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Built for Search Funds

A broker package is a starting point. Your underwriting questions should start there too.

The early challenge is not a lack of data—it is deciding which data matters, which add-backs are credible, and which owner-dependent assumptions could make the target harder to finance or operate after close.

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What AltosIQ contributes

AltosIQ helps search fund operators organize a target’s financial history, normalization questions, valuation context, and transferability risks before deciding whether the opportunity deserves deeper diligence.

The challenge

The CIM rarely answers the questions you actually need answered.

An offering package can make adjusted earnings look simple. But a future operator has to ask a different set of questions: Are those adjustments recurring? Does the owner hold the key relationships? Is the customer base concentrated? Are the financial records sufficient for lender and diligence work?

A deliberate workflow

A search-fund workflow for deciding what to pursue

  1. 01

    Read the earnings story critically

    Capture historical performance and separate reported results from proposed adjustments.

  2. 02

    Identify transferability risk

    Surface dependencies on the owner, customers, suppliers, employees, and reporting processes.

  3. 03

    Establish valuation context

    Document the methodology and assumptions used for the current information set.

  4. 04

    Build the diligence question list

    Take precise questions into lender conversations, quality-of-earnings work, legal review, and operating diligence.

The result

What a disciplined early screen gives you

A sharper decision about whether to pursue the target
A record of the assumptions that need to be validated
A more focused diligence agenda before exclusivity

Avoid false certainty before exclusivity

The platform does not tell you to buy a company. It helps you avoid advancing a target because the headline number looks compelling while the underlying earnings, transferability, or risk story remains unexamined.

See what a documented analysis includes

Questions advisers ask

Clear answers before a conversation starts.

How should a search fund evaluate a business before an LOI?+

Assess the recorded financial history, proposed normalization, recurring earnings, transferability risks, valuation assumptions, and the questions that require formal diligence.

Can AltosIQ replace an SBA-required appraisal?+

No. It supports documented analysis and pre-qualification discussions; it does not replace a formal appraisal when one is required.

Does it make an acquisition recommendation?+

No. It provides structured analytical context. Acquisition, financing, diligence, and negotiation decisions remain with the operator and their advisers.

Spend your diligence time where the evidence earns it.

See how a documented early screen can make target selection more disciplined.

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AltosIQ supports documented valuation analysis and planning conversations. It does not replace credentialed appraisal work, legal or tax advice, formal fairness opinions, quality-of-earnings work, or independent investment diligence and decision-making.