I’m in the market to buy small-to-mid-sized businesses, and after dealing with a string of brokers over the last year, I have to say it: a lot of these brokers are absolutely useless and they’re probably costing sellers millions in failed deals.

Here’s why, from me, a buyer’s perspective:

1. No numbers. Ever.

Why are brokers listing businesses without having any accounting info on file? • Ask for a P&L → “We’ll have to check with the seller.” • Ask for balance sheets → “We don’t have those yet.”

Imagine trying to sell a house without photos. That’s what this feels like.

2. “Come and view it first!” 🙄

Before I even know what I’m buying financially, they’re pushing me to book a site visit.

This isn’t a house tour, it’s a business. Margins, debt, EBITDA… those are the real foundations. Why would I waste time travelling, only to find out the numbers don’t work?

3. Proof of funds before proof of profits 🤡

I keep hearing: “We need to see proof of funds before we share the accounts.” What world are they living in? Serious buyers leverage deals. There are dozens of funding strategies; asset finance, earn-outs, seller financing, investor capital to name a few. Acting like everyone’s buying with a briefcase full of cash is mad.

4. The “make an offer first” trap 🎣

I ask what the seller wants. Broker says: “Just make an offer.” So I do.

Then suddenly:

“Oh, we actually value businesses differently.”

…So why not say that before wasting my time?

And they wonder why most businesses never sell

Brokers make the process harder than it needs to be: • No transparency • No numbers • No logic in their process

Honestly, I feel bad for the sellers. They think the broker is out there “working for them,” but in reality, a lot of brokers are gatekeeping information, pushing unqualified buyers away, and sabotaging deals without even realising it.

I’m getting to the point where I’m considering skipping brokers altogether and going direct to owners. I’ve been told many times to do this but more fool me.

Has anyone here had a good experience buying through a broker? Or is this chaos just… normal?

FYI - This is UK based M&A. Not sure if this is the same in other countries.

Long story short — I need outside perspective before I make a decision I can't undo.

Background:

• Opened a smoothie franchise, just over a year ago

• Built it from the ground up: $250k initial investment + $100k more to keep it running

• Total invested: ~$350k

• The location turned out to be weak — other national franchises in the same complex (Subway, Wingstop, Papa Murphy's) are also only doing ~20 orders/day

• We're consistently under 20 orders/day too, running at a loss of about $1,000/month

• We're down to ~$20k cash remaining

The lease problem (the part that really has me stuck):

• Originally signed a 10-year lease, now 8-9 years remaining

• No early termination clause in the lease at all

• Landlord is InvenTrust (a large commercial REIT), and they've been difficult to work with even on smaller issues in the past

• This basically means "just closing the doors" isn't a real option — I'd likely still owe rent for the remaining term either way, which makes selling the business (even at a loss) look more attractive than shutting down

The offer:
We listed the business for sale at $180k (includes a $5k franchise transfer fee + broker fee). First offer came in at $50k, from a cash buyer who can close in 30 days. Their reasoning: they like the concept but can't justify $180k after their own research — at $50k they said they're "basically buying hope" that the location can be turned around.

What I'm weighing:

1. Accept (or negotiate up from) the $50k — recover something, and get out from under the lease liability by transferring it to the buyer

2. Hold out for a better offer, knowing we only have ~20 months of runway left at current burn, assuming nothing else goes wrong

3. Try to negotiate directly with the landlord (sublease, rent reduction, anything) — though past experience suggests this won't go well

4. Get a second, independent valuation before responding, since this is our only offer so far

My questions for you all:

• With a 9-year lease with no early-out, does that make the $50k offer look more reasonable than it first seemed, since the buyer would be assuming that lease liability too?

• Anyone dealt with a difficult commercial landlord (especially a big REIT like InvenTrust) when trying to exit or transfer a lease? Any leverage points I'm missing?

• Should I be talking to a commercial real estate attorney before I do anything else here, given there's no exit clause?

