Guides for owners
Plain guides for the owners of founder-owned companies: how a sale runs, what buyers pay for, how private equity buys and what decides how long it all takes.
How to sell my business
A sale runs in stages: know the value, prepare the company, find buyers in confidence, compare offers on their terms, then verify and close. Each stage protects the one before it.
Read the GuideExit planning for business owners
Planning a sale is deciding what the owner needs from it and making the company ready to deliver that, well before a buyer is in the room.
Read the GuideSelling your business to private equity
A private equity firm buys a company with capital raised from investors, plans to grow it, and plans from the start to sell it again. Every term it offers follows from that.
Read the GuideWhat buyers look for
Buyers pay for earnings they can believe will continue under new ownership. Everything they examine is a way of testing that belief.
Read the GuideHow long does it take to sell a business?
The time a sale takes is the sum of its stages, and the preparation done before any buyer is approached decides how smoothly the rest of them run.
Read the GuideThe market, in one chart
What completed sales achieved, by size of sale, in the second quarters of 2025 and 2026. The smallest sales fell, from 2.3 to 2.0 times owner earnings; the largest rose, from 5.5 to 5.8 times EBITDA.
Under half a million (owner earnings): 2.3 times in Q2 2025, 2.0 times in Q2 2026
Half a million to one million (owner earnings): 2.8 times in Q2 2025, 2.8 times in Q2 2026
One to two million (owner earnings): 3.0 times in Q2 2025, 3.1 times in Q2 2026
Two to five million (EBITDA): 3.9 times in Q2 2025, 4.0 times in Q2 2026
Five to fifty million (EBITDA): 5.5 times in Q2 2025, 5.8 times in Q2 2026
The market is not moving in one direction. Above $2 million, strong businesses are still drawing meaningful competition. At the smallest end of the market, however, buyers have more leverage and are more sensitive to financing, margins, and operating risk.
The sale process, in detail
Each stage of a sale is covered at greater length in a five-part series: how a business is priced, the language of a sale, what buyers will ask for, reading a letter of intent, and due diligence and closing.
Start with part oneWild Rose Advisors welcomes conversations with the owners of founder-owned companies.
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