Momentum
Buyers see a streak, not a snapshot.
Feb
Lead Engine live
Mar
Sales +14
Mar
Quotes −94%
May
Ops +28
Jun
DD Vault
Next milestonein 18 days
Exit-Prep Operational Readiness
Make your business
easier to buy.
For businesses ($2M–$30M revenue) heading to sale in the next 1–3 years where the team still runs on manual workflows.
XLev installs the AI-powered operations, reporting, and workflows that move businesses from a 3× to a 5× multiple — before you go to market.
Australia-based · Working with businesses preparing for sale globally
The Problem
Buyers don't just look at the numbers.
When a buyer inspects a business, they reduce the price for operational reasons — not just financial ones.
Owner dependency
If you leave, key relationships and knowledge leave with you. Buyers price that risk.
Manual workflows
Fragile, expensive, and hard to scale. Manual work signals hidden cost and key-person risk.
Messy CRM data
Buyers need to see the pipeline. Missing data forces them to rely on your word — which increases risk.
Weak reporting
If you can't show buyers how the business runs, they assume it runs badly.
Undocumented processes
Due diligence takes longer. Confidence drops. The price follows.
Inconsistent follow-up
Revenue leaks that buyers will model into their bid — whether you know about them or not.
The Solution
We remove the reasons buyers discount your business.
Owner dependency reduction
We systematise the workflows, knowledge, and decisions that currently depend on you.
Operational visibility
We build the reporting and dashboards that give buyers confidence in how the business runs.
AI-powered systems
We automate the high-friction manual work that makes buyers nervous about scalability.
Buyer-grade evidence
We document, measure, and report the operational improvements — so buyers see proof, not promises.
XLev does not provide M&A advisory, legal, financial or valuation advice. We improve operational systems — the layer underneath the numbers.
The Math
What operational readiness is actually worth.
Buyers price businesses two ways at once: the multiple they're willing to pay, and the discounts they apply on top. We work on both — at the same time, before the sale process starts.
We expand the multiple.
Founder-led businesses typically transact at 2.5–3.5× EBITDA. Operationally mature businesses of the same size routinely transact at 4.5–6×. The gap is operational risk — not financial performance.
Founder-led
3.0×
Operationally ready
5.0×
We remove the discounts.
Every reason a buyer chips the price is an operational gap we can close before the process starts.
- Key-person risk15–30%
- Undocumented process10–20%
- Weak reporting / data quality10–15%
- Manual / unscalable workflows5–15%
Indicative ranges drawn from published M&A practitioner guidance (IBBA, Pepperdine PCMS). Actual impact varies by sector and deal.
Illustrative example
$1.2M EBITDA business with manual workflows
- EBITDA$1,200,000$1,200,000
- Multiple3.2×4.8×
- Indicative valuation$3,840,000$5,760,000
Indicative uplift+$1,920,000
Owner dependency reduced
Documented systems, not founder memory.
Operations legible to a buyer
Dashboards, SOPs, and an evidence pack ready for DD.
AI-powered workflows
Proof the business scales without proportional headcount.
Illustrative only. Not a valuation. XLev does not provide M&A, legal, financial or valuation advice. Multiples shown are indicative ranges from published M&A research; outcomes depend on sector, buyer pool, and deal structure.
On a deal like this, our entire engagement is roughly 1–2% of the uplift it's designed to create.
See how we'd do it for your businessThe proof compounds
Every win goes on the wall.
We don't sell promises. We track the streak — workflows shipped, hours given back, multiples earned — and put it where you and your buyer can both see it.
Return on engagement
Average client multiple on fees, month 6.
5.4×
value : fees
break-even M27.1× projected M12
Compounding savings
24-month projected wage equivalent saved.
$1.2M
– $2.1M
conservative — optimistic
at 14 hrs / wk back@ $95 / hr
"This isn't a pitch deck. It's the dashboard your team will actually log into."
See it inside XLev Lab ↓The Process
From conversation to buyer-ready in months, not years.
01
Diagnose
We run a structured Operational Readiness Assessment across 8 dimensions. You get a scored report showing exactly where buyer risk sits — and what to fix first.
02
Build
We install AI-powered operating systems that reduce owner dependency, clean your data, systemise your workflows, and surface the reporting buyers need to see.
03
Evidence
Everything is tracked inside XLevLab — your client portal. Live metrics, before/after data, system performance, and operational improvement evidence.