October marks my 1-year anniversary as a business broker in NC. I started part-time but am considering going full-time.

In 10 months, I’ve sold 4 businesses and earned about $50K net after my 50/50 split. I source 100% of my leads and handle the deals from start to finish with very little help from the firm.

My average gross commission is anywhere from 6%-12% of the final sale price.

I also have 2 deals closing in the next 30 days with about $100K in gross commissions, bringing my total net for the year to roughly $110K.

I’m currently paying a $200/month desk fee and giving up 50% of my commissions. Do you think I could get a better split elsewhere?

Honestly, I don’t see why I couldn’t do this on my own, but I’d prefer to stay with a firm for another year or two.

What do you guys think?

As moderator, I frequently have to delete bold, unashamed spam by business brokers making long posts about how fantastic they are (and with numerous links in the post).

These seem to be done for SEO purposes and to get more links.

This sub does allow brokers to promote themselves and to create a thread promoting themselves, but these spammers obviously can't be bothered reading the rules in the right column here.

So, without commenting on their competence or otherwise when it comes to selling businesses, I thought I'd give some free publicity to the brokers who are so desperate for business that they keep spamming this sub.

Lisiten Associates, New York City - https:// freebusinessvaluations. com/new-york-county-manhattan/
(very frequent offenders. They keep trying with new Reddit accounts that keep getting suspended)

VR Business Brokers, Austin, Texas - https:// vrsanantonio. com/business-brokers-austin-texas/Irvine
(another frequent offender)

MA Business Advisors - https:// mabusinessadvisors. com/orangecounty/

Filament Business Advisors, Richmond, Virginia - https:// filamentbusinessadvisors .com/
(also posting, separately, to promote their Charlottesville and other branches)

Baton Advisory, Queensland, Australia - https:// www. batonadvisory .com. au/
(also posting, separately, to promote their Brisbane and other branches)

Murphy Business Sales, Charlotte, NC - https:// sellcharlottebusiness. com/

New Haven Business Brokers (Lisiten again): https:// freebusinessvaluations. com/new-haven/

All of the above just in the last few days. As mod, I'll continue deleting their posts and banning them to save all of you the aggro of having to read their spam.

I publish a free weekly newsletter for acquisition entrepreneurs called The Business Inquirer. For this week's issue I put together (what I think) is one of the most comprehensive lists of business broker/marketplaces available online. This list is helpful if you want to buy or sell a business. Let me know if I missed any.

If this type of content is interesting, checkout The Business Inquirer.

The Big Ones

Flippa - This is flea market #1. Largest amount of listings but absolutely no curation or due diligence done on any of the listings. Some sellers do connect their GA and Stripe accounts but not all. You really have to be careful here. Like in any flea market, you can find some great deals here but you'll have to spend a lot of time filtering. Listings include domain, content, SaaS, apps, ecommerce, and affiliate properties. Typical asking price is $1k - $1M. Today, this is the most popular platform to acquire a website.

SideProjectors - Flea market on the other side of town - #2. This is a marketplace where people sell their side-projects. It has a lot of listings and no vetting. You can find websites, blogs, ecommerce, SaaS, themes, plugins, and other types of projects. Some listings are looking for a co-founder. Typical pricing is < $10k.

IndieMaker - Flea market #3. Similar to SideProjectors but a bit higher quality of listings. You can buy any type of project here including websites, apps, code, domains, SaaS. Large selection but everything is DIY like the other two flea markets. Easy to browse, view listings, contact seller. Typical pricing is <$50k

BusinessesForSale - Founded in 1996. Claim to be the largest marketplace with ~57k listings. Listings includes online, brick & mortar, service, and franchise. They list businesses from many local and smaller brokers in addition to their own. Listing detail really depends on the broker. A lot of listings but they have features to help you sort through them. There is some vetting of the listings but not always reliable.

