Guides
Guides to selling and buying a business
Short, sourced answers to the questions owners and buyers ask before they hire anyone: what a business is worth, how to read a letter of intent, what M&A advisors charge, and how a business broker differs from an M&A advisor. Every figure links to the page it came from.
Fixed fees. No exclusives. No success fees.
Read
The questions owners and buyers ask first
- What is my business worth?Fair market value as the IRS defines it, the three valuation approaches, the SBA's valuation rule for financed purchases, and how an asset sale price is allocated.
- How to read a letter of intent before you sign itWhat to check in a letter of intent: the real price, asset sale or stock sale, SBA rules on seller notes and equity, and what the letter leaves open.
- What M&A advisors chargeHow M&A advisors are paid, with survey figures for work fees, success fees and the Lehman formula, why pay at closing matters to regulators, and what a fixed fee costs here.
- Business broker vs M&A advisorThe federal M&A broker exemption and its size limits, the SEC no-action letter it replaced, what M&A brokers do, and why it matters how an intermediary is paid.
The first step
Not sure what you need?
That's what the call is for.
Free. No pitch. No obligation to buy anything.
On the call
30 min · free
Thirty minutes
By video or phone, at a time you pick.
We work out what you need
Which module fits, if any. Sometimes the answer is none yet.
You leave with a number
If a module fits, you'll know its fixed fee before you decide anything.