For acquisition buyers

How we tell a deal from a dud.

This is our internal SOP. Built after 2,000 conversations with sellers, learning what actually separates a deal from a dud. We'll send you all 18 questions in it.

Developed internally · public for the first time

"We ask these 18 questions so our clients never waste months, sometimes a year, on a dud."

Tyler Murdock, Founder, Aligned Profit

2,500+

Opportunities sourced since 2023

$150M+

In deal flow surfaced for buyers

1,000s

Conversations started with owners, off market

This checklist came out of running those calls ourselves since 2023. It's never left the firm until now.

18 questions. 5 categories.

Skip one of these and you find out what's wrong during diligence. Not before.

4 The Business

Four questions in, we usually know if this business runs without the owner, or dies with them.

3 The Numbers

"I think my SDE is around..." It's the sentence that ends more deals than any bad number ever has.

4 The Sale

The right answer on timing gets us calling same day. The wrong one means six months of silence.

4 Operations and Risk

One number on customer concentration has sunk more deals than bad debt ever will.

3 Fit and Next Step

What a seller says about the right buyer tells us if this deal survives past the LOI.