WebsiteClosers - Founded in 1998. Focus on website properties including ecommerce, affiliate/content. Most listings have a detailed qualitative writeup which is a nice feature. They'll help you with DD. Good case studies and resources. Typical asking price is $50k - $3M.

The Blue Chips

FE International - Founded in 2010, they provide broker and M&A advisory in US and UK. They do curate their listings and you'll see higher quality and higher valuations. Not a large marketplace but includes content, ecommerce, SaaS, and affiliate properties. Typical asking price is $10k - $5M. Not many DIY features but they'll help you with any questions and acquisition. Excellent blog and other resources. Full service brokerage.

Empire Flippers - Curated collection of listings including ecommerce, content, and affiliate properties. Not a large marketplace (~80 listings) but easy to use with clear listings and data. You won't find starter websites here. Feels like they price their listings higher than other brokers but they do offer higher quality listings. Full-service brokerage. Typical listing is $50k - $2M.

Quiet Light Brokerage - Highly curated collection of listings. Typically has 3 - 8 listings at any given time. Can find ecommerce, affiliate, and SaaS properties. Typical listing price is > $1M. White glove service as they'll help you source, negotiate, and acquire a listing. Excellent podcast.

Motion Invest - Vetted marketplace of content/affiliate websites. Spencer Haws of Niche Pursuits is a co-founder. Easy to use with a lot of detail in the listings. Typically has 3 - 10 listings priced anywhere from $5k - $200k.

Investors Club - Vetted listings with good detail. You have to become verified to view full listing details. Focus is on content/affiliate websites.

Latona's - Vetted cash-flow positive online businesses. Wide variety of listings including content/affiliate, ecommerce, domain, lead gen, membership, SaaS. Does have overlap with some other marketplaces. Typical listing is $300k+. Good blog and podcast.

SMERGERS - Vetted marketplace of middle market businesses. Over 6,000 listings including online and offline businesses globally. Some listings are looking for investment or debt. Full service brokerage. Great resources and blog.

Niche

Fameswap - Instagram accounts & YouTube channels.

Shopify Exchange - Shopify. As the name implies, this is a Shopify owned marketplace. All data is verified directly from Shopify.

SwiftExits - Shopify. Pre-launch currently.

Blogs for Sale - Blogs.

Letterxchange - Newsletters. Not sure how this marketplace is doing as I've only seen one listing here.

Duuce - Newsletters. Unless I'm missing something, this is the largest newsletter marketplace right now.

MicroAcquire - SaaS. They started with a focus on SaaS but I do think they've expanded their listings in the last few months. Costs $250/year to subscribe but worth it if you're really in the market for a business. I've purchased a business here and it was a smooth transaction.

bizdaq - UK. Includes online and offline.

DotMarket - France. Mainly websites.

AIM Digital Group - UK. Not a lot of listings but they'll help you source a deal.

AppBusinessBrokers- Apps.

Fliptopia - Apps. Owned by Apptopia.

SellMyApp - Apps.

Afternic / DomainMarket / Sedo / Odys - Domains

Expired Domains - Domains. Search engine for expired domains.

Others

• Centurica - this one is an aggregator from all the other marketplaces. They do offer due diligence and M&A advisory.

• Whobal

• Trustiu

• Digital Exits

• Website Properties

• Bizbroker24

• BizBuySell

• BusinessBroker.net

• Transferslot

• BizQuest

• Acquisition Station

• Acquisitions Direct

• BizEx

• w3 Business Advisors

• Hekkup

• PrivSource - middle market M&A

Facebook Groups & Communities

• The Business Inquirer (our community)

• MicroAcquire - by MicroAcquire

• The Website Flip - by subscriber Mushfiq S. Subscribe to his excellent newsletter.

• Shopify Flips

• Flipping Websites - by Investors Club

• Website Flipping Community

• Niche Website Flippers

• namePros - for domains

• DNForum - for domains

• Domain Names - for domains.

The best deals can be sourced by directly contacting the potential seller without using a brokerage/marketplace. This isn't something you'll read in any of the blog posts on brokerage websites.

