A guide to due diligence and how it works on Acquire.com
What is due diligence?
Due diligence is the act of verifying a startup is legitimate, the assets are as the founder described them, and the founder's claims about their business are genuine.
Your goal here is to de-risk the acquisition to ensure you earn a return. Rather than wait for problems to arise, you identify them now, while you can still do something about them.
How to do due diligence
To help you do due diligence on a startup, we use artificial intelligence to analyze the listing and offer and then create due diligence tasks for you and the seller to complete.
Tasks are grouped into categories that reflect different areas of the business. For example, financial, legal, compliance, risk, and more. You can also edit or add tasks and categories.
Every task has a name, status, owner, and due date, all of which can be edited to suit your deal. If you're unsure how to manage your due diligence tasks, contact our support team.
If the seller doesn't complete their assigned tasks, or prevents you from completing yours, call them to resolve the issue. Regular, honest communication regularly saves deals.
Due diligence is your and the seller's responsibility. Only proceed in acquiring a business if you're sure of the risks. For more details, view our terms and conditions.
What happens when you complete all due diligence tasks?
When you and the seller have completed all of your due diligence tasks, you can then sign an asset purchase agreement (APA), which legally binds you to the deal.
The easiest way to draft, sign, and send an APA is with our APA builder. Sign as an individual or company to ensure the correct legal information is included in your APA.
You can also upload an APA you drafted outside of the platform to send to the seller.
Since the APA is a legally-binding document, please consult with your attorney if you have any questions on the wording or its implications.
Still need help?
Search the help center again or contact us at support@acquire.com.