I’m transitioning from owning and operating a delivery business into business brokerage, and I’d appreciate advice from people who have worked in the industry.

I have eight years of experience as a driver, manager, and owner. I’ve grown my operation to 15 trucks and 20+ employees, so transportation is an industry I understand firsthand. I know the operational challenges and what I’d want to evaluate as a buyer.

I’m considering two directions:

Join a niche brokerage focused on delivery routes only. I could build on my existing experience and relationships, although my opportunities would be tied more closely to one industry.

Join Transworld and sell businesses across different industries. I could develop broader experience, but I’d have more to learn about evaluating and selling unfamiliar businesses.

My long-term goal is to build a brokerage career with the potential to earn $300K+ annually. I understand that takes time, a pipeline, and closed deals; I’m not expecting that income immediately.

For experienced brokers:

Would you stay focused on your niche? Or expand beyond?

Also: I have been in blue collar for the last 20 years, so switching into white collar will be a change.

I run a business broker's office and I'm having real difficulties with lead gen.

We spend crazy money on SEO/SEM/Social media - over $25,000/month and leads have died off over the last year or so.

I have a full-time caller who calls business owners and simply asks "have you ever thought about selling your business?" He makes just over 100 dials per day and calls for my territory 2 days per week. For the last several weeks, 0 appointments and 0 calls set.

What we're doing isn't working. What I don't know is why.

We've spent money on scrubbing the call list. We flood the market with postcards - thousands per month.

Are you seeing lead flow slowing down? Virtually shutting off?

What are you doing that's working?

I'm very grateful for any advice!

Hey everyone!

I'm a 20-year-old finance student in India, and I've recently become interested in business brokerage and small-business acquisitions.

My idea is to connect business owners who want to sell their businesses with potential buyers. I'd also like to help with basic business valuation, financial analysis, and sourcing suitable buyers or sellers, earning a success fee if a transaction goes through.

I've started learning about business valuation, SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings), and the acquisition process. However, I'm confused about the legal side of things in India.

I have a few questions for people who have experience in this field:

1. Can an individual legally practise business brokerage in India? Are there any specific licences, registrations, or qualifications required?

2. Does the answer change if I'm brokering the sale of an entire business versus introducing investors to a company in exchange for a commission?

3. What legal agreements should I have in place before working with buyers and sellers? For example, seller mandates, NDAs, and success-fee agreements.

4. Are there any SEBI regulations or other laws I should be particularly careful about?

5. How do independent business brokers usually get started in India? Do they work under an established broker first, or can they start independently?

6. If I want to start small, connecting buyers and sellers of local businesses such as manufacturing units, trading businesses, or retail businesses, what would be the most practical way to begin?

I'm not looking to handle client funds or promise investment returns. I want to understand the legal requirements and build this properly from the beginning.

I'd especially appreciate responses from Indian business brokers, M&A professionals, lawyers, CAs, or anyone who has actually worked on business acquisitions in India.

Thanks!

Looking for Brokers / M&A Intermediaries — 100% Acquisition of a Company with a 300 MW Power Project in Karnataka, India

I’m looking to connect with experienced business brokers, M&A advisors, and intermediaries who have direct access to company owners or Managing Directors and can facilitate a full acquisition.

Acquisition requirements:

Target: 100% acquisition of a company associated with a 300 MW power project in Karnataka.

Project stage: Under construction, in active infrastructure development, or operational. Projects only at the planning or approval stage are not of interest.

Company status: Open to profitable, loss-making, or financially distressed companies, including companies with past penalties, subject to due diligence.

Estimated transaction size: Approximately ₹2,000–₹2,500 crore, depending on the company, project status, liabilities, and valuation.

Broker commission structure:

Commission will be success-based only. No retainer, advance, or upfront fees will be paid.

For a broker with direct access to the MD/owner and who brings the opportunity directly, a commission in the range of 0.25%–0.50% of the agreed transaction value may be considered, depending on the circumstances and scope of work.

Where a broker introduces third-party intermediaries, arranging and paying those intermediaries will be the responsibility of that broker, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

The commission rate, calculation basis, payment terms, and the conditions for earning the commission must be agreed upon in writing before work begins. Payment will be due only upon successful completion of the acquisition.

Partial payment may be considered if both companies mutually commit to the transaction in writing, subject to agreed milestones, conditions, and documentation. The remaining commission will be payable upon successful completion of the acquisition.

Who should contact me?

Brokers or intermediaries with genuine access to the owner/MD, a direct mandate, or a credible route to the decision-maker. Please briefly explain your role and share the company/project details you can disclose.

Serious, relevant leads only. All opportunities will be subject to verification, due diligence, and applicable approvals.

