Why it matters

The business depends on them personally, so succession is a real constraint rather than a formality. That cuts both ways: it makes an exit harder to execute and more necessary to plan.

The play

A qualifier, not a trigger. Combine it with an exit archetype — an owner-operator who has started selling has a genuine handover problem to solve, and that is a conversation worth having.

How it's kept honest

The archetype is computed from the resolved ownership graph — the same person matched across every company they touch — and only for people who actually carry owner-level evidence: a portfolio of two or more, or at least one recorded exit. A single-company majority would carry nothing to read. Where the register is silent about a role, the silence is treated as unknown and never as a no. Like every signal the scout raises: a prompt to look closer, never a verdict.