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One sample, the whole workflow

Practice on Oak & Field Garden Care, a fictional business. No signup or private financial information is needed.

Updated October 6, 2026

An imagined university above a forested valley at purple twilight.
An imagined place for careful study. Original illustrative artwork.

Six steps through the workbench

  1. 01PrepareKnow your meansCapital, time and your support team.
  2. 02DefineWrite your criteriaSet the boundaries of your search.
  3. 03ModelFollow the cashPrice, earnings, financing and reserves.
  4. 04SearchFind a candidateScreen your records or search public listings.
  5. 05VerifyBuild the evidenceNineteen checks, with notes and risk flags.
  6. 06DecideKeep your reasoningAdvance the deal or record why you pass.

1. Load the sample

Open the workbench and choose Try a sample acquisition. The sample is clearly labeled and will be added only once. It does not replace your existing deals, filters or calculator draft. Remove it later under Your data.

The fictional asking price is $500,000, stated annual SDE is $175,000, and the business has operated for twelve years. These are practice inputs, not market benchmarks or an available listing.

2. Model a buyer's version of the cash flow

Open Calculator. Enter the sample price and SDE, 10% down, a 10.5% acquisition loan over ten years, no seller note, $60,000 of annual replacement compensation and a $15,000 capex reserve. Add the closing-cost and working-capital budget you want to test.

Compare the annual cash left after debt with the seller's stated SDE. Change one assumption at a time. Save a useful scenario as a separately named deal, or copy the result for your own notes. The assumptions travel with a deal saved from the calculator.

3. Review evidence and risk

Open the sample in Diligence. Its customer-concentration item has a fictional high-risk finding. Add a document reference, next action and risk level. Marking an item reviewed does not remove its risk. A checklist records your review; it does not prove the underlying information is correct.

4. Make a recorded decision

In Pipeline, edit the sample. Move it to diligence if you want more evidence, or select Passed / rejected and write the reason. A useful reason identifies what would need to change: a lower price, documented earnings or a transferable contract.

The Advisor explains its screening rules and links to the guides behind its questions. It provides prompts, not an automated purchase recommendation.

5. Keep a copy

Use Back up now, then confirm the downloaded JSON file is saved. To restore it, open Your data, choose merge or full restore, review the counts and confirm. A full restore replaces the workspace. A merge updates matching record IDs and keeps other records.

Print / save PDF opens your browser's print dialog for a deal summary. Choose Save as PDF where your browser supports it. That summary is readable by advisers; a JSON backup is the file used to restore the app.

A sensible next step

Take the buyer readiness diagnostic and choose your own budget and industry for Scout. The score is a self-assessment, not an approval, credit decision or calculation of affordability.

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