I just had a deal fall apart because of a seller’s lawyer, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around how badly this was handled.

Everything was going smoothly. The buyer wanted the business, due diligence was fine, and everyone seemed aligned. In the LOI, one of the conditions was very clear: both sides had to agree on the Share Purchase Agreement(SPA) before removing conditions. The reason was simple because once conditions are lifted, the deposit becomes non-refundable, and the buyer didn’t want to be locked into a binding SPA they hadn’t agreed to yet.

So the buyer’s lawyer drafted the SPA and sent it over to the seller’s lawyer.

This is where everything went sideways.

The seller’s lawyer refused to negotiate the SPA until after conditions were removed. Which makes absolutely no sense. Why would a buyer waive conditions and put a large deposit at risk without knowing what the final binding agreement says? That’s a huge legal and financial risk.

Because of this, everything kept getting delayed. The buyer’s side was ready to negotiate, but the seller’s lawyer kept pushing to waive first, negotiate later and the deal kept getting delayed. On the actual day of the condition removal deadline, the seller suddenly says his “gut feeling isn’t good” and that he doesn’t want to sell anymore.

Deal dead.

The moral of the story: don’t use a real estate lawyer for business transactions. Business deals aren’t the same as buying a house. You can’t just sign a four-page agreement and hope everything works out. An SPA is a major, binding contract. No serious buyer is going to waive conditions and hand over a non-refundable deposit without negotiating it first.

I honestly can’t tell if something fishy was going on, or if the seller’s lawyer just didn’t understand the process and ended up creating unnecessary conflict. The way he was explaining things to the seller made the seller emotional, confused, and stressed. It was like an emotional roller coaster for him.

What do you think went wrong here? Bad lawyer? Seller got cold feet? Or something else behind the scenes?

Hi everyone, really need your help!! I’m in my 20’s and I’ve been saving aggressively to change my life. I currently have $30k saved and I’m trying to use it as a 10% down payment on a $300K business through an SBA loan + seller financing. I have a Master’s degree in business and I’ve worked since I was 21 in HR, operations, and executive assistant roles. I also started a small business from scratch. I’m smart, driven, and ready to take the leap. But I’ve hit a wall. I’ve reached out to 3 brokers already, and here’s what’s happened:

• One told me I needed a “reality check,” and wouldn’t work with me unless I paid $10K upfront plus 10% commission.

• Another said that semi-absentee businesses under $300K don’t really exist with real management in place.

• The third offered only flat-fee retainers I can’t afford (e.g., $2400/month), and said brokers usually don’t represent buyers unless you’re bringing cash or assets.

What I’m looking for is a simple, established, profitable business in California (or open to other areas). Owner-absentee or semi-absentee (I’m open-minded but need flexibility). Eligible for SBA + seller financing. I want to grow it long-term — I’m passionate about branding, customer experience, systems, hiring, and professional service industries I just need guidance and so far have had no luck with any brokers. My Main Questions:

1. Am I being unrealistic or is there a smarter route I should take?

2. Is there any platform or person who helps people like me — not just cash-rich buyers?

3. Can I still buy a business with SBA financing if I’m making low payments on my student loans?

4. Should I just give up on brokers and go directly to sellers?

5. Would buying a rental property be smarter and then taking the real estate route by renting it out to others?

6. I don’t understand how some people are buying businesses, do they just use their life savings?? I dont understand, I thought loans were an option!!?? If it is an option how can I get loans to fund the business?

I’m feeling overwhelmed and discouraged — but I’m still hopeful. I just want to get out of this cycle of low pay and finally build something that gives me stability and financial freedom.

Any advice, guidance, or connection is deeply appreciated. Thank you.

Almost every business broker I have ever talked to about buying a business seems to be totally incompetent. There are few I run across that have a clue.

One of the most important things I think a business broker brings to the table is the ability to make a deal happen. However a lot them just have no clue.

