Buying a software company in Tampa Bay

• 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• Have an independent developer review the code for quality, security, documentation and outdated components.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?

Tampa Bay, as we draw it, runs from Citrus County south through Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, and east into Polk: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Wesley Chapel, Brooksville, Inverness, Lakeland and Winter Haven. Tampa is the business center, with Port Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport, the University of South Florida and MacDill Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. Financial services, insurance and health care employ many people, and the Gulf beaches of Pinellas bring tourists and seasonal residents.

Polk County sits on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando and has become a center for warehouses and distribution, alongside its older citrus and phosphate industries. To the north, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus are more suburban and rural, with many retirees. Home service companies, the building trades, medical practices and auto businesses all have a deep customer base across the region.

Hurricane Helene's storm surge in September 2024 and Hurricane Milton two weeks later both hit the region hard. Flood zones and insurance costs now matter in any deal near the water. Ask how the business came through those storms, what it claimed, and whether its building sits in a flood zone.

The labor market is deep by Florida standards, though skilled tradespeople can still be hard to find. New homes have pushed north and east into Pasco and eastern Hillsborough, and along Interstate 4 in Polk, bringing demand for services with them. Coastal Pinellas is more seasonal than inland Tampa or Lakeland. The bay itself shapes a service company's territory: crossing a bridge at rush hour can turn a short distance into a long drive, so look at where the customers actually are.