One of the important things to judge with an acquisition is how important is the owner’s role in the company. Typically, it will get downplayed by the broker or other financial intermediary representing the seller. However, often times, there’s more to it than what is said. A company may be more dependent on the owner than how they are letting on. What are some things that you could look at to judge this?

1. Product or service development. Who’s developed some of the new products or services that have been offered over the last few years? Has it been the owner or has it come from others? How important has the owner’s say been in deciding which projects make the cut and see the light of the day?

2. Sales. Look at the new customers that have been brought onboard during the past few years, especially if it’s a company that’s dependent upon a smaller number of customers. Who brought those customers onboard? How were they first approached? What was the sales cycle like? Who was the closer? Was it the owner?

3. Customer service. What issues have they had in customer service? What role has the owner played in smoothing these over?

4. Ongoing customers. What’s been the role to keep relationships up with ongoing customers? Is the owner the one doing the smoothing?

5. Servicing accounts. Who played a key role in servicing some of the important accounts if it is a service business? What role does the owner play in taking care of such service?

6. Technology. What changes have been made to technology? What hand did the owner have in instituting those changes, making the decision or helping with the implementation?

7. Banking. How important has the owner been to the banking relationship that they had? Can that be transferred over without the owner being there?

Be creative. Think of the different factors on how the owner might have an important hand in the acquisition you’re looking at. Make sure that a key part of the company isn’t going to fade away after the acquisition.