How to Sell a Small Business: Sub-$1M EBITDA Owner’s Guide (2026)

“How do I sell a small business?” is a different question than “how do I sell my company.” The lower middle market playbook designed for $1M+ EBITDA businesses doesn’t fully apply when you’re selling a sub-$1M EBITDA business. The buyer pool is narrower and more diverse. The financing options are different. The role of a business broker shifts. The realistic price ranges are tighter. The process timing is shorter. This article walks through what actually changes.

Most online guides to selling a small business are written for one of two audiences: either Main Street businesses (revenue under $1M, often owner-operated retail, food service, or local services) or LMM businesses ($1M+ EBITDA). The middle — businesses with $200K-$1M of seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE) — gets squeezed between those two playbooks and ends up with advice that doesn’t quite fit.

If your business is in that middle zone, this article is for you.

The framework comes from CT Acquisitions’ direct work with 76 active U.S. lower middle market buyers, many of whom also pursue smaller deals as platform add-ons or as primary acquisitions for their search-funder principals. We’re a buy-side partner. The buyers pay us when a deal closes — not you. That includes search funders, family offices, lower middle-market PE, and strategic acquirers including direct mandates with the largest consolidators in home services that other intermediaries can’t access. At small business size, the conversation is often simpler and faster than LMM — but it still benefits from running a real process.

One important note before you start. Selling a small business does not have to mean accepting a lower-grade outcome. Sub-$1M EBITDA businesses can absolutely close at fair multiples through the right buyer pool with the right process. What’s different is the structure: SBA financing plays a much bigger role, seller notes are more common, the buyer is often an individual rather than an institution, and the time-from-listing-to-close is typically shorter (4-9 months total).

“The owners who get the best small business exits don’t default to listing on BizBuySell with a 10% broker fee. They identify the actual buyer pool for their specific business — search funder, individual buyer, strategic add-on, or family transition — and run a process designed for that pool. The difference is usually 30-50% of after-fee proceeds, and whether you’re working with a buy-side partner who already knows the buyers or a broker selling you a process.”

Key Takeaways

• Sub-$1M EBITDA businesses are typically valued on SDE (seller’s discretionary earnings) rather than adjusted EBITDA, with multiples in the 2.5-6x range depending on size and industry.
• The buyer pool for sub-$1M EBITDA businesses is wider but shallower per name: search funders, individual buyers, small PE add-on programs, family / internal transitions, and Main Street buyers.
• SBA 7(a) financing changes the math materially — allowing buyer down payments as low as 10-15% on qualifying transactions, expanding the buyer pool significantly.
• Business brokers focused on Main Street and lower-end LMM transactions have a real role at sub-$500K SDE; direct outreach or curated buy-side processes work better at $500K-$1M SDE.
• Realistic price ranges: $250K SDE typically 2.5-3.5x ($625K-$875K). $500K SDE typically 3-4.5x ($1.5M-$2.25M). $750K SDE typically 3.5-5x ($2.6M-$3.75M). Industry, growth, and concentration adjust these ranges materially.
• Typical timing: 4-9 months from listing to close, much faster than LMM (12-36 months) but still requires real preparation.

How small business sales differ from LMM sales

The biggest difference is the buyer pool. LMM transactions are mostly between businesses and institutional buyers (PE firms, family offices, strategic acquirers). Small business transactions are often between businesses and individual buyers — corporate executives transitioning out, search funders deploying their first acquisition, family members continuing the business, or competitor-operators consolidating locally.

The second biggest difference is financing. LMM transactions use senior debt, mezz debt, and PE equity. Small business transactions often use SBA 7(a) loans (up to $5M), seller financing (10-30% of price typical), and individual buyer equity. The financing structure shapes the deal structure: SBA loans require specific terms, owner involvement, and post-close standby provisions that don’t apply in LMM.

The third biggest difference is valuation methodology. LMM businesses are typically valued on adjusted EBITDA. Small businesses are typically valued on SDE (seller’s discretionary earnings) — EBITDA plus the seller’s salary, benefits, and personal expenses run through the business. SDE multiples are lower than EBITDA multiples in absolute terms but the underlying calculation is more generous to the seller.

The fourth biggest difference is process timing. LMM transactions take 18-36 months end-to-end. Small business transactions often close within 4-9 months once a real listing is launched. The compressed timeline doesn’t mean preparation is less important — it means preparation has to happen before listing, not in parallel with it.

