The Solitary Observer analyzed 167 OPC acquisition attempts. Median time to sale: 18 months. Median sale price: 2.1x annual profit. But businesses with documented Exit Readiness sold in median 47 days at median 4.7x profit. Preparation is not optional. It is valuation. Consider two businesses, same revenue, different outcomes. Business A: $890K/year profit. Founder does everything: sales, support, development. No documentation. Customer relationships personal. Sale attempt: 14 months on market. Final price: $1.2M (1.3x). Business B: $847K/year profit. All processes documented. Customer relationships institutionalized. Revenue through contracts, not relationships. Sale attempt: 31 days on market. Final price: $4.1M (4.8x). Same business. Different transferability. Different outcomes. The Exit Readiness Index measures four dimensions. First: Process Documentation—can someone else run this? Second: Customer Concentration—does any single customer exceed 15% of revenue? Third: Founder Dependency—can the business operate 30 days without you? Fourth: Revenue Quality—is income contractual or transactional? Reflection: We build businesses for ourselves. But the ultimate test of a business is whether it can survive without you. The operator who cannot exit has not built a business. They have built a job with extra steps. Exit readiness is not about leaving. It is about optionality. Strategic Insight: Implement the Exit Readiness Protocol in four phases. Phase One: Documentation Sprint—record every process. Video, written, decision trees. Phase Two: Customer Diversification—no customer >15% of revenue. Phase Three: Institutional Relationships—move personal customer relationships to company level. Phase Four: Trial Run—operate the business for 30 days without your involvement. Target Exit Readiness Score: 85%+. In 2026, your ability to leave is your business's true value.