The machine on one page
MonoBridge rests on four foundations, each built and tested on its own before you arrive. Every step of a run leans on at least three of them, and each one checks the others. This page shows where each one does its work. Every other topic inside goes deeper into one part of it.
The machine
Read across a row to follow one foundation through a run. Read down a column to see everything that happens at one step. Choose any cell for what happens there.
Choose a step to see which foundations do the work there, and what each one does.
Watch a business go through all six steps.
| The valuation coreUsed at 6 of 6 steps | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industry dossiersUsed at 6 of 6 steps | ||||||
| Driver treesUsed at 4 of 6 steps | — | — | ||||
| The value-creation libraryUsed at 4 of 6 steps | — | — |
The valuation core · 2 · Value
Five scenarios, 400 random draws across the input ranges, one rerun for every regulatory gate that could fail, and an industry-median peer for comparison.
Read: Five scenarios →0 · Before you arrive
The valuation coreSets the inputs and the rulesDefines the few inputs any value is built from (the revenue path, the margin, the discount rate, the odds of each scenario, the steps from the whole business to the owner’s share) and the rules a value must pass before it prints.Read: The valuation core →Industry dossiersBenchmarks, frozen into policyResearched per industry code. Its medians are copied into a frozen policy table, so new research can’t move anyone’s value without a recorded policy change.Read: Industry dossiers →Driver treesA tree for every inputA template tree hangs beneath each input of the valuation core, built for your industry before you arrive.Read: Driver trees, the method →The value-creation libraryActions and buyer checklistsA library of improvement actions, and the evidence each kind of buyer or lender asks to see before paying for a number.Read: The value-creation library →1 · Ingest
The valuation coreReprices on every answerEach answer reruns the valuation. Each question also shows how far its typical range would move the value, so you know which ones are worth getting exactly right.Read: “Moves your value by” →Industry dossiersWrites the questionsThe questionnaire is generated from the dossier’s tree. Each question’s typical range is the dossier’s middle band for your kind of business.Read: How each question is chosen →Driver treesFills the gapsInfers a missing number from the ones around it, labels it as an inference, and asks you to confirm it.Read: Filling gaps by inference →No work at this step: The value-creation library.
2 · Value
The valuation coreRuns several hundred timesFive scenarios, 400 random draws across the input ranges, one rerun for every regulatory gate that could fail, and an industry-median peer for comparison.Read: Five scenarios →Industry dossiersClassifies the businessA screening test places you among the industry’s business types. That choice sets the forecast model and which methods carry weight.Read: Classifying the business →The value-creation libraryTurns value into proceedsWhat you’d take home by deal route, after tax and financing, and what a lender or an investor could pay at most.Read: From enterprise value to equity →No work at this step: Driver trees.
3 · Diagnose
The valuation corePrices a buyer’s re-readReruns the value with the adjustments a buyer’s analyst would make, so both views sit on one page with the reason for every difference.Read: Through a buyer’s analyst’s eyes →Industry dossiersSets the benchmarksBenchmark ranges for each operating number, the industry landscape, and a back-test of the method.Read: Distance from benchmark →The value-creation libraryPlaces you on a bridgeWhich earnings measure buyers can price your business on today, and the documents you’d need to be priced on the next.Read: Which bridge you’re on →No work at this step: Driver trees.
4 · Plan
The valuation corePrices every target four waysEach target is priced alone, in sequence, alongside the moves that pull against it, and at its odds of success. Gains count when they show up in trailing results.Read: Pricing each target four ways →Industry dossiersMeasures the distanceInputs are ranked by how much they move the value times how far you sit from the benchmark.Read: How moves are chosen →Driver treesTurns targets into measuresBreaks each target into measures with an owner, a cadence and a system of record, and flags moves that help one number at another’s expense.Read: Driver trees →The value-creation libraryDresses each moveEvery initiative gets its steps, effort, owner and who is paid for it, and is marked as real value or a better-documented price.Read: Initiatives and who is paid →5 · Re-run
The valuation coreReplays last year’s inputsLast year’s inputs run through today’s engine with last year’s rules reproduced, so method changes never pass for your work.Read: Replaying last year’s inputs →Industry dossiersLogs what changedA change log shows which benchmarks moved between your runs, and by how much they moved your value.Read: When the method changes →Driver treesSays what’s on track, and whyOn track, watch or off track for every measure, and the change in value traced back to the measures that caused it.Read: Targets against actuals →No work at this step: The value-creation library.
Twenty of the twenty-four cells are filled. Every foundation is used at four steps or more, and every step after the first leans on three. A dash means that foundation has no work to do at that step.
See it working
The studio where an owner enters the business, and the report it produces. Swipe or use the arrows; tap any picture to see it full size. The figures are from a sample run still in progress, so they differ a little from the finished report’s.