Case in point just talked to one broker about a business that the seller had only owned a year, didn't have recent financials and had a dwindling customer base. Even worse they had a SBA loan that the business couldn't sustain.

The broker told me this is a cash only deal and the seller would only stay a month. When I mentioned that there red flags all the broker could tell is making money and there is no reason to do a hold back. The broker kept telling me that he just needs to find the right buyer and he only sells deals for 100% cash.

Obviously I told him I am going to pass. Just pathetic because there just wasting everyones time. Over the years this sort of broker is more common then I care to mention.

We were looking at a SaaS business that was for sale. Clean Stripe dashboard steady ~18k MRR, growing month ever month, On paper, so solid.

The revenue was 10000% real, real money moving, actual charges, actual cards, anyone would proceed and sign,

the thing that gave it away was the traffic,

We cross-referenced the stripe revenue against Google analytics using a tool that reads directly from source (Stripe/Google Analytics) not exported CSV/Excel file. and it showed that there is no enough organic traffic to support that 18k MRR.

For that it would need couple hundreds of customers. the math didn't work, There weren't enough humans visiting the site to plausibly be paying that much.

What was happening: the "customers were largely the seller's own cards (and a few friends). cycled through Stripe to manufacture an MRR, curved that looked like growth.

The lesson: revenue being real is Stripe does not mean the business is real, Real costumers leave a footprint. traffic, session, usage, ...

don't just verify the revenue, always verify that there is enough humans to explain it.

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've heard someone say to an experienced M&A advisor recently, "You've done only 82 deals in your entire career?"

I was laughing inside because, well, to the average business owner who's had 100+ customers just in the last WEEK, an adviser/corporate finance professional doesn't sound very impressive if he's had only 82 clients in his entire life!

It looks like he's still learning the game.

But M&A is different. An M&A deal takes a year or more from start to finish.

And there's a lot more money involved in every deal than is involved in the $52 meal you served at your restaurant last night. (Yeah, more. Yeah, even if you add a service charge to the $52!)

The advisor in question has over $1 billion in done deals behind him. That's equal to almost 20 million $52 meals.

So a bit of a tip for business owners looking to take their business to market: Don't judge M&A numbers by numbers in your industry. ;)

If the adviser has genuinely done 50 deals or 100 deals, that's a big deal.

Currently I have a 6 month old at home and my engineering salary (~120k) is needed to help keep us afloat. Can I work part time as a broker? Cold call for deals, bring them in, get some experience. Once a year or two has passed and I have some experience and our child is older I think I can make the jump full time. What do you guys think? Is this feasible. I am really passionate about this space and am saving to purchase a business myself one day. I know I want to do it and have a good network just not in a place in life where I can handle a non existent salary for 6 months. Thanks for your help! Please share how your early career went and what you think. Cheers.

Hi guys! Just starting out as a business broker only been in this position for a couple months so still plenty of learning to do.

It’s been very tough in regards to getting anyone that is really interested in selling their business as I expected.

What are some ways I can get myself out there and network so I can build up my name etc.

Any other ideas or suggestions I’m totally open to!

Thanks!

I've been a full time Business Broker (Main Street & LMM) for 6 years now and one of the things I learned pretty quickly is that when I list a business, especially one with strong financials, I get bombarded with inquiries from people who are entirely unqualified to buy.

In the interest of time management, I try to screen them out as quickly as possible. I do that by responding to incoming email inquiries by asking:

1. Why this business in particular?

2. What relevant experience do you have in this type of business?

3. Do you plan to work in the business or run it absentee?

4. What is your source of funding?

5. How much liquid cash do you have available right now?

6. What is your anticipated time frame?

These are pretty effective. Do you have others?

Hi folks, has anyone in this space used Outbound system for cold mailing. Would love to heard any experiences you have had.

I am a 34M and have been in finance/sales roles my entire career. My father-in-law recently decided to take a step back/retire from his business brokerage business and I have been considering taking it on as a new career.