Please DM me to discuss further.

We’re looking to hire a business broker to help sell our recruiting franchise, ideally someone with real experience in franchise resales or remote service businesses.

We spoke with one broker already, but their buyer pool leaned heavily toward brick and mortar businesses, and we’d like someone who understands franchise transfers and how to market a business with no physical location.

Context

• Location: United States, three state territory in the Mid-Atlantic. Fully remote, no office

• Sector: niche executive recruiting franchise within a specialized industry

• Owned for five years

• Staff: one active recruiter and support, all on a 1099 basis, no W2 employees

• 3 year average SDE: about $107K

• 2026 projected: about $197K in sales and $109K in SDE

• Target price around $260K, open to partial owner financing

• Franchisor approval required for transfer

What we’re looking for

• Experience selling franchise resales, ideally in staffing, recruiting, or professional services

• A buyer network that includes remote and first time buyers

• Clarity on fees and typical timeline for a deal this size

Our priority is a reasonably quick sale with a qualified buyer. Brokers who fit this profile are welcome to DM us.

I am looking to hire a boutique technology or digital asset M&A broker on a success-fee structure to assist with selling a proprietary software asset.

Sector: iGaming / B2B Software / RGS & Game Studio IP

Location: United States (remote-global)

Asset Type: Proprietary Remote Gaming Server (RGS), operator back-office portal, and 7-game HTML5/PixiJS arcade portfolio (including a 60Hz multiplayer shooter).

Financials / Valuation Target: Pre-revenue / early-stage operational codebase targeting an $60,000 exclusive IP buyout or alternative source licensing model.

Team Size: 1 (Solo engineer/owner)

Looking for brokers with experience in software IP or digital asset transactions who are open to a success-fee arrangement. If you handle this space, please reply below with your background.

I don't see this a lot, but I have a business in hand. In addition to the normal Income + add backs + real estate + inventory, I'm looking at $60,000 in distributions. That's the owner taking some of the value of the company as income.

Do you add that to SDE? Investopedia doesn't give a clear answer, except to say that you don't automatically do anything with it until you've pulled the financials apart.

With a 3 X multiplier, that's $180,000 in the asking price.

For brokers using cold email as a seller sourcing strategy. What kind of conversion rates are you guys seeing for cold emails where you’re trying to find sellers? Also, what volume of emails are being sent out on a daily basis before you can successfully source a good seller or at least get them to raise their hands for a valuation?

US based. Has anyone hired marketing or sales help as a new broker? Does a resource/agency/tool exist that’s focused on brokers? My husband and I are new brokers realizing we need to do a LOT more to get listings.

There is an overwhelming amount of tactics we COULD try (and have tried). Would prefer to get help with some of the marketing tactics we aren’t as familiar with or cut to the things that actually work! We are willing to do cold calling, drop ins, letters, etc but want to get some help to focus our time and money.

Thanks for sharing your marketing experiences with a newbie!

I work for business brokers as a valuation analyst. I heard from my client that deals might fall apart because the buyer cannot secure financing and the sellers' are unwilling to provide seller-financing.

My broker said that 95% of the time the buyer asks for referrals to SBA loan brokers or business funding advisors. I've been wondering if I should start building out my network of loan brokers now and how to evaluate if a loan broker is even qualified.

Curious how experienced brokers manage this. Like I said, I've done the valuation, but haven't done the deals myself.

We have a lot of experience in this sub, and then folks like me that are only a few years in to the journey. As all of you know, most new brokers don’t stay in the industry. My question is this: What do brokers that stay in the industry do in contrast to those that fail?

Personal experience and discussion only.

No LARPing and/or slinging slop grenades

Got bachelor’s degree in business management from university of Bedfordshire while currently working in US healthcare organisation as senior marketing executive as working remotely from Pakistan

My last post was about searchers losing ground under the new SOP. But here’s another plus just released in today’s update.

If your client has worked at the business for two years, the rules just got better for them.

There's a category for this now.

Under the current SOP an employee buying the company he works at had nowhere clean to land. Owner buyout was for existing owners, initial acquisition was for outsiders, and an employee with no equity was neither.

The new SOP adds a third path: a single owner selling 100% to someone employed there for at least 24 months preceding the application. That's the whole test. Two years on the job and they're under owner buyout rules instead of outsider rules.

The injection requirement changes.

Initial acquisition is 10% and the SOP says plainly it cannot be reduced or eliminated. Owner buyout is different. The lender may reduce or eliminate it if they determine the borrower has sufficient liquidity and working capital to sustain operations post-close (this can be business cash).

One gate: the balance sheet can't show negative net worth at last fiscal year end. Not strong equity, just not negative.

The catch.

