Selling your business: how the process runs
The whole arc in order, with a short piece on each stage. Most of what decides the outcome happens before a buyer sees the file.
A sale runs in a rough order, and most of what decides the outcome happens before a buyer ever sees the file. This is the map. Each stage links to a short piece on how that part actually works.
Before you decide anything
- What your business is worth, and why the number moves — how a buyer builds his number, and what moves it
- SDE or EBITDA: which number a buyer will use — the two earnings figures, and which one applies to you
Getting the numbers straight
- The records a buyer asks for first — what a buyer asks for first, and why the records have to agree
- When part of last year's profit was an estimate — the test a buyer runs when earnings include estimates
- Who holds the license the day after closing? — the question a licensed trade adds to every sale
Going to market
- What goes in the package a buyer actually reads — the blind profile and the full package, and what belongs in each
- Should a buyer meet your people before closing? — when your people should hear, and from whom
A Straight Answer
The months before the listing decide more than the listing does. Almost everything on this page can be done quietly, before you have told anyone anything.
None of it requires hiring anybody. An owner who works through this list and then decides to wait two years has not wasted the time — he has the two years and he knows what to spend them on.
BuiltEquity is a sell-side brokerage for trades and field-service companies. Nothing here is legal, tax or accounting advice. Your CPA and your attorney are the authority on your situation.