Insights
Analysis of what moves the number, written for owners rather than for buyers. The same standard applies as on the rest of the site: every figure names its source.
The NDA, explained
What the confidentiality agreement in a business sale actually does, why serious buyers sign one without fuss, and what it does not promise.
Read the article ↗· The sale process, explained, part 1 of 5
How a business is priced
Owner earnings, the multiple, and the short list of things that move them. The arithmetic every first-time seller should be able to do on one page.
Read the article ↗· The sale process, explained, part 2 of 5
The language of a transaction: a seller's glossary
Every term you will hear between the first conversation and the wire, in one table, with what each one means for you in practice.
Read the article ↗· The sale process, explained, part 3 of 5
What buyers will request, and why
The document stack behind every serious offer: what a buyer expects to see, what each item proves, and why assembling it early is worth real money.
Read the article ↗· The sale process, explained, part 4 of 5
Reading a letter of intent
The headline number is the least binding sentence in the document. What an LOI commits you to, what it commits the buyer to, and the questions to ask before signing.
Read the article ↗· The sale process, explained, part 5 of 5
Due diligence and closing
What happens between a signed letter of intent and the wire: what buyers verify, why deals reprice in this stretch, and how prepared sellers keep them from doing it.
Read the article ↗The multiple is backward-looking. The risk is not.
Small businesses sell on trailing earnings, and trailing earnings say nothing about whether software does the work in five years. For some licensed businesses that gap is a once-only window, measurable today from the state's own files.
Read the article ↗Why most listed businesses never sell
Most businesses that go to market do not find a buyer. The reasons are visible in the listing itself, and nearly all of them are decided long before it is written.
Read the article ↗