Financial
Quality of earnings first
Separate sustainable earnings from noise, add-backs, timing issues, and working-capital pressure.
Buyer checklist
Due diligence checklist
A diligence request list and checklist that helps buyers ask for what they will use, move in clear phases, protect the seller transition, and connect findings to deal terms.
Built for buyers who need cleaner diligence and operating-system context without drowning the seller or their own team in generic requests.
Diligence discipline
Ask for evidence that changes the decision.
The checklist organizes diligence into readiness checkpoints so every request has a purpose, every seller handoff stays legible, and every finding routes to a deal decision.
Operational
Find transfer risk
Identify owner dependency, process gaps, people risk, customer concentration, and systems fragility.
Terms
Connect findings to structure
Turn issues into value, protection, closing conditions, or a disciplined stop decision.
View & download the checklist (PDF)
All resourcesHow to use it
Use the resource as a decision path, not a reading assignment.
Each section should help you decide what to prepare, what to ask, what to stop, or what to route next.
01step
Process
Clarify.
Name the risk areas and which evidence would change the decision.
01 / 04
02step
Process
Build.
Create phased requests that avoid overwhelming the seller or missing critical items.
02 / 04
03step
Process
Activate.
Run each diligence phase with go or no-go criteria.
03 / 04
04step
Process
Execute.
Translate findings into terms, protections, or a clean walkaway.
04 / 04
Resource spec
What this resource is built to clarify.
The point is not more material. The point is a cleaner decision.
Contents
A request list tied to staged decisions.
- Scope
- Financial, operational, customer, legal, HR, technology, and transition diligence
- Best for
- Buyers in first-look, LOI, or post-LOI diligence
- Output
- A diligence request map that supports better deal terms and cleaner decisions
- Format
- PDF checklist, free. Phased by decision. Opens in your browser to view and download.
01
Before LOI
Use it to know which questions belong before exclusivity.
02
Post-LOI
Use it to stage requests and protect seller momentum.
03
Renegotiation
Use it to connect findings to structure instead of vague concern.
Use rule
Diligence earns its burden when the finding changes a term, a condition, or a decision.
Related resources
Keep the next move connected.
Move to the adjacent resource when the question changes from preparation to diligence, valuation, or operating context.
Buyer course
Acquisition Playbook
Move from first look to close with staged decisions and fewer blind spots.
Learn more
Owner guide
Guide to selling your business
See the sell-side view, including the sale preparation checklist a seller works before diligence.
Learn more
Valuation data
Off-market valuation multiples
Anchor the value case in lower middle market data before terms harden.
Learn more
Ready to move
Pressure-test the next diligence request.
We will help you separate useful evidence from document noise.