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Mojo -> RE: Acquisition of a new company (6/24/2005 14:16:34)
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Off the top of my head...
Domain names
IMO - domain names are the most important aspect. Find out who actually owns them and where they are registered. Some registrars are crooks. Make sure they have all the passwords.
MONEY
How much money are the making? Is this profit? How are they proving it?
If their not making money on the site are they generating leads of some sort? If so, how are they tracking this? It is up to YOU to make sure they are providing accurate information.
Computers, servers, printers, routers - basically any and all hardware. They should have a list of all these assets.
Do they host their web site on their own server? If not, make sure they have current copies of all web files and passwords to access the hosted sites. Is the hosting company solid? If not, you will need to change it.
How much traffic are they receiving? Get copies of all log files are go through them yourself. Traffic can be faked in order to increase a sites value.
Web marketing plan - Has the company been doing any marketing? Are there outstanding debts or long term contracts with any individual or company? For example, they could have a debt with Google Adwords or a long term SEO/SEM contract with a company.
IT personal - If they are hosting their own site you will need to know who have been doing server admin. A transistion period is a good time to ask for a raise - especially if noone else knows how to log in to the site.
- server admin
- web designer
- web developer
- marketing
- SEO
This could all be done by a single person, but rarely (if ever) do you find someone with top notch skills in all the above areas.
I guess if I had to wrap it up in one sentense I would say; Make sure you will own the domain name, all web files and can prove any income and traffic.
Note: I didn't spell check as I am about to go lay out in the sun and eat a popsicle.
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