public benchmarks.

300 indicators. 30 dimensions. Six focus areas. Owners reach DealFax through their advisor.

Business Value Lifecycle
Where DealFax fits
BUILD ASSESS MARKET CLOSE ◆ DealFax happens here
2.8
Today
→
Ranked plan
3.5+
Target
Owner Dependency
2.2
Revenue Quality
2.6
Workforce Stability
3.2
Customer Health
3.4
The Process
How It Works

Three steps.
A report under the advisor's firm name.

1
Tell us about your business
Step 01
Advisor intake

The advisor enters the owner's answers. Benchmarks load as they go.

Guided intake
2
BENCHMARK ANALYSIS BLS · OSHA · Census BLS OSHA Licensing Census Google Reviews
Step 02
Engine scores

Written rules score every answer against Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Census Bureau benchmarks.

Live engine
3
DealFax Report 3.5 TRANSACTION-READY Contracts done SOPs complete Cloud migrated +0.7 score lift DELIVERED 5-10 days
Step 03
Branded report

Readiness score, owner readiness score, risks ranked by dollar impact, actions in priority order.

Firm-branded report
What We Assess
Six Focus Areas

Six areas of operational risk.
30 dimensions and 300 scored indicators.

Area 01 · Owner Dependency · 7 dimensions · 58 indicators
Can this business operate and grow without the owner in the room?
Decision authority
Customer relationships
Absence tolerance
Contract authority
Institutional knowledge
Vendor relationships
Business development
Area 02 · Revenue Quality · 6 dimensions · 55 indicators
Would the revenue hold if the owner stopped picking up the phone tomorrow?
Customer concentration
Revenue type mix
Contract documentation
Revenue growth vs. market
Pricing consistency
Revenue seasonality
Area 03 · Operational Systems · 5 dimensions · 50 indicators
Could a new owner run this business from what's written down?
Standard operating procedure documentation
Accounting systems
Field and operations management
Records and documentation
Technology stack
Area 04 · Workforce Stability · 5 dimensions · 47 indicators
Could a new owner walk in and know who does what, what they're paid, and who's at risk of leaving?
Turnover rate
Key person risk
Average tenure
Compensation documentation
Retention agreements
Area 05 · Customer Health · 4 dimensions · 45 indicators
If ownership changed tomorrow, how many customers would notice?
Google rating vs. market
Review volume and velocity
Customer retention
Relationship ownership
Area 06 · Succession & Management · 3 dimensions · 45 indicators
Is there a leadership layer that can make decisions without the owner?
Management depth
Transition planning
Knowledge documentation
Source: Hambrick & Cannella (1993), Graebner (2009), Cheng (2022), Dhaliwal et al. (2016), Palmatier et al. (2006)
The Stakes
What Your Score Means

Your score isn't a grade.
It's a deal outcome.

1.0–1.9 · Red
Not Ready
Buyers discount, add conditions or pass.
2.0–2.9 · Orange
Conditionally Ready
Earnouts, holdbacks and consulting terms.
3.0–3.9 · Yellow
Transaction-Ready
The asking price holds.
4.0–5.0 · Green
Premium-Ready
Competitive interest. A cleaner close.
2.8
/ 5.0

Conditionally Ready
At the table
$2.2 million at risk. Nine findings in the sample report, before anything is signed.
The buyer controls the narrative. They found the gaps. They priced them.
3.5
/ 5.0

Transaction-Ready
The same deal
The asking price holds. Documented operations leave less room for discounts.
You control the narrative. Your advisor found the gaps first.
"

Every business owner deserves to know what they've built before someone else tells them.

The DealFax Founding Principle
The Deliverable
What You Receive

A report that actually
tells you something.

Scored against written rules
30 dimensions, six areas, each out of 5.
Benchmarked to public data
Industry, geography and company size.
Every risk priced in dollars
$2.2M at stake across nine findings in the sample.
A ranked plan to fix it
Nine risks ranked by dollar impact. The largest first.
Owner readiness, assessed separately
Five factors, scored on their own.
DealFax
Sample report
Business
Summit Mech.
Revenue
$4.2M
Employees
28
Years Op.
22 yrs
2.8
/ 5.0
Business Readiness Score
Conditionally Ready
$2.2M at risk · 9 findings · Target 3.5+
Area Scores
Owner Dependency
2.2
Op. Systems
2.4
Revenue Quality
2.6
Succession
3.0
Workforce
3.2
Customer Health
3.4
Key Findings
Owner dependency - 2.2 of 5, the weakest area; first tier of the plan
Industry benchmark - revenue about $480,000 below the Northern Virginia HVAC benchmark
Pay benchmark - commercial technician pay $34 an hour, $4 below the Bureau of Labor Statistics median
See the sample report →
Pricing
2027 Launch Pricing

One seat covers every client.