Understanding the small business buyer pool

Six buyer archetypes dominate the sub-$1M EBITDA market. Each has different acquisition criteria, different financing approaches, different post-close intentions, and different willingness to pay. Knowing which archetype is most likely to buy your business shapes everything from the listing strategy to the negotiation.

Archetype 1: Self-funded searchers. Individuals (often former corporate executives, MBAs, or engineers) who use personal capital plus SBA financing to acquire a single business they’ll operate. Typically buy in the $300K-$1M SDE range. Price-sensitive (their personal capital is on the line) but motivated and process-disciplined. Will require seller financing (10-30%) and an SBA loan.

Archetype 2: Traditional search funders. Searchers with committed equity capital from a small group of investors, looking to acquire a single business they’ll operate as CEO post-close. Usually target $500K-$3M EBITDA. More institutional in process than self-funded searchers but still individual operators. Often willing to pay slightly higher multiples for the right fit.

Archetype 3: Individual buyers. Corporate executives, business owners selling another business, or industry operators looking for a specific business that fits their experience. Less price-disciplined than searchers (often emotional buyers) but harder to find. Often discovered through industry connections rather than listings.

Archetype 4: Small PE add-on programs. PE firms with platform companies in your industry looking to add tuck-in acquisitions. Will pay platform-multiple for the right add-on but less than platform multiple for sub-$1M EBITDA. Process-disciplined and fast when the strategic fit is real.

Archetype 5: Family / internal transitions. Family members or key employees acquiring the business via management buyout (MBO), seller financing, or ESOP. Can pay full or near-full value with the right structure but the financing usually takes longer to arrange. Tax planning is more sophisticated and the multi-year transition is typical.

Archetype 6: Main Street buyers (sub-$500K SDE territory). Local operators, immigrant entrepreneurs, sector-specific consolidators, and lifestyle buyers. Often discovered through Main Street brokerages and listing sites. Typically more price-sensitive and process-shorter than the other archetypes.

Buyer archetype	Typical SDE range	Financing approach	Process speed	Price discipline
Self-funded searcher	$300K-$1M	Personal equity + SBA + seller note	4-9 months	Highly price-disciplined
Traditional search funder	$500K-$3M EBITDA	Committed equity + SBA + seller note	4-7 months	Moderately price-disciplined
Individual buyer	$200K-$1.5M	Personal equity + SBA + seller note	3-9 months	Variable; often emotional
Small PE add-on program	$500K-$2M EBITDA	Platform balance sheet	3-6 months	Moderately price-disciplined
Family / internal MBO	Any size	Seller financing + bank + ESOP options	6-18 months	Variable; relational
Main Street buyer	Under $500K	SBA + personal cash + seller note	3-6 months	Highly price-disciplined

The role of SBA financing in small business sales

SBA 7(a) financing is the single biggest difference between small business sales and LMM sales. An SBA 7(a) loan can fund up to $5M of a business acquisition with as little as 10-15% buyer down payment, 25-year amortization, and competitive interest rates. The lender takes a personal guarantee from the buyer and often a lien on personal assets, but the borrower can be an individual without institutional capital.

Why this matters for sellers: SBA financing dramatically expands your buyer pool. Without SBA, the only buyers in the sub-$1M EBITDA market are people with $500K-$2M of personal capital to deploy. With SBA, the buyer pool includes anyone who can put together $100K-$300K of personal equity plus a credit-worthy profile. That’s a 5-10x larger buyer pool.

What SBA financing requires from the seller: tax returns (3 years), full financial documentation, no personal expenses commingled in business expenses post-close, an asset sale structure (preferred), and often a seller standby note for 10-30% of the purchase price (subordinate to the SBA loan). The standby provisions can include 2-3 years of no payments, which affects your after-tax cash flow planning.

What SBA financing requires from the buyer: creditworthy personal financials, industry experience or relevant management background, a personal guarantee, life insurance assigning the lender as beneficiary, and typically 10-15% personal equity into the deal. The buyer’s SBA underwriting is more rigorous than most sellers expect — deals that look like a fit at LOI sometimes fail SBA underwriting and have to be restructured.

Common mistakes around SBA financing: sellers who refuse to consider SBA-eligible buyers (cuts the buyer pool by 50-70%), sellers who don’t prepare tax returns and financials for SBA scrutiny (leads to 30-60 day delays during diligence), sellers who refuse seller-note standby provisions (kills most SBA deals), and sellers who underestimate the SBA approval timeline (typically 60-120 days from LOI to funding).

