Most founders discover their business has problems during the due diligence phase—when it's too late to fix them and buyers have all the leverage. A missing contract, unclear IP ownership, messy financials, or undocumented verbal agreements become ammunition for price cuts or deal collapse. You thought you were selling a profitable business. Buyers see a liability they can exploit. The gap between your asking price and their final offer isn't about market conditions. It's about problems you didn't know existed or didn't think mattered.
Sophisticated buyers don't just review your numbers. They scrutinize governance, risk exposure, vendor dependencies, customer concentration, regulatory compliance, and operational documentation. They're looking for reasons to renegotiate, and they'll find them. Every unaddressed weakness becomes a discount at closing. Every ambiguous contract becomes a risk premium. Every operational shortcut becomes a red flag that tanks your credibility. By the time you're responding to their questions, you've already lost negotiating power.
This briefing teaches you how to run reverse due diligence on your own business before buyers do. You'll learn which problems actually matter to acquirers, how to fix the ones that tank valuations, and which issues you can disclose without destroying the deal. Some problems take months to resolve. Others take days. The key is knowing which ones buyers care about and addressing them while you still control the narrative. Walk into the sale process clean, or watch your valuation collapse under scrutiny you weren't ready for.
