Exit Preparation and Go-to-Market Advisory

The technology story that holds up when the buy-side team starts asking the hard questions.

By the time buyers start their diligence, the technology narrative has already done most of its work. A well-prepared story generates interest and drives valuation. A weak one creates uncertainty that negotiators use. The difference is rarely the technology itself. It’s whether the story was built to survive scrutiny before the process began.

Resultant prepares PE-backed companies for exit by running a simulated buy-side diligence before the process starts, identifying what buyers will find and building a technology narrative that is specific enough to earn credibility and defensible enough to hold up under questioning.

Impact Story

Smooth Migration of IT Systems and Data Following Carveout

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How we help

A sell-side technology engagement does two jobs at the same time. The internal job is finding the risks and red flags before buyers do and recommending what to remediate before going to market. The external job is building a technology presentation that gives buyers a clear and compelling picture of what the company has built, why it is differentiated, and where it is going.

A single discovery process does both jobs. The same assessment that produces the internal remediation inventory also produces the external go-to-market presentation. The work isn’t duplicated and the timeline does not compound.

We collaborate directly with the investment bank throughout the engagement. The technology narrative is built to work alongside the financial CIM, answer the questions buyers will bring to the management presentation, and give the banker something specific to lead with when positioning the asset.

What we deliver

Most exit processes require all three of the following. We deliver them as a single integrated engagement, or in whatever combination the situation requires.

Simulated Buy-Side Diligence

Know what the buyers will find before they find it

Before buyers start asking questions, we run the same assessment they will. That means evaluating platform architecture, infrastructure, integration and interoperability, data and analytics, AI and data maturity, and security and compliance. We score the company against the criteria a buyer's technology team will use and identify what needs to be addressed before the process begins.

The engagement produces a single internal report that includes a technology health scorecard, a cyber and data protection analysis, and a remediation inventory organized as a do-now and do-later list. AI and data readiness is included as standard scope and answers whether the company’s data foundation supports AI deployments or plans, and whether the capability holds up under buyer scrutiny.

Sell-Side Technology Study

Tell the technology story before buyers tell it their way

The sell-side technology study works alongside the financial CIM, answers the questions buyers bring to the management presentation, and gives the investment bank something specific to lead with when positioning the asset.

Scope varies based on the technology's role in the deal. For companies with traditional technology environments, the story is platform stability, scalability, and what it costs to maintain. For software companies and technology-enabled businesses where the proprietary platform is a primary driver of valuation, buyers will scrutinize the software directly: feature differentiation, scalability, DevOps maturity, product roadmap credibility, and security posture. For those engagements, the study includes a comprehensive codebase scan assessing code quality, technical debt, open-source vulnerabilities, development activity, key-person dependencies in the engineering team, and security configurations.

AI positioning is included across both engagement types, targeting buyer questions about what the PortCo is doing with AI and whether their data foundation can support it.

We work directly with the investment bank throughout. Investment banks typically engage us two to three months before the sale, timed to when the bank begins building the financial CIM.

TSA Design and Negotiation

Treat the TSA as the negotiation that it is

A TSA is not just a document. It is a negotiation between parties whose interests are not mutual, where the services provided will only be what is contractually agreed upon. What is vague language to one party is a financial exposure to the other. What seems like a reasonable verbal agreement before close can become a costly dispute after it.

Internal teams struggle to remain unbiased across functional areas and the carve-out entity. They also manage the business at the same time they’re negotiating the separation, which creates both capacity constraints and political risk.

Resultant operates cross-functionally without existing political baggage, delivers difficult news about cost or scope without damaging the relationship, and holds the line on terms that internal resources might compromise under pressure. We draft, cost, negotiate, and finalize the agreements, identify TSA dependencies across functions, develop the cost and pricing model, and define governance and exit criteria.

In a deal where the buyer had verbal assurances that a system clone would be provided post-close, the language was not included in the TSA, contrary to our advice. After close, the seller refused to clone the environment citing proprietary business logic. The result was a costly greenfield implementation that none of the parties had budgeted for. That is what an improperly constructed TSA costs.

The scale of what’s at stake is reflected in the outcomes. On an $800M automotive carveout sold to two foreign buyers, Resultant developed a plan to mitigate $30M in daily transaction risk and negotiated $25M in fee protection for TSA support. On a $4B powertrain spinout, we drafted, costed, negotiated, and finalized the IT transition service agreements across 80 locations, 10,000 employees, and 500 IT-managed applications, protecting $80M+ in TSA fees for the client. On a three-buyer acquisition of a Fortune 500 eCommerce subsidiary, we negotiated $14M in deal cost savings and structured the intra-company service agreements between the buyers.

Resultant's technology delivery bench is also available to execute the carveout under the TSA for the new owner. Having the same firm scope the separation and execute it means the TSA obligations were written with execution reality in mind, not just negotiating leverage.

How we work

We start every engagement with the investment bank and the PE firm together. We work with the banker to understand how the technology story fits the broader deal thesis, what buyer concerns are likely, and how the external presentation should be positioned for the specific buyer universe. That conversation determines what the discovery process prioritizes and how the findings are positioned.

The assessment relies on document review, technical interviews, and a codebase scan where applicable. We are direct with the management team about what we find in the internal assessment and specific about what needs to be remediated before the process launches.

The external presentation is built to survive a sophisticated buy-side team's scrutiny. We do not smooth over weaknesses. We position them honestly, explain the remediation plan, and frame them in a way that gives buyers clarity rather than leverage.

Starting an exit process?

The earlier this work begins, the more it can do. A technology narrative built before the banker sends NDAs gives you time to remediate material findings. One built after gives you a document. Tell us where you are in the process and we’ll tell you what’s possible.

Exit Preparation and Go-to-Market Advisory

How we help