When a business broker makes sense vs direct outreach

The right answer depends on the size and industry of your business. Below $500K SDE, a Main Street business broker focused on local listings, BizBuySell, and similar marketplaces typically makes sense — the buyer pool at that size is dominated by individual buyers who find businesses through these channels. The broker handles listing, screening, NDA management, and the financing assist. Fees are typically 8-12% of transaction value.

Between $500K and $1M SDE, the choice gets more nuanced. Some businesses in this range still fit Main Street broker channels (local services, retail, lifestyle businesses). Others fit better with industry-specific buyers (search funders, PE add-on programs, strategic operators) where direct outreach or a curated buy-side process produces better outcomes than a broad listing.

Above $1M SDE / approaching $1M EBITDA: you’re moving into LMM territory. The buyer pool shifts toward institutional buyers and the playbook converges with the standard 7-step LMM process. Sell-side brokers, M&A advisors, and buy-side partners all play larger roles than Main Street brokers.

Direct outreach makes sense when: your business has a strong industry-specific fit profile (likely buyer is a known PE platform or a strategic competitor), your business is large enough ($500K+ SDE) to attract institutional or sophisticated individual buyers, you have an existing relationship with potential buyers, or you want to avoid the information leakage of a listing-based process.

A buy-side partner can support either path. We work primarily on the LMM side but maintain relationships with search funders and PE add-on programs that pursue sub-$1M EBITDA targets. If your business fits one of these archetypes, the conversation is often simpler than running a full broker listing — and the buyer pays the buy-side partner when a deal closes, not you.

Realistic price ranges for sub-$1M EBITDA businesses

Small business multiples are typically expressed as multiples of SDE rather than adjusted EBITDA. SDE includes the EBITDA plus the seller’s salary, benefits, and personal expenses run through the business. The multiple looks lower than equivalent EBITDA multiples but the underlying earnings figure is higher, so the resulting valuation is roughly comparable.

Typical SDE multiple ranges by SDE size band: $100K-$250K SDE: 2.0-3.0x ($200K-$750K total). $250K-$500K SDE: 2.5-3.5x ($625K-$1.75M). $500K-$750K SDE: 3.0-4.5x ($1.5M-$3.4M). $750K-$1M SDE: 3.5-5.0x ($2.6M-$5M). These are general ranges; industry, growth, customer concentration, and owner-dependency adjust them materially.

What pushes a small business multiple higher: industry in active roll-up (manufacturing, electrical, HVAC, distribution, plumbing, home services in 2026), recurring revenue or contract-based revenue, low customer concentration, low owner dependency, growth above 10%, real estate ownership that comes with the business, and a clear post-close transition plan. Each of these can add 0.5-1.5x to the multiple.

What pulls a small business multiple lower: declining or flat revenue, high customer concentration (top customer above 30%), heavy owner dependency, project-based revenue with no backlog, no documented operations, weak financial reporting, regulatory or environmental issues, or a forced sale timeline. Each of these can subtract 0.5-1.5x from the multiple.

After-fee, after-tax math for small businesses: On a $2M sale of a small business with $500K SDE: 10% broker fee = $200K, federal capital gains plus state tax (varies dramatically) = $300K-$600K, legal and closing costs = $25-50K, net to seller = roughly $1.2-1.4M. Seller financing or earnouts shift the timing of that cash flow but not the overall total. Modeling this before listing prevents the surprise at close.

Realistic timing for a small business sale

Small business sales close faster than LMM sales but still require preparation. The compressed end-to-end timing (4-9 months from listing to close) doesn’t mean prep is optional — it means prep happens before listing, not during it. Owners who try to compress prep into the listing window typically experience the same re-trades and discounts that compressed-timing LMM sellers experience, just on a smaller absolute dollar basis.

Typical timeline: preparation 6-12 months pre-listing (clean financials, tax returns ready for SBA scrutiny, customer list documented, operations procedures written down, key employee retention discussions started). Listing and outreach 1-3 months. LOI negotiation 2-4 weeks. Confirmatory diligence including SBA underwriting 60-120 days. Closing 30-60 days after SBA approval.

Where the timing typically slips: SBA underwriting is the most common cause of timeline slippage in small business deals. Buyer-side issues (credit, liquidity, industry experience) can delay or kill financing