How To Evaluate a Internet Property - Resources
shoemoney
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2 min read
This is the 4th chapter of “How To Evaluate a Internet Property”. You can read part 1 - Financials here and part 2 - part Rate of growth here and part 3 - The Run Rate Here
Resources to run the Internet property you are interested in buying should be a very key point in your valuation. There are 3 major resource categories you will want to think about here. They are Technical, Human, Experience in Niche.
Technical Resources – Do a very in-depth look at the technical resources being utilized by the internet property you are valuating. Do they administrate all there own servers? Do they do all programming in house? Who handles DNS ? Backups ? Look at every possible technical area and then ask yourself do you have the ability to perform as these same technical resources have been. Sometimes 1 person can do the work of all of these people. In my companies case we do 100% of this in house just with myself and 1 other employee. But we have a combined 20 some years experience in these areas. This is also an important time to talk to your current staff and get there assessment. Work with them individually and have them point out any concerns they have if your acquisition goes through. The last thing you want to do is take over a company and instantly have to hire a dozen people that will account for at least 1 million dollars a year in payroll that you had not budgeted for.
Human Resources - This is my category for the non technical people that are working for the company you are looking at. They can be anyone from accountants to writers... you name it. Do not underestimate the value of human equity.
Niche Resource People - This falls somewhere in between. Its basically the people who have been with the business for a long time and would take a very long time to train/replace. Each company has some of these invaluable people. They understand how the guts of the company/niche work. Most of the time these people are completely missed until after a deal is done then tried to be stolen away by the purchasing company.
Resources are the most missed part of a proper internet company valuation. Make sure you take a good look at them.
Resources to run the Internet property you are interested in buying should be a very key point in your valuation. There are 3 major resource categories you will want to think about here. They are Technical, Human, Experience in Niche.
Technical Resources – Do a very in-depth look at the technical resources being utilized by the internet property you are valuating. Do they administrate all there own servers? Do they do all programming in house? Who handles DNS ? Backups ? Look at every possible technical area and then ask yourself do you have the ability to perform as these same technical resources have been. Sometimes 1 person can do the work of all of these people. In my companies case we do 100% of this in house just with myself and 1 other employee. But we have a combined 20 some years experience in these areas. This is also an important time to talk to your current staff and get there assessment. Work with them individually and have them point out any concerns they have if your acquisition goes through. The last thing you want to do is take over a company and instantly have to hire a dozen people that will account for at least 1 million dollars a year in payroll that you had not budgeted for.
Human Resources - This is my category for the non technical people that are working for the company you are looking at. They can be anyone from accountants to writers... you name it. Do not underestimate the value of human equity.
Niche Resource People - This falls somewhere in between. Its basically the people who have been with the business for a long time and would take a very long time to train/replace. Each company has some of these invaluable people. They understand how the guts of the company/niche work. Most of the time these people are completely missed until after a deal is done then tried to be stolen away by the purchasing company.
Resources are the most missed part of a proper internet company valuation. Make sure you take a good look at them.