This is the step between a business that looks interesting and a business worth spending money investigating. Full diligence costs real fees, so the job here is to get far enough to be confident, cheaply, and to say no quickly to the ones that will not survive it.

The other reason to be systematic is that your judgement is least reliable right now. A seller is presenting, you are imagining it working, and nobody has verified anything. A list you wrote beforehand is worth more than your impression in the room.

Have your criteria page in front of you. The first pass is simply whether this clears the bar you already set, and a target that fails a deal-breaker should be declined the same day rather than reasoned with.

Expect to sign a confidentiality agreement before you see real numbers. That is normal. Read it, because some are drafted to stop you buying anything similar for years.