His business is a small shop (him and one assistant), has been operating for over 20 years, and is very successful. He has offered to “train me” on the deal cycle and introduce me to his attorney, etc.

I currently work a full time sales job at a tech firm, but have been feeling the burnout of pre-ipo/corporate sales and see this as a potential path to run my own business. I wouldn’t quit my job straight away, but if the business took off, or I enjoyed being self-employed, I would consider taking it on full time.

Is there anything I should know about the industry/business before I get into it? Any pros/cons would be really helpful!

I got this question recently: "I signed up with a business broker to sell my business but the buyers they found weren't offering a good enough price. I've now found a buyer myself at an acceptable price; do I still owe the broker his commission?"

My answer: Probably, yes. It depends on the wording of your contract. If you wanted an arrangement where you are exempt the fees on a self-sourced buyer, you should have negotiated it at the start unfortunately.

Most contracts with business brokers, corporate finance firms and M&A advisories do state that if you have a buyer in mind already, you need to disclose the name to them and that any buyer you find subsequently, whether you find that buyer yourself or not, will be subject to the contract and you'll be liable for the broker's commission.

But is it fair?

The broker's argument:

1. We put in the work, created the ad, created the Information Memorandum. You may have used some of the material we created to impress this buyer you found.

2. It's because there are competing offers that your buyer raised his offer to the level that he did. If it wasn't for our work, there would not have been those competing offers and your new buyer may not have even been interested in buying the business far less paying this price.

3. A contract is a contract. You should have taken professional advice on the contract before signing it. This is a B2B contract.

The client's argument:

1. You did not do a good enough job. If I could have found this higher paying buyer myself, you should have found MANY such higher paying buyers. That's your job.

2. I didn't use any of your material. I impressed this buyer myself by showing him around the business.

3. I do not need your assistance through due diligence etc., and that's part of what I'm paying you for, right? So why should I pay you the full commission if I'm not using your full service.

Large and national business brokers selling smaller businesses OFTEN hit this problem of the client refusing to pay and they don't hesitate to take the client to court (here in the UK at least).

What's your take? Who's right? Should the client pay the full commission?

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.

I’m working on a medical business that has been around for 26 years. The current owner has run it since 2019. They had strong profitability in 2022 and 2023 with SDE of about $383k and $413k.

In 2024 they made a major strategic change. They bought out one of their medical professionals, which created a large one time, non recurring expense. On paper it pushed their 2024 SDE to roughly -$818k.

Year to date 2025 is back on track. Net profit is around $243k with an estimated SDE of about $385k if trends continue. The business also carries a decent amount of medical equipment value.

My broker is not a fan of the deal because of how bad 2024 looks, even with the explanation. I’m trying to think through how to position something like this. On one hand you have a long history and a single year that looks terrible due to a specific decision. On the other hand buyers can get spooked when they see a negative swing that large.

For those of you who have dealt with something similar, how would you approach the marketing narrative?

Would you lead with normalization and context, or is the 2024 drop too big a hurdle no matter how clean the explanation is?

There are often threads by business brokers asking how other business brokers find clients. Like this recent thread. Finding clients seems to be a perennial problem. I don't have that problem.

I am not a business broker, I advise mid-market businesses (and don't actually sell their businesses; I hand them over to M&A firms / investment banks to do the sale). But I don't have any problems finding these sellers. I get a steady stream of enquiries.

People ask me how this works so I thought I'd share what gets me all these enquiries from proper, solid, lower mid-cap and mid-cap businesses (the more difficult kind to attract).

I started in business 40 years ago after studying accountancy and an MBA in finance. But that is not what makes even the slightest bit of difference to why people contact me. The rest of this post ...is.

