7 Questions SaaS Buyers Should Ask Before Making an Offer

Ask for the definition, time period, currency, refunds, discounts, annual plans, services, and payment timing behind MRR or annual revenue. A number is comparable only when its boundaries are clear.

Retention is a product and transfer signal. Request cohort context, cancellation reasons, customer concentration, and any commitments the new owner must keep. A small but loyal base can be healthier than a larger base acquired through a fragile promotion.

Separate organic demand, founder-led outreach, paid acquisition, partnerships, and marketplace traffic. Ask what happens when the founder stops posting or a platform changes its rules. The answer changes both price and your first-90-days plan.

Review repository ownership, deployment, backups, dependencies, secrets, monitoring, support, and known technical debt. You are not trying to eliminate all work; you are pricing the work you will inherit and checking that it is possible.

Confirm ownership of the code, domain, brand, content, customer data rights, contracts, and third-party accounts. Assignment clauses, privacy obligations, and vendor approvals can matter more than a polished demo.

Define access, milestones, support window, acceptance criteria, and escrow conditions. A shared checklist turns a promise into an observable transfer and gives both sides a way to resolve missing items.

Write the continuity plan before making the offer. Protect billing, support, deployments, and customer promises first; then choose a small number of measurable improvements. Your offer should leave enough cash and time to execute that plan.