Frontlines Edutech — Business Due Diligence
Questions to ask before taking responsibility for part of the business.
1. Understand the Business Financially
- What was total revenue for the last 12 months?
- What is the current monthly revenue?
- How much revenue comes from each course/program?
- What is the average amount paid by a student?
- Which courses are actually profitable?
- What are the biggest operating expenses?
- How much is spent on marketing every month?
- How much is spent on salaries and trainers?
- What is the current profit margin?
- Are there outstanding loans, liabilities, refunds or major payments?
- Is current cash flow comfortable?
If we stopped acquiring new students tomorrow, how much recurring or repeat revenue would the existing student base generate?
2. Understand Where Students Come From
- Where do most students come from?
- Instagram?
- YouTube?
- Website?
- WhatsApp?
- Referrals?
- Paid advertising?
- College partnerships?
- Sales calls?
How much does it cost to acquire one paying student?
Which acquisition channel produces the highest-quality students, not just the most leads?
3. Understand the Sales Process
- Who handles enquiries?
- How many leads do we receive every month?
- How many are contacted?
- How many attend counselling?
- How many purchase?
- What is the conversion rate?
- What is the average sales cycle?
- Are counsellors salaried, commission-based, or both?
- What are the biggest reasons people don’t buy?
- What percentage request refunds?
Ask to see the actual funnel: Leads → Contacted → Counselling → Payment → Onboarding.
4. Understand the Courses
Why does a student choose our course instead of YouTube, Udemy, Coursera or another institute?
- Which courses sell the most?
- Which courses have the highest completion rate?
- Which courses have the highest dropout rate?
- Which generate the most complaints?
- Which trainers get the best feedback?
- Which courses generate the highest profit?
- How often is the curriculum updated?
- Who decides what new courses are launched?
Management question: Which courses should we actually stop selling?
5. Understand Student Outcomes
- How many students enrolled in the last year?
- How many actually completed their course?
- How many received career or placement support?
- How many got interviews?
- How many received job offers?
- What is the actual placement rate?
- What is the average salary?
- What is the median salary?
- How long does it take students to get placed?
- How are placements verified?
Do we have a database showing every student’s journey from enrolment to employment?
6. Understand the Trainers
- How are trainers recruited?
- Are they employees or freelancers?
- How are they paid?
- What happens if a trainer leaves?
- Does Frontlines own the course material?
- Are sessions recorded?
- Who updates course material?
- How is trainer performance measured?
- Do students rate trainers?
7. Understand the Technology
- What LMS are we using?
- What CRM are we using?
- How are leads tracked?
- How are student payments tracked?
- How do we track attendance?
- How do we track course completion?
- How do we track placements?
- Is the website connected to the CRM?
- Do we have automated WhatsApp/email communication?
- Where is student data stored?
If I wanted to know exactly how much revenue came from Instagram last month, could we get that number immediately?
8. Understand Marketing
- How many leads did marketing generate last month?
- What was the cost per lead?
- What was the cost per acquisition?
- Which content converts?
- Which campaigns generated actual revenue?
- How much is organic versus paid?
- How many students come through referrals?
- What is the website conversion rate?
Views ≠ Leads ≠ Customers ≠ Revenue.
9. Understand the Competition
Who do we actually lose customers to?
- Cheaper competitors
- Premium EdTech companies
- Local institutes
- YouTube
- Udemy
- Coursera
- Individual trainers
- AI/free resources
Why do students choose us?
10. Understand Management
- What exactly do you want me to own?
- What decisions can I make independently?
- What decisions require approval?
- What budget would I control?
- Who reports to me?
- Who do I report to?
- What KPIs will I be judged on?
- What would success look like after 3 months?
- What would success look like after 12 months?
Do not accept responsibility for a business area without having the authority and information required to improve it.
11. Ask What Is Currently Broken
If you could fix three things in the business immediately, what would they be?
What’s the biggest problem nobody has solved yet?
Where do you think we’re losing the most money?
12. Ask What They Expect From You
Get a specific answer rather than accepting “help with the business.”
- Marketing
- Sales
- Operations
- Finance
- Student experience
- Course development
- Placement
- Business development
- Strategy
What specifically do you want me to take ownership of?
13. Numbers You Should Request
| Metric | Current |
|---|---|
| Monthly revenue | |
| Monthly expenses | |
| Monthly profit | |
| Students per month | |
| Average course price | |
| Leads per month | |
| Lead → sale conversion | |
| Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) | |
| Refund percentage | |
| Course completion percentage | |
| Placement percentage | |
| Repeat purchase percentage | |
| Referral percentage | |
| Marketing spend | |
| Trainer costs |
14. 30-Minute Management Meeting — Top 15 Questions
- What exactly is our business model today?
- What generated the most revenue in the last 12 months?
- Which products actually make the most profit?
- How many paying students do we currently have?
- Where do our paying students come from?
- What does it cost us to acquire one student?
- What percentage of leads become paying students?
- What percentage of students actually complete their course?
- What percentage get interviews/jobs after completing it?
- Why do students choose Frontlines over competitors?
- What is currently the biggest problem in the business?
- Where are we losing money?
- What are the three biggest growth opportunities?
- What exactly do you want me to take ownership of?
- What numbers will determine whether I am succeeding?
15. The Question I’d Definitely Ask
“If you were running Frontlines yourself for the next 12 months, what would you change first?”
This gets beyond the polished version of the business and into the actual problems management knows exist.
16. First-Month Approach
- Understand the financials
- Map the student acquisition funnel
- Review course profitability
- Review student completion and outcomes
- Understand trainer operations
- Review marketing performance
- Review sales performance
- Map the technology stack
- Identify the three biggest operational problems
- Agree on your specific area of ownership
- Establish 3–5 measurable KPIs
Principle: First understand the numbers and processes. Then decide what needs fixing. Don’t start by throwing new ideas at the business before understanding how it actually works.
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