Stage 7 of 9

The investigation

Due diligence is the part sellers describe as the hardest. It is weeks of being asked to prove things that have simply always worked.

What it feels like

A stream of questions, many of them about matters that never seemed important. Requests arrive faster than they can be answered while the business still has to run. It is normal, and it ends.

What makes it bearable is preparation: a file assembled beforehand turns most questions into a reference rather than a research task.

Findings and what they do

Most findings adjust a term rather than end a deal. A contract that cannot be transferred becomes a condition. An overstated add-back reduces the figure. An undocumented process extends the handover.

Keeping it bounded

An investigation with a scope and a date produces answers. One with neither produces new questions every week while the seller's position slowly weakens. The limits belong in writing before it starts.

Answering once

Every answer should go into the file so that the same question is not answered three times in three slightly different ways. Inconsistency, even innocent, costs more credibility than a bad answer given clearly.

Findings adjust terms. Inconsistencies end transactions.