We are planning an exit in two years, but our current Accountability Chart has a single Operations and Administration seat that handles everything from HR and finance to vendor relations. How will prospective buyers view this catch-all seat, and how do we fix it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Prospective buyers will view a catch-all seat as a massive red flag. When one person owns multiple disparate functions like finance, HR, and operations, it creates a single point of failure. If that individual walks away after the acquisition, your business operations will crumble. Buyers want to see a clean, scalable structure, not a business held together by a single super-employee.

To fix this before you go to market, you must break this catch-all seat apart on your Accountability Chart. Even if the same person is currently executing all of these roles, you must represent them as separate, distinct seats. Create a dedicated Finance seat, an HR seat, and an Operations seat.

Next, clearly document the five key roles for each of these newly defined seats. This creates absolute clarity on what is required to run each function. Once the structure is built, you can begin the transition.

Start hiring or outsourcing to fill these seats with specialized talent, or build a clear transition plan that shows a buyer exactly how these seats can be handed off to new owners. By separating these functions on your Accountability Chart, you prove to buyers that your operations are systematized, low-risk, and ready to scale without depending on a single key person.