Unlimited assessments and re-scores for every client, under the firm's own name.

One seat
Advisor
For one advisor
$299/mo
One seat
  • Unlimited assessments and re-scores for every client
  • Every report under the firm's own name
  • A ranked improvement plan and public benchmarks with every report
Request a founding seat
Five seats
Practice
Five seats on one plan
$599/mo
Five seats · about $120 a seat
  • Unlimited assessments and re-scores for every client
  • Every report under the firm's own name
  • A ranked improvement plan and public benchmarks with every report
Request a founding seat
Fifteen seats
Enterprise
Fifteen seats
$999/mo
Fifteen seats · about $67 a seat
  • $59 per extra seat
  • Unlimited assessments and re-scores for every client
  • Every report under the firm's own name
Request a founding seat
Per client · 2027 launch pricing
Add-ons, per client
$39 a month: monitoring
$295: benchmark range
$395: analyst review
$495: sale-ready package
2027 launch
Ten founding seats
For exit planners and accounting firms with client advisory services practices. Certified Financial Planners, brokers and attorneys follow.
10
founding seats, 2027 launch
Request a Seat
Unlimited assessments and re-scores for every client
Every report under the firm's own name
A ranked plan and public benchmarks with every report
Automated record checks: 2027
The DealFax Framework
Written rules, public data, published research
Scoring
300 indicators, written rules
An unanswered item never scores as clean.
Public Data
Nine datasets, three groups
Research
Graebner · Hambrick & Cannella · Cheng · Dhaliwal · Palmatier
The Methodology
How We Score

Nine public datasets.
Benchmarks by industry,
geography and company size.

Benchmarks live today. Automated record checks: 2027.

Business Employment Dynamics (BED)
Survival by establishment age
Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS)
Pay by role and metro
JOLTS & Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (QCEW)
Turnover and local job growth
OSHA Inspection Records
Safety citations
State Contractor Licensing Board
License status · 2027
State Corporation Commission
Entity standing and liens · 2027
Google Places
Rating, reviews, trend
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
Rating and complaints · 2027
U.S. Census Bureau (CBP & ABS)
Establishment counts and succession rates
Research & Methodology
Traction
DealFax Today

In use at James Madison University since June 2026.

April 2026
Engine live
Scoring and public benchmarks.
April 2026
Patriot Pitch
Future Founders track winner.
June 2026
James Madison University
In use in the Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition program.
October 2026
Virginia SBDC ICAP
Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program cohort.
October 2026
Focus set
Trades contractors, $1M to $5M in revenue.
October 2026
DealFax LLC
Formed in Virginia.
October 2026
JMU letter of support
More than 40 owners, buyers and apprentices.
2027
Launch
Ten founding seats. Scoring study with an outside certified public accountant.
Source: DealFax records, October 2026. Letter of support, Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship, James Madison University, October 23, 2026.
Founder
Who Built It

Built by someone who
lived the seller's side.

Khaled Alkurd built the DealFax scoring model. Since 2015 he has helped build his family's home inspection company into a 30-person, multi-state operation.

Khaled Alkurd
Founder, DealFax
Master of Science in Accounting candidate, George Mason University, 2027
Family home inspection company, 2015 to today: 30 people, multi-state
4.0 graduate GPA, accounting analytics and forensic accounting
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and Deloitte Foundation scholar
Association of Government Accountants National Datathon, first place; Case Competition World Cup, second place
Patriot Pitch Future Founders track winner, April 2026
Your Next Step
Get Started

Advisors: request a founding seat.
Owners: ask your advisor.

Ten founding seats for exit planners and accounting firms with client advisory services practices. Owners: ask your advisor, or request an introduction.

Request a Founding Seat Request an Introduction
Exactly who sees your information