Buying a software company in Orlando and Central Florida

• Most revenue comes from subscriptions or maintenance that renew, and few customers cancel.
• A niche where the product is hard to replace because it holds customers' records or runs their daily work.
• More than one developer understands the code, and it's documented, tested and kept in version control (a system that tracks every change).
• Clear ownership of the code: every employee and contractor signed an agreement assigning their work to the company.
• The product runs on current, supported technology at a reasonable hosting cost.
• New customers come through a repeatable process (search, referrals, partners who resell or recommend it), not only the founder's relationships.
• Support requests are tracked and manageable, and the product doesn't need constant hand-holding.

• Have an independent developer review the code for quality, security, documentation and outdated components.
• Have the code scanned for open-source components. Some open-source licenses put conditions on how code can be distributed.
• Confirm the chain of ownership: signed assignments from every founder, employee and contractor who wrote code.
• Read the largest customer contracts for change-of-control clauses (terms triggered by a sale), uptime promises, limits on liability and data duties.
• Look at renewals and cancellations by customer group over several years, not just total revenue.
• Check who controls the domain, hosting accounts, app store listings and code repository.
• Separate truly recurring revenue from custom work that has to be won again each year.
• Review hosting bills and the outside services the product depends on.

• Who besides you could fix a serious bug in the core code tomorrow?
• How many customers canceled last year, and what reasons did they give?
• Did everyone who wrote code sign an agreement assigning it to the company?
• What's the oldest part of the system, and what would it take to modernize it?
• Has the company ever had a security incident or data breach?
• When did you last raise prices, and what happened?
• How do new customers find you?

This region covers Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Sumter and Marion counties: Orlando, Winter Park, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Sanford, Clermont, Leesburg, Ocala and the large retirement communities of Sumter and Lake counties. Tourism is what the area is best known for, built on the theme parks, the hotels, the vacation rental homes around Kissimmee and the Orange County Convention Center. It's far from the only business. The University of Central Florida and the military simulation and training offices near it support a technology base, and health care is a major employer.

Marion County is horse country, with thoroughbred farms around Ocala, and it has added warehouses and distribution centers along Interstate 75. Retirees in Sumter and Lake create steady demand for medical practices, home care, home maintenance and auto services. The building trades, restaurants, and companies that serve hotels and rental homes do well across the region.

Central Florida is inland, so storm surge isn't the worry it is on the coasts. Hurricanes still bring wind damage and flooding, though: Hurricane Ian flooded neighborhoods in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties in 2022. Ask whether the business or its customers were affected.

Tourism keeps demand steadier through the year than in markets that depend on winter residents, with busy stretches around school holidays. Hotels, parks and restaurants compete hard for workers, which pushes up wages for any company that hires hourly staff. New homes have spread fast in Osceola, south Lake and southeast Orange counties and around Ocala, so check whether a company's customers are in growing areas or older ones. Traffic on Interstate 4 limits how much ground a service company can cover in a day.