First-pass memo — $4.8K Per Month SaaS Business in the Business Niche

Deal: Empire Flippers #96756

Date: 2026-10-06 · data retrieved 2026-10-06 21:51 UTC via ef_api · criteria profile: General micro-acquisition screen

Screen result: WATCH — 2 high / 10 medium flags need seller answers before spending on diligence.

Informational screening only — not investment, financial, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Based solely on seller-provided and publicly available listing data, which has not been independently verified. No warranty. Do your own due diligence and consult qualified advisers. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any marketplace. Screen results (ADVANCE / WATCH / PASS) classify the listing against the stated criteria profile; they are not recommendations to buy or sell.

Snapshot

• Asking price / multiple: $108,508 / 2.80× annual profit (computed); stated 2.8× SDE
• Payback (ask ÷ monthly profit): 33.6 months on average monthly profit (as stated); 44.0 months on last-3-month average
• MRR / ARR / TTM revenue: $4,697 / n/a / $58,016 (avg monthly revenue $4,835)
• SDE / profit (definition): avg monthly $3,229; TTM $38,753; last month $2,135; margin ≈67% — basis: SDE
• Age: ~98 months (first revenue 2018-08)
• Business model: SaaS · B2B · ~70 customers
• Traffic sources (top 3): Direct 95%, Organic Search 3%, Referral 2% · 45,611 page views / 42,231 users per month (listing)
• Tech stack: WordPress, jQuery, Google Cloud, Stripe

Fit vs criteria

• Hard filters: PASS
• Price vs comparables: 2.80× is within p25–p75 of EF for-sale asking multiples (2026-10-06) — SaaS p25 2.6× / median 3.1× / p75 3.74× (n=6, thin)
• Operator load: 2 hrs/week (seller-stated); relies on: 1 staff/contractor mention(s)

Unit economics & risk

• Churn / retention evidence: 10%/month (seller/marketplace-stated); ARPU ≈ $67/mo; implied LTV ≈ $671 (stated LTV $810)
• Customer concentration: not disclosed; ~70 customers → average ≈1.4% each
• Moat evidence in listing: registered trademark listed in assets; 8+ years operating history
• Key-person / transfer: Seller runs a related agency/business; 'Passive' claim but business relies on staff/contractors; Payment-account transfer has conditions
• Platform / regulatory risk: Amazon, Google Search; seller-disclosed: Changes in technology, the competitive environment and Amazon policies could affect the relevance of the software; Any extended downtime or security breach could erode user trust - service failures often lead to customer churn as clients quickly seek more reliable alternatives.

Red flags

Notes: Data providers shown: Stripe, Google Analytics

Work to own (post-close)

• Likely automatable / agent-assisted from week one: reporting, uptime and support triage (generic — confirm task list)
• Still needs a human/contractor: Coordinating with a marketing freelancer on monthly blog writing.; Monitoring performance and setting strategy and direction.; The business is supported by a customer service agent, a part-time developer, and a content writer.
• Estimated owner hrs/week steady state: 2 hrs/week (seller-stated); not independently verified

Numbers that would change the call

1. Price ≤ $91,762 keeps the benchmark median multiple (3.1×) on last-3-month profit ($2,467/mo) rather than the period average.
2. Evidence the last-3-month profit dip (-24%) is temporary (month-to-date P&L).
3. Documented monthly churn ≤ 5% (vs 10% stated).

Next step if interested

• Questions for seller (top 5):
  • How is churn calculated (logo vs revenue), and what are new-customer adds per month?
  • Show Search Console clicks and signup attribution by channel; which channel actually produces paying customers?
  • What drove the last 3 months below the 12-month average, and what do month-to-date numbers show?
  • Explain the low months (refunds, annual-plan timing, one-off costs?).
  • Reconcile MRR to collected revenue (failed payments, discounts, refunds, annual plans).
• Diligence checklist: read-only Stripe/PayPal (or ad-network) access reconciled to bank deposits; 12–24-month P&L incl. all contractors/tools; analytics + Search Console export; customer list with revenue (concentration, churn cohorts); code/repo walkthrough and hosting accounts; domain, trademark and IP assignment; contractor agreements; platform-policy history.
• Illustrative LOI math (not a recommendation): $100,745–$120,119 at benchmark p25–median multiples; $91,762 at median multiple on last-3-month profit. Marketplace/escrow-held funds; transition: The seller is willing to offer 40 days of support via email and phone calls to ensure a smooth transition for the Buyer.

Seller claims that need evidence

• “The business benefits from minimal customer acquisition costs, with customers acquired organically through strong search engine rankings for high-volume keywords related to eCommerce and Amazon FBA.”
• “The business is highly passive, with the Seller dedicating approximately two hours per week to overseeing operations and communicating with contractors.”
• “The business currently has approximately 70 active subscribers, generating more than $4,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR), while adding approximately three to five new customers per month.”
• “This represents an attractive opportunity for Buyers seeking an established B2B SaaS business serving the Amazon and eCommerce ecosystem, with meaningful potential for growth through paid customer acquisition and the dev…”

Questions to ask the seller

1. How is churn calculated (logo vs revenue), and what are new-customer adds per month?
2. Show Search Console clicks and signup attribution by channel; which channel actually produces paying customers?
3. What drove the last 3 months below the 12-month average, and what do month-to-date numbers show?
4. Explain the low months (refunds, annual-plan timing, one-off costs?).
5. Reconcile MRR to collected revenue (failed payments, discounts, refunds, annual plans).
6. What is causing the year-over-year decline and what has been tried?
7. What share of customers came via your agency or other businesses, and will that continue post-sale?
8. What is behind the Direct traffic and how durable is it?
9. What would happen to revenue if Amazon changed its policy/API tomorrow? Any past incidents?
10. What caused the traffic jump (campaign, bot/untagged traffic, new property in the GA view)?
11. List each contractor, monthly cost, whether it is in the P&L, and whether they will stay.
12. Exact Stripe transfer path for my entity type, and how many subscribers failed migration in past tests?

Sources & method

• Listing data: Empire Flippers, retrieved 2026-10-06 21:51 UTC via ef_api — https://empireflippers.com/listing/96756/
• Field provenance: api: 32 fields; derived: 5 fields; api+text: 1 fields; text: 1 fields
• Benchmark: EF for-sale asking multiples (2026-10-06) (Empire Flippers public Marketplace API; asking, not closed, multiples)
• Analytics series (12 months, EF combined_site_metrics): avg unique users/month 42,231; latest 55,716.
• Checks are deterministic rules; numbers are computed from the fields above. Generated by the FirstPass Memo pipeline, v0.1.

Informational screening only — not investment, financial, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Based solely on seller-provided and publicly available listing data, which has not been independently verified. No warranty. Do your own due diligence and consult qualified advisers. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any marketplace.

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