04
Stay
We stay on retainer through the sale process. Supporting due diligence, maintaining systems, and making sure the operational story holds up under scrutiny.
Introducing XLev Lab
Your business. In one place.
XLevLab is the client portal that comes with every XLev engagement. One login. Everything in one place.
Your AI systems running in real time. Workflow stats, success rates, and operational metrics.
xlevlab.app/dashboard
Engagement active·Week 18 of 48
Acme Manufacturing
Industrial fabrication · 84 staff · $18–25M revenue · Target sale Q4 2027
Readiness
72/ 85
13 pts to target
Hours saved / wk
142hrs
from 0 baseline
Engagement
38%
12 month program
Live systems
4
1 building · 1 planned
Lead response
3
min · was 47 min
Runs / mo
2,148
across all systems
Target
85
13 to go
Workflow activity
Runs per day · last 30 days
Your team
5 members- TCTom CaitensXLevEngagement Lead
- SCSarah ColeOperations Director
- MWMarcus WebbFounder / CEO
- PNPriya NairXLevAutomation Engineer
Operational systems
4 running, 1 in build, 1 planned
Live
Lead Response Engine
Inbound lead routing + AI reply
Live
Quote Generator
Auto-priced quotes from CRM
Building
DD Document Vault
Buyer-ready data room
Live
Customer Health Score
Churn risk daily digest
Live
Ops Standup Brief
AI-generated team briefing
Planned
Contract Reviewer
Clause-level risk analysis
Who We Work With
Built for founders who are serious about their exit.
XLev works with businesses doing $2M–$30M in revenue, 10–80 staff, planning a sale in the next 6–36 months. If your team still runs on manual workflows and the operational story isn't ready for due diligence — this is where we start.
M&A AdvisoryProfessional ServicesLegalAccounting & BookkeepingAllied HealthRecruitmentReal EstateFinancial PlanningTrades & Construction
Good fit
- Preparing to sell in 6–36 months
- Revenue $2M–$30M
- 10–80 staff
- Team still runs on manual workflows
- Reporting gaps that won't survive due diligence
Not the right fit
- Not planning to sell or raise
- Primarily looking for general IT support
- Early-stage startup
- Business with fundamental financial problems XLev cannot fix
Investment
Priced against the transaction, not the overhead.
On a $5M sale, our full engagement is typically 1–2% of the transaction. The uplift it's designed to create is measured in multiples of that — see The Math for the worked example.
Entry point
Operational Readiness Assessment
$4,500 – $7,500
A structured 10-day diagnostic across 8 operational areas. Produces the Readiness Report — your buyer risk map.
10 business days
Designed to identify uplift worth multiples of its cost.
- 8-area assessment
- Scored Readiness Report
- Recommended next steps
Most popular
Pre-Exit Operating System
$35,000 – $85,000
Comprehensive operational overhaul. AI systems, reporting, documentation, and evidence — all built before the sale process starts.
8–16 weeks
Designed to return 10–25× its cost on a typical exit.
- Everything in the Assessment
- Full build, training & rollout
- XLevLab client portal
Ongoing
Exit Readiness Retainer
$5,000 – $12,000/month
Stay-on support through the sale process. Due diligence assistance, system maintenance, and operational evidence.
Rolling — typically 6–12 months
Designed to protect the uplift through due diligence.
- Monthly check-in
- System monitoring
- XLevLab access & DD support
All fees exclude GST. XLev does not charge success fees or take a percentage of the sale.
Founder · 01
Tom Downie
Founder · XLev
Who You're Working With
Tom Downie — Founder, XLev
I built XLev after running a five-campus education business in Sydney for ten years. To scale it without scaling the team, I built our own AI infrastructure — payroll automation, student retention systems, management dashboards, and operational workflows. It worked. XLev brings that same capability to businesses preparing for sale.
I'm not a consultant who presents a report and disappears. I build the systems, train the team, and stay through the process — because the operational story needs to hold up when a buyer tests it in due diligence, not just when it looks good in a deck.
XLev works with a small number of businesses at a time. Every engagement gets my full attention.
Location
Sydney's Northern Beaches, NSW
Background
Founder of Better Tuition Academy (est. 2015, 5 campuses, 455 students)
Ready to make your business easier to buy?
Tell us about your business and timeline. We'll reply within one business day with an honest read on whether we can help — and what the starting point looks like.
tom@xlev.ai · xlev.ai · Sydney, Australia