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1 · Ingest · 1 of 15StartAbout 25 minutes for a full run. Answers stay on your device, you can skip anything, and every answer shows what it does to the value.
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1 · Ingest · 2 of 15Pick your kind of businessTwo different economies share this industry code. Your pick changes the questions you get and the benchmarks you’re measured against.
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1 · Ingest · 3 of 15A live value from the first three numbersRevenue, profit and your kind of business give a first read. The value, its range and the football field update as you type.
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1 · Ingest · 4 of 15Every question says where to find the answerEach one names the report or system the number lives in, so you don’t have to guess what’s being asked.
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1 · Ingest · 5 of 15Inferred numbers wait for youWhen an answer is missing, the engine infers it from the ones around it, labels it as an inference, and asks you to confirm or reject it.
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1 · Ingest · 6 of 15Each answer shows what it’s worth“Moves your value by” sweeps the typical range for that one input, so you know which answers deserve the most care.
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1 · Ingest · 7 of 15Owner adjustmentsOwner pay reset to what a hired manager would cost, and one-time costs added back: the same adjustments a buyer’s analyst makes.
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1 · Ingest · 8 of 15Compliance: the gates a buyer checksRegulatory listings and 911 compliance. A gate that fails can cut the value to a fraction, so each one is asked plainly.
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1 · Ingest · 9 of 15Deal terms and financingWhole business or a stake, the likely buyer, and the cost of borrowing: what a buyer could actually pay, not just what it’s worth.
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2 · Value · 10 of 15The committee memo: the football fieldEvery method on one chart, on the same basis, with the concluded value and where the industry medians alone would have put it.
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2 · Value · 11 of 15Scenarios, and what moves the valueFive states of the world with their odds, and every input’s swing on the value across its typical range.
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3 · Diagnose · 12 of 15Assumptions and where each number came fromEvery input labelled: your number, confirmed, inferred or the industry median, with the typical range beside it.
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What you get · 13 of 15The full report, in your browserThe plan, the value and every exhibit, ready to print or save as a PDF.
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On a phone · 14 of 15The studio on a phoneThe same questions, one chapter at a time, with the live value pinned to the bottom of the screen.
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On a phone · 15 of 15The live value on a phoneThe value, its range and the football field, readable on a small screen.
The run, step by step
The columns of the machine, in order. Steps 4 and 5 repeat every year: plan, run the plan, re-run.
- 0 · Before you arriveFour foundations are built for your industry and frozen into a versioned policy before anyone types a number.
- 1 · IngestYou answer nine chapters of questions. Every answer reprices the business while you watch.
- 2 · ValueThe valuation core runs several hundred times: scenarios, random draws, failed gates, a median peer.
- 3 · DiagnoseIt reads your business the way a buyer, a lender and an industry benchmark would, and says what each would ask for.
- 4 · PlanIt ranks the inputs worth moving, breaks each into weekly measures with an owner, and prices every target.
- 5 · Re-runA year later your old inputs are replayed through today’s engine, so the change splits cleanly into what you did and what moved around you.
The four foundations
The rows of the machine. Each is built once per industry and kept under version control, so the same inputs always give the same report.
- The valuation coreThe arithmetic that turns a business into a value, and the checks a value must pass.Used at 6 of 6 steps
- Industry dossiersDeep research on one industry code: how its businesses really make money, and what normal looks like.Used at 6 of 6 steps
- Driver treesA method that breaks any number into the everyday measures a team can actually move.Used at 4 of 6 steps
- The value-creation libraryWhat buyers of each kind ask for, and the proven moves that get a business there.Used at 4 of 6 steps
Why the number holds up
A number nobody can check is an opinion. Three habits make ours checkable.
Nothing is counted twice
When two parts of a valuation could both claim the same thing, a written rule decides which one does.
- The customer book counts as an asset or through the revenue forecast, never both.
- Deferred revenue sits in working capital or in debt, never both.
- The cost of distress is a separate term or part of the scenarios, never both.
- Any risk is priced in the discount rate or in a scenario, never both.
Every number says where it came from
Every input is labelled: your number, confirmed from a document, an inference you confirmed, an advisor’s estimate, or the industry median. The report says how much of the value rests on each kind.
Every page carries a stamp
Each page prints the engine version, the policy version, a fingerprint of your inputs, the date of the industry research, and the plan version. Anyone can rerun the same inputs and get the same page.
What this is, and isn’t
A MonoBridge report is an estimate of value for planning and running a business. It is not a formal appraisal for a court, an estate, a tax filing or a lender’s loan file; those need a credentialed appraiser, and the report is built so one can check it quickly.
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