E-commerce, Creator & Digital Businesses · Buyer guide
Buying a Consumer Mobile App / Subscription Business business
Published · Reviewed by The Diligence Standard Team · Updated
Download count can obscure weak retention. Buyers should diligence subscriber cohorts, app-store revenue share, paid acquisition, code ownership, technical debt, privacy obligations and whether the product team can maintain releases.
How the business works
App value depends on subscription retention, app-store concentration, organic versus paid installs, product engagement, code/IP, privacy/security, platform compliance and founder/developer dependence.
Risks to test
- App-store policy/account exposure
- High subscriber churn
- Paid-install dependence
- Founder/key developer dependence
- Code/IP ownership gaps
- Privacy/security exposure
- Technical debt and release risk
Evidence to request and reconcile
- Subscription cohorts
- App Store/Play reports
- Attribution/ad data
- Code repositories/IP assignments
- Security/privacy documentation
- Crash/analytics reports
- Store policy history
- Developer/team contracts
Decision questions
- What do 3/6/12-month retention cohorts show?
- How much acquisition is paid?
- Who owns all source code?
- What store-policy issues exist?
- What privacy/security incidents exist?
- Can releases happen without founder developer?
- What technical debt is material?
- How concentrated is revenue by platform?