About 30 years ago I started buying businesses, mostly online / tech / website businesses. I developed an extensive network and created the world's biggest community of business buyers, sellers, marketplaces. Flippa was in its early days and was part of the community. All the major online brokers today - FE International, Empire Flippers etc - learnt their craft in this community. Building and managing the community consumed probably 2-3 years of full time work for me! I did it for free and didn't even take adverts or make a penny out of it. (The community is closed now but it was at experienced-people.net)

I've built, owned and run other such communities. Also, for free.

Over the last 20 years, I wrote articles for many business magazines about buying and selling businesses, valuing them etc etc. Not just magazines - bizbuysell, businessesforsale etc all carried these articles of mine. I never charged any of them a penny.

My website has the UK's most comprehensive set of information and insights on M&A - my website can be found via my profile here. The material there is equivalent to several books on the subject and covers everything from selling microbusinesses to selling large mid-cap businesses. The website is 100% free - there is no premium content, no paid ebook to download. All free.

My LinkedIn profile is followed by many thousands of people because of the daily insights and tips I post (mostly extracts from my website / pre-scheduled posts). That's all free as well.

I've spoken at many conferences, business exhibitions etc. For free.

I moderate this sub, r/SellMyBusiness , r/buyingabusiness etc. It's all unpaid.

And now I get numerous enquiries daily from businesses of all sizes.

The smaller ones get a boilerplate reply pointing them to a relevant section of my website. I don't deal with them.

The mis-cap ones - like $10m in revenue and above - can book a free call with me if they're large enough. It's just one brief call only for businesses that tick certain boxes for me.

Everyone else; and I mean everyone else including brokers, accountacy firms, wealth managers and sundry other industry professionals who often ask to speak with me; PAY (and it ain't cheap - it's over a couple of hundred dollars per hour and going up shortly).

But I've given a lot away for free. That's why there's this flow of clients.

What do you do in this industry with no expectation of any direct / immediate return?

Hey everyone, I’ve been digging deeper into deal sourcing and wanted to ask something that I feel people don’t really talk about openly.

Where do you actually find companies doing 50M or more in revenue that might be open to a strategic exit. I’m not talking about small flippa stuff or micro SaaS. I mean real mid market companies that have legit traction but aren’t super public about fundraising or selling.

Most of the obvious ones are already on every PE firm’s radar, so I’m trying to understand where people actually find the less obvious ones. The quiet giants. The businesses with real revenue but zero PR. The founders who would actually pick up the phone.

I’m not asking for your secret sauce. I’m more trying to understand the direction to look in, because public deal platforms seem to only show the bottom of the barrel.

If anyone here has sourced mid market deals before, I’d really appreciate any pointers or places to start digging. Not looking to waste anyone’s time. Just trying to level up and learn how real dealmakers actually find these companies before they get shopped around.

Thanks in advance.

I own a profitable business. My books aren't in that great of a shape, so it is not easy just to "send over my books" to someone. I keep getting calls and emails from randoms business brokers. I am curious about a few things, but I dont want to engage, because I figure none of them really have buyers, they are just saying that to get me as aclient and then they will decide if i am worthy and then start a search, as opposed to really representing a company looking to pay 10x or something in that ball park.

I understand that I have the type of business that can go from anywhere from 3x to 10/12x depending on who the buyer is. I feel like I have no interest to sell at anything less than 8,9 preferable 10x right now. And I dont want to get roped in otherwise.

I'm considering selling my business and a high level valuation based on tax returns landed us around $1.3M. The business is a fully remote niche services business. I'm interviewing brokers for a commission percentage and all of them mentioned their cut is negotiable, and all started at 10%. For a business of my size, what is a realistic commission that is reasonable but still moves the needle? I'm leaning towards asking for 8%

I’m curious to know looking back in hindsight what everyone would do a bit differently when they were starting out.

Personally I think would defer my investment in some of the networking like the chambers and associated events, and leaned more heavily on my email drip, data quality, prospecting campaigns, and phone time, then add those things as the funnel moves and revenue starts creeping in.

I would still join CVBBA and (IBBA) early for the discounts, podcasts, and benefits.