Buy instead of build

By the end of this track you will have

1. Step 1A written side-by-side sum comparing building your idea from zero against buying something that already has customers, with your own hours priced in at a rate you would accept from someone else.
2. Step 2A written buy box on one page, stating what you will look at, what you refuse outright, and the revenue floor you will not go below.
3. Step 3A transfer inventory: a table of every asset in the deal, who holds it today, and whether it moves to you.
4. Step 4One written sentence stating why this seller is selling, plus six checks against that sentence, each marked confirmed, contradicted or unknown.
5. Step 5A handover plan containing a credentials list, dated milestones, and a written first ninety days.

The steps

Each one ends with a check you run yourself. The box is yours to tick when it passes.

1. 1
   Step 1.Buying is cheaper than building, and nobody believes it

   75 minutesOpen to everyone

   Done means

   The file exists. The build column has six lines with a figure on every one and the guesses marked. The buy column has three real listings with asking price and stated revenue. One sentence at the bottom records which way the sum came out, and one more records what building would give you that buying would not.

   The check passed
2. 2
   Step 2.Look for the boring one

   90 minutes

   Done means

   The buy box file exists, holds at least eight criteria, and at least three of them are refusals written as flat statements. Your screening list has exactly twenty rows, every row marked pass or fail, and the number of passes is written at the bottom.

   The check passed
3. 3
   Step 3.What you are actually buying

   120 minutes

   Done means

   The table exists with at least twenty-five rows across all seven groups, the transfer column has no blank cells, every row has something written in the evidence column even if that something is nothing seen, and the count of non-transferring rows is written at the top.

   The check passed
4. 4
   Step 4.Find the reason they are selling

   120 minutes

   Done means

   The file holds one dated sentence stating the reason, six checks each marked confirmed, contradicted or unknown, an empty twenty-four month grid with four named measures and a line of reasoning against each, and the follow-up question written out in full.

   The check passed
5. 5
   Step 5.Own the handover, not the signature

   120 minutes

   Done means

   The credentials list exists with a row per account, a transfer route on every row, and the access-confirmed column either dated or blank, with the count of blanks written at the top. The handover plan has three dated milestones. The ninety-day file has three lists and the leave-alone list is the longest of them.

   The check passed