(How a lack of technical aptitude destroyed a profitable asset in under 90 days)

Asset Profile: The “Simple” SaaS That Wasn’t Simple

Key Metric	Seller Claim
Niche	B2B Productivity Tools
Monetization	Monthly SaaS Subscriptions
Asking Price	$120,000
Claimed Monthly MRR	$3,000
Implied Multiple	40x

The seller positioned the SaaS as “low maintenance,” “no-code,” and “fully automated.” The reality was very different.

🔍 Discovery Phase: The Hidden Technical Risk

The buyer —with no technical background— relied on:

• Dashboard screenshots
• A walkthrough video
• A 45‑minute handover call

Using the Technical Viability Checklists from our kit, the buyer requested:

• Read‑only access to the code repository (GitHub)
• Error logs from the last 12 months
• Internal documentation
• A full list of external dependencies (APIs, cron jobs, workers)

This revealed the real problem.

🛑 Critical Red Flag: Total Founder Dependency

The SaaS had an architecture only the founder understood.

Area	Seller Claim	Due Diligence Finding
Codebase	“No‑code + simple scripts”	14,000 lines of custom code
Infrastructure	“Automatic”	7 cron jobs + 3 manual workers
Integrations	“Plug & play”	4 undocumented APIs
Maintenance	“1 hour/month”	8–12 hours/month required

The SaaS worked… as long as the founder was behind it.

📉 Operational Viability Impact

The key question from the kit: Can the new owner operate the asset without the seller? The answer was NO.

Operational SDE Adjustment

Concept	Seller Claim	DD Adjustment	Actual Operational SDE
Monthly MRR	$3,000	$0	$3,000
Churn	3%	+7%	10% real
Monthly Dev Cost	$0	-$800	-$800
Maintenance Time	1h	+11h	12h real
Monthly SDE	$2,900	N/A	$1,700

This was not a passive asset. It was a hidden technical job.

💥 Outcome: Shutdown in 90 Days

After the acquisition:

• A critical API failed
• The buyer couldn’t restart the workers
• Customers received repeated errors
• Churn spiked to 25%
• MRR dropped below $1,000
• The SaaS became non‑viable

The buyer shut it down within 3 months.

Total Loss:

$120,000 purchase + $2,400 in emergency dev costs = $122,400 USD

🔑 Lessons for Investors

1) Aptitude Before Price If you can’t operate the asset, it’s not an investment. It’s a liability.

2) Technical Viability Is Part of SDE A SaaS with undocumented dependencies is worth less, even if revenue looks strong.

3) Founder Dependency Is a Financial Risk If the business only works with the founder, it’s not a business. It’s a disguised job.

4) Due Diligence Is Survival The mistake wasn’t financial. It was operational.

👇 Ready to Avoid Buying an Asset You Can’t Operate?

Get Our Audit Toolkit Now! (Price: $300)