Prepare your business for acquisition in 90 days

The 25-point checklist serious buyers use to score sellers. Follow it before listing.

Why This Checklist Matters (and Why Most Sellers Skip It)

You do not get a second shot at a first impression. Buyers on Flippa and Empire Flippers spend 90 seconds scanning your listing before they move on. If your business looks unprepared—messy financials, no documentation, tech debt everywhere—they assume you are hiding something. The 25 points below are not invented. They are the exact 12 metrics we score at Deal Alert AI, plus 13 operational red flags that kill 80 percent of deals in due diligence. Most sellers ignore this checklist and leave 20-40 percent of valuation on the table. You will not be one of them.

The 25 Checkpoints: Legal, Financial, Operations, Team, Tech Debt

Legal (5 points)

Business license current and transferable
Articles of incorporation or LLC operating agreement filed and clean
No pending litigation or liens
IP assignments documented (code, content, trademarks)
Contracts clearly assigned to buyer or marked transferable

Financial (6 points)

Last 24 months of bank statements, P&L, and tax returns
Revenue broken down by customer and source
Churn rate calculated month-to-month
SDE calculation documented and defensible
Tax returns match your claimed income
No hidden liabilities or payment plans

Operations (5 points)

Documented SOPs for every revenue stream
Customer acquisition cost and lifetime value calculated
Supplier and vendor contracts listed with renewal dates
Inventory audit if applicable
Customer concentration under 30% from top 3 clients