Selling a business — checklist

☐ 3 years of financials

P&L, balance sheet, cash flow — auditor-prepared or at least consistent with tax filings.

☐ Tax status

No-tax-debt certificate; check for open audits; soundness of optimization schemes (discounted receivables are a buyer's risk).

☐ Legal cleanliness

Corporate rights to assets, contracts with key clients/landlords (change-of-control!), litigation, IP owned by the company.

☐ Customer base

Concentration: top-3 clients >50% of revenue is a risk. Contracts, terms, payment history, churn.

☐ Team and key people

Business = the founder? Price drops. Key people's contracts, non-competes, critical knowledge documented.

☐ Operational independence

Processes in documents/systems, not in the owner's head. All access transfers: domains, bank, social media, CRM.

☐ Receivables and liabilities

Real receivables (not hopeless), loans, guarantees, lease obligations — all consolidated in one register.

☐ Data room

Everything above — organized in a shared folder with structure. A buyer who sees order pays more and faster.