Meet the founder
Mike Warren
Mike has spent over three decades across three private equity firms evaluating, acquiring, and operating businesses. He's seen every way a deal can go wrong — and developed a methodology to prevent it. He founded Business Mastery University and BizBuyEmpire to help corporate professionals safely transition from employment to business ownership.
Why we built DealScore Pro
"We saw too many people making mistakes that cost them their life savings because they didn't understand how to evaluate a deal properly. From the calculator to the CIM analyzer to structuring deals — we built DealScore Pro to help buyers get past the hard part."
The problem we're solving
Every year, thousands of professionals leave corporate careers to buy a business. Most of them do it with an SBA loan, a broker's recommendation, and a prayer.
The problem isn't ambition — it's information. Business brokers are paid when deals close, not when deals succeed. Banks approve loans that barely meet minimum requirements. And first-time buyers don't know what questions to ask until it's too late.
"I watched too many talented people — engineers, executives, doctors — pour their life savings into businesses that couldn't survive a single bad quarter. Not because they were foolish, but because nobody gave them the right tools to evaluate the deal before they signed."
The Bulletproof Deal Analyzer was built to fix that gap. It takes the same evaluation criteria our team uses on every acquisition and puts it in your hands — instantly, for any deal, on any device.
The Bulletproof methodology
Most deal evaluation tools check whether a business qualifies for a loan. We check whether it qualifies for your family's financial security. There's a significant difference.
The Bulletproof standard consists of five criteria, each set 60% or more above what banks require Banks approve loans that barely cover the payment. "Approved" doesn't mean safe. Our criteria add enough margin so the deal survives real-world problems — slow quarters, lost employees, equipment failures.. If a deal fails any single criterion, we recommend walking away.
These criteria weren't invented in a boardroom. They were developed over 100+ years of combined experience watching what separates acquisitions that thrive from acquisitions that fail. Every criterion exists because our team has seen what happens without it.
The 80/10/10 deal structure
Every deal we model uses the same financing framework: 80% SBA 7(a) loan, 10% seller financing, and 10% buyer down payment.
This isn't arbitrary. The seller financing component keeps the previous owner invested in your success through the transition period. The SBA loan provides favorable terms and rates. And the 10% down payment means you're not draining your savings to acquire a business.
Our calculator and CIM Analyzer model every deal using this structure automatically, showing you the exact monthly payments, debt service obligations, and cash-on-cash return on your 10% investment.
How we're different
Other tools tell you whether a bank will approve the loan. We tell you whether the deal will protect your family.
Other tools hide the calculator behind a login. Ours is free, open, and works without an account.
Other tools give you a generic score. Ours gives you five specific criteria with pass/fail transparency on each one — so you know exactly what's strong and what's weak about every deal.
And when you're ready for more than a tool — when you want a team of acquisition professionals in your corner — we're the only platform that connects directly to a partnership evaluation with experienced deal evaluators who use the same Bulletproof criteria.