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Maintain acquisition readiness with minimal ongoing effort

Any founder building a potentially valuable business

Quarterly updates, used when acquisition opportunities arise

What Success Looks Like

Ability to respond to acquisition interest within 24 hours with professional data room, leading to higher offer values and faster deal closure

Steps to Execute

1

Create 10-file data room with core business documents

2

Include: fundraising deck, 3-year financial model, historical financials, cap table, top 20 customers, team bios, product roadmap, key contracts, legal docs, last 3 monthly one-pagers

3

Update quarterly whether actively selling or not

4

Store in organized cloud folder with appropriate access controls

5

Practice explaining key metrics in 30-second responses

Checklist

Fundraising deck updated with current metrics
Financial model extends 3 years forward
Historical financials are clean and consistent
Fully diluted cap table is current
Top 20 customer list with buy reasons
Team bios highlight relevant experience
Product roadmap shows clear value creation
Key contracts (>$25K) are documented
Legal docs (incorporation, IP) are complete
Monthly one-pagers show consistent tracking

Inputs Needed

  • Current financial statements
  • Customer data and contracts
  • Employee information and equity grants
  • Product usage and roadmap data
  • Legal and IP documentation

Outputs

  • Professional data room ready for due diligence
  • Clear business narrative and metrics
  • Faster acquisition process and higher valuations
  • Better understanding of business strengths/weaknesses

Example

SaaS company gets acquisition interest on Tuesday via support email. By Wednesday, they're meeting in Los Angeles with professional data room ready. Quick response and organization leads to 30% higher initial offer than expected.