Methodology
Keystone tells owners what their business would sell for: three scores and an estimated sale price range from 18 questions, in about four minutes. A number like that is only worth acting on if you know what it is calibrated against, what it is, and what it is not. This page shows all three.
Calibrated against 10 years of BizBuySell Insight Reports: 40 quarterly reports, 2016–2026, covering real closed transactions. Backed by 1.6M+ SBA 7(a) loan records.
That matters because the alternative is a rule of thumb: a broker’s gut, an industry forum post, a multiple a friend heard at a conference. The estimate you get is anchored to what businesses actually sold for and what lenders actually financed. We publish no testimonials until we have real ones; the data is the proof.
You answer 18 questions about how the business actually runs. About four minutes.
You get three diagnostic scores. The Business Independence Score: can the business run without you. The Systems Maturity Score: how documented and repeatable the operations are. The Acquisition Attractiveness Score: what a buyer would see when they look at your business.
You get an estimated sale price range, plus a ranked list of what is discounting the number and the order in which to fix it.
The questions and the scoring are fixed. Your answer in March and your answer in September are measured on the same ruler, so the movement you see over time is your business changing, not the tool. That consistency is the point: you cannot manage a gap you measure with a different tape each month.
The market and lending data sits alongside the result as context. It shows how your estimate compares to real transactions and how much confidence the data supports. It never moves your multiple, your score, or your estimate.
It is an estimate, not a formal appraisal. A certified appraisal from a CPA or valuation firm costs $2,000 to $8,000 and produces a static document for a specific legal or transactional purpose. Keystone tells you where you stand and what moves the number, monthly.
We are not a broker or an advisory firm. Nobody here is paid to close your sale, and we do not make decisions for you. The data shows what the market did; you decide what to do about it.
The estimate is calibrated against 10 years of BizBuySell Insight Reports, 40 quarterly reports of real closed transactions, and checked against 1.6M+ SBA 7(a) loan records. It is an estimate, not an appraisal.
No. A formal appraisal from a CPA or valuation firm typically costs $2,000 to $8,000 and produces a static document; Keystone gives you a calibrated estimate of where you stand and what moves the number.
The Business Independence Score measures whether the business runs without you, the Systems Maturity Score measures how documented and repeatable your operations are, and the Acquisition Attractiveness Score measures what a buyer would see. Those are the factors a buyer weighs before naming a price.
A broker is paid to close and an accountant hands you a static number once. Keystone shows what is discounting your value and the order to fix it, and tracks the number month over month.
No. The market and lending data is a confidence and context layer: it shows how your estimate sits against real transactions, and it never moves your multiple or your score.
The diagnostic is free: three scores and an estimated sale price range in about four minutes, no credit card. Paid plans at launch run from $79 to $799 a month depending on tier.
Yes. Every account is isolated at the database row level, no other user can see your data, and benchmarks are only ever anonymized aggregates. Read the privacy policy.
Keystone · Launching soon
The diagnostic is free: 18 questions, about four minutes, three scores and an estimated sale price range. Join the waitlist for first access the day it opens.
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