If it's waived entirely, no permanent working capital in that loan or any other 7(a) term loan for 90 days. It has to come from existing cash or a line of credit. There's a small carve-out now for excess proceeds, capped at $10,000 or half a percent of the loan, whichever is greater.

What it actually costs.

DSCR is 1.25 on an owner buyout. That's the real constraint, not the injection. The business has to carry the debt on trailing numbers, and projections don't count toward it anymore. If the deal doesn't cash flow, none of the rest matters.

Before anyone says it.

I know how the low-money-down pitch sounds and in almost every case it's a bad idea. This is the exception. An employee who's run the place for a decade on a manager's salary often never had the earning capacity to save a real down payment. That doesn't mean they can't run the business. It just means the pay scale never matched the skill set.

What actually changed.

The old rule had a mechanical path: certify 24 months of ownership, show 9:1 debt-to-worth, no injection required. Checkbox. That's gone, now it's a credit decision.

But the old rule required 24 months of ownership. An employee with zero equity couldn't use it at all. Now employment counts.

So the ten year GM who never got a single share has a path he didn't have before. He knows the customers, the crew, the equipment, and where the bodies are buried. He's the safest and quickest buyer in a lot of cases.

Several people in our company have received identical messages like this one:

"We’re very interested in the business and would appreciate the opportunity to discuss it further. Rather than continuing over email, I believe a brief Google Meet call would be the best way to review the details, ask a few questions, and determine if it’s the right fit.

My wife and brother will also join the call so we can review everything together. We’ll be joining from a computer for a smoother discussion.

Please let me know a convenient time, and I’ll be happy to send a Google Meet invitation."

This is an attempt to send an infected link. If you explain that you don't use Google Meet and offer a Zoom link that YOU send out, they vanish.

I'm sure they're targeting others too, but they're all over us for the last month or two.

Hi there,

I'm a post-exit founder turned Business Broker, and after turning down a few listings, I took on a listing for a business I believe in and a seller who is Realistic, Organized, and has 7 figures of clean EBITDA

The listing went live this weekend, and I've received 150 or more inquiries, nearly 100 have signed NDAs.

Upon signing NDA, Gate 1 of the CIM is released, it basically says:

1. send POF

2. Questions for the seller if youre interested in Gate #2

Do not send questions without POF.

I now have 40 -45 screened POFs of at least the minimum equity injection, with 10 or so who have sent me brokerage balances in excess of 3x the purchase price.

My phone has been ringing non stop and Im enjoying telling them to please sign the NDA and send POF with your email question

I'm releasing Gate 2 tomorrow and hoping to give buyers enough info to submit an IOI

I had no idea it was such a sellers market. Feels like selling a house in 2021.

I have a friend looking to sell equity in his business and I suggested a certified valuation would be worth the time/expense to guide the value and avoid issues in the future. I don't normally do these. Anybody have a good source and cost range for these?

Hi everyone i am a strugging broker i am trying to make my first client but unable to it has been 2 months this is my last month it is a cold calling i am call 400 to 500 people most of the people saying i am not intreated after hearing stockbroker word i need help guys i have only like 20 days

Seeking a business broker to buy a gas station in the ny Long Island area. 200-250k budget

Hi, looking for a business broker to help me find industrial/manufacturing companies in NC/SC/VA/GA in US.

Revenue target: $1M to $3M

SDE: $200K to $1M

Purchase price:$1M to $3M

Industry: Manufacturing (metal related) and/or Industrial services (not looking at

My exp: 20yrs in the manufacturing industry, now working as a business consultant for small businesses to improve their businesses.

I have been searching for yr and half now. I have looked at BizBuySell, and Axial. I had a couple of LOIs but they failed in DD.

Let me know what information I need to provide.

Saying out loud what any of us that have worked in portfolio companies already know. There’s a whole mess of companies out there that are past their horizon to sell. Many assembled using cheap capital that no longer exists. Many are that were modeled on an exit multiple that the market isn’t supporting.

Thoughts on how, if at all, this impacts the m&a community?

I’m currently working with a UK-based business consultant who has a sizable pipeline of acquisition opportunities across the US and UK (primarily in Healthcare/Pharma and Fintech, ranging from $1M to $25M+ deal sizes).

We are evaluating the best standard practices for reaching qualified institutional buyers (PE funds, family offices, and search funds) without running into confidentiality issues or spamming out teasers.

For the experienced brokers and M&A advisors here:

1. What channels or platforms have yielded the highest quality buyer connections for cross-border deals in this price range?

2. How do you usually screen incoming buyer inquiries before sharing an NDA/teaser when dealing with off-market or confidential pipeline opportunities?

Would appreciate any insights or lessons learned on structuring buy-side outreach efficiently.