Agora · VQ — Know your number. Move your number.

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The Premise

Three questions sit between you and the business you actually want.

The owners who get clear answers earlier build very different businesses — and walk away with very different outcomes.

Question 01

What do you want?

A clear picture of success — not the generic one, yours. Time, money, autonomy, legacy, the kind of role you want in your own business a decade from now. The question gets harder when you're specific.

Question 02 · where VQ comes in

What do you have?

A clear-eyed read on the business you actually run — not the one in your head. VQ scores yours across seven dimensions that compound into operating strength. A common language for the conversation.

Question 03

What's the bridge?

The plan between here and there. Sometimes it's a year of operational work. Usually it's three to five years of compounded effort — measured in how the business runs and how it feels to run it.

      Every month not measured is a month not improved. Start with where you actually stand.
    

What VQ Measures

The seven things that actually make a business strong.

VQ scores your business across seven categories and ~50 underlying signals — the things that decide whether a business runs without you, scales without breaking, and holds its value through whatever the next decade throws at it. Not the things founders like to talk about. The things that compound.

VQ · 01

Financial Performance & Predictability

Revenue, EBITDA, margin health, customer concentration, recurring revenue.

VQ · 02

Operational Maturity & Scalability

Process discipline, AI & tech enablement, KPI rigor, documentation, scalability under load.

VQ · 03

Leadership, Talent & Culture

CEO dependence, bench depth, retention, engagement, values embodiment.

VQ · 04

Customer & Market Position

Retention, brand reputation, barriers to entry, sales process repeatability.

VQ · 05

Deal Readiness & Documentation

Reporting quality, cap table, diligence readiness, acquisition track record.

VQ · 06

Legal, Compliance & Risk Mgmt

Entity cleanliness, contracts, insurance, ESG, exposure mitigation.

VQ · 07

Strategic Clarity & Vision

Horizon & Hills, model resilience, differentiation, innovation engine.

— · One score

All seven, rolled into a single VQ from 0–100.

Each category carries weight by impact on enterprise value. You get the headline number — and the breakdown that explains it.

The Score & What It Means

0 to 100, in five bands — describing your business's operating strength, not your worth as a human.

Most owners walk in at Reactive or Stable. The work is climbing toward On Your Terms — where the business gives you real choice about how you spend your time, who you bring in, and what you say yes to.

Exposed

0 – 39

A bad quarter, a lost customer, or a key departure can rewrite everything.

Reactive

40 – 54

The business runs, but it runs through you. Most weeks feel like firefighting.

Stable

55 – 69

The business stands without heroics. You have time to think past this week.

Selective

70 – 84

The business gives you options. You choose where to invest, who to hire, what to say no to.

On Your Terms

85 – 100

The business is a portfolio of choices — yours to make on your own timeline.

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How The Work Unfolds

Discover. Elevate. Position.

Agora is an advisory firm, not a broker. The VQ Snapshot and Insights report exist to start a conversation — the work happens here, across three phases that can take anywhere from eighteen months to a decade. VQ is the shared language across all three.

Phase 01 · 8–12 weeks

Discover

A full, independent read on where the business actually stands.

Stakeholder interviews & document review
Independent VQ scoring across the seven categories
Findings report, market insights, multi-year roadmap

You walk out with A VQ score, a written read, and a roadmap you can run with — with or without us.

Phase 02 · 6–36+ months · the heart of it

Elevate

The operating-partner work. Where strength gets built.

Sit alongside leadership; break the inertia on what's been stuck
Executive coaching for the owner and key leaders
Periodic VQ re-scoring as the operating KPI
Advisory cadence, advisory-board support

You walk out with A measurably stronger business — and a leadership team ready to run it.

Phase 03 · when the time is right

Position

When the owner decides what comes next — sometimes years later, sometimes never.

Prepare the business and the owner for a coherent process
Coordinate with investment banker, wealth, tax, family-office
Hand the next team a company that's already ready

You walk out with Real choice — about who, when, and on what terms.

A note on the long arc Owners who continue past Discover into the operating-partner work become Elevate Partners. That's where most of Agora's hours go, and where most of the business's strength gets built. It's a real relationship — measured in years, not engagements.

Three Tiers · One Language

Three ways to start the conversation.

Whether you want a quick self-read, a structured report on your desk in two weeks, or to begin a real partnership — each path uses the same VQ language so the conversation across owner, leadership team, and advisor stays tight.

Tier 01 · Free

VQ Snapshot™

$0 · under 30 minutes

A directional read. Qualitative bands across all seven categories, one or two signal insights, and a "locked" score teaser you can unlock when you're ready.

Qualitative category bands
1–2 top signal insights
Teaser: locked numeric score & valuation range
Instant delivery — no sales call

Take the Snapshot →

One number. A common language. A way forward.

The point isn't the score. The point is what the score lets you do — with your team in the room, with yourself in the quiet moments, and with whoever you eventually choose to bring in.

A benchmark, not a vibe.

Replace "I think we're doing pretty well" with a defensible number, anchored to seven categories and a hundred-plus comparable engagements.

A roadmap, not a verdict.

Every score comes with the two or three moves that would lift it most — ranked by impact, time to value, and capital required.

Compounding, not surprise.

Every month you wait is a month not compounding. The score makes the progress visible, so the work keeps happening on purpose — not just when something forces it.

How It Works

Four steps. No theatre.

The Snapshot is self-serve and instant. Anything deeper is scoped, scheduled, and on your calendar.

Step 01

Take the Snapshot

Under 30 min, online. Seven categories, plain-language questions. No login, no card.

Step 02

See your bands

Qualitative read across all seven, plus one or two signal insights. Instant.

Step 03

Decide if it's worth more

Upgrade to Insights for the numeric score, benchmarks, and a plan. Optional.

Step 04

Go to work — together or alone

Use the roadmap in-house, with your existing advisors, or with us as Elevate Partners. Most clients do all three.

For Advisors & Investment Bankers

A common language for the long work.

Advisors, succession planners, fractional CFOs, and investment bankers all live in the same conversation with owners: "the business is stronger than its current operating posture shows." VQ gives that conversation a structure — and a vocabulary the owner doesn't push back on.

If you work with lower-middle-market owners on any horizon — next quarter, next decade, eventually — the Snapshot is a free, white-labelable starting point. The Insights upgrade plugs into your existing engagement; Discover plugs in when it's time for the deeper work.

→ 01 Co-branded Snapshot link with your tracking
→ 02 Partner-tier pricing on Insights & Discover
→ 03 Quarterly office hours, engagement templates

Become a partner →

What You Actually Get

A report your CFO won't roll their eyes at.

Every VQ deliverable lands in the same visual frame — same gauge, same bands, same category language — so the conversation across owner, leadership team, and advisor stays tight.

CONFIDENTIAL · DRAFT

VQ Insights Report · Q2 2026

Where you stand,
and what would move it.

Prepared for [Owner Name] · [Company]

Your VQ

Stable · 55–69

Plain language. Real numbers. A move set you can defend.

01

A single VQ number, on a 0–100 scale.

Plus the seven category scores that built it. No black box.
02

Benchmarks by industry and revenue band.

So you know whether 68 is a problem in your peer set — or a quiet superpower.
03

A ranked 12–36 month action plan.

The two or three moves with the biggest impact, time to value, and capital required.
04

A picture of what "stronger" looks like — in dollars and in operating reality.

Drivers and risks broken out plainly. The kind of read you can hold up in a board meeting without asterisks.

About Agora

An advisory firm, not a broker.

Agora has been working with lower-middle-market owners since 2013. We aren't a transaction shop — we're operating advisors who sit alongside leadership teams across the long arc that makes a business strong. VQ is the framework we wished we'd had, pulled out of thirteen years of engagements.

The premise. Lower-middle-market owners are extraordinary at building. They are systematically under-served when it comes to making the business operate as well as it performs — the difference between a company that runs on its founder's energy and one that compounds on its own. That gap costs them, every year, in money and in time and in joy.

The method. Three phases — Discover, Elevate, Position — anchored by VQ as the shared measurement and shared language. Whether a client engages us for an eight-week Discover or stays on for years as Elevate Partners, the destination is the same: a business strong enough to give its owner real choice about what's next.

The promise. No surprise upgrades. No deck that's mostly stock photos. No score without a plan to move it.

2013

Working with owners since

VQ Categories

Phases · Discover · Elevate · Position

~50

Signals scored

— The Partners

Operating advisors who've built, run, and exited businesses themselves — working as one team alongside yours.

Founder & Partner

Garry Krum

40+ years of M&A experience helping hundreds of owners achieve transition success. Garry's wisdom is present in every engagement, and he can often be found as a guest speaker on the topic of exit readiness.

LinkedIn ↗

Managing Partner

Aaron Stevens

25+ years in sales, leadership, and growth strategy in organizations large and small. Aaron approaches every engagement with a client-first perspective, and takes real pride in helping owners get unstuck and find clarity on what's next.

LinkedIn ↗

Partner

Jessica Archer

Seasoned executive with experience helping businesses ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 giants. Jessica is a facilitator-extraordinaire, skilled in helping leaders clarify what they want, what they have, and how to get to ultimate success.

LinkedIn ↗

Partner

Wally Beecroft

35+ years of executive leadership, M&A integration, and board governance. Wally has led companies through transformative growth and highly successful exits, and now brings strategic insight, operational rigor, and people-centered leadership to Agora clients across the Midwest and beyond.

LinkedIn ↗

Honest Questions

Things owners actually ask us.

If yours isn't here, write to [email protected] and we'll answer it like a human.

Is the Snapshot really free, or is this a polite intake form?+

Really free. No card, no sales call required, no email-verification gauntlet. You answer the questions, you see your bands. If you decide later that you want the numeric score and the plan, the upgrade path is right there. If you don't, that's fine too.

How is VQ different from someone telling me what my business is worth today?+

A point-in-time valuation tells you what the market would say about today's business. VQ tells you which moves would change what it is — across the seven categories that actually drive strength. One is a snapshot. The other is a steering wheel.

I'm happy running the business indefinitely. Is VQ still for me?+

Honestly, these are the owners who get the most out of it. The seven categories that build long-term strength are the same ones that determine how the business runs when you're not in the room — which is the version of the business most owners actually want, regardless of whether they ever bring in a partner. A stronger business is a better business to own.

Who sees my answers?+

Only us, and only the named members of our team scoring the report. We don't sell data. We don't share company names without explicit written permission. If you'd like a mutual NDA before the Snapshot — fine, just ask.

Do you work with my industry?+

Probably. VQ is sector-agnostic by design — the seven categories are universal. Where the work gets specific is benchmarking and the value-creation plan. We've worked with industrials, professional services, software, healthcare-adjacent, and consumer. If we're not the right fit we'll tell you in the first call.

What does the paid Insights report actually cost?+

VQ Insights is a flat $2,497. We thought about tiering it by revenue band and decided not to — the work that goes into the report is the same whether you're at $5M or $50M, and the insight is worth the same either way. Discover is scoped per engagement; expect a real proposal, not a pre-filled SOW.

My team is going to wonder why outside advisors are involved. What should I tell them?+

Tell them the truth: you're investing in making the business stronger. VQ is a structured way to look at the seven things that make a company resilient and scalable — things every leadership team should want to be measured on. The work touches everyone in good ways: clearer process, better tools, more thoughtful succession planning, leadership development. We're explicit about this in every engagement and design the interviews and workshops to feel like an opportunity, not an audit.

Build a business
worth owning. The strongest businesses run without heroics, transfer without drama, and give their owners real options about what comes next. VQ is the read on where yours stands today — across the seven things that build that kind of business.

Three questions sit between you and the business you actually want.

What do you want?

What do you have?

What's the bridge?

The seven things that actually make a business strong.

0 to 100, in five bands — describing your business's operating strength, not your worth as a human.

Discover. Elevate. Position.

Three ways to start the conversation.

One number. A common language. A way forward.

Four steps. No theatre.

A common language for the long work.

A report your CFO won't roll their eyes at.

Plain language. Real numbers. A move set you can defend.

An advisory firm, not a broker.

Operating advisors who've built, run, and exited businesses themselves — working as one team alongside yours.

Things owners actually ask us.

Under 30 minutes to a picture of where you actually stand.