Diligence for Digital Assets?

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June 27, 2025

by a searcher from University of Texas in Austin, TX, USA

During diligence, when you take inventory of digital assets, which tools or reports do you pull first? Also, any benchmarks people should consider?
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commentor profile
Reply by a professional
in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
I like to start with what I call the “oh crap” filter. As in… what digital asset, if it disappeared overnight, would make the seller go “oh crap”? Those are usually: • Domain (check registrar + expiration) • Website + hosting (is it self-hosted, or on Squarespace from 2012?) • Email list (get the ESP + active subs, not just total) • Traffic (pull GSC, GA, or whatever analytics they’ve got, even if it’s duct-taped) • Socials (followers don’t matter as much as reach and traffic sent, so ask for post insights not just vanity stats) Then I go hunting for ghosts. Old FB pages. Dormant email tools. Zapier automations. AirTable bases with secret sauce. Weird micro-tools they forgot they built that drive 30% of leads. You’d be amazed. Benchmarks depend on the model, but one rule I use: If 80% of their traffic or conversions rely on ONE platform, that ain’t a moat, it’s a hostage situation. Make sure you’re not buying a one-legged stool with a fancy paint job.
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Reply by a professional
from University of Rhode Island in Portland, OR, USA
While SEO is changing, I definitely keep the Google Adwords Keyword tool at the ready. It is like drinking right from the tap when it comes to finding search volumes, similar/competitive keywords and generally gauging where you might ultimately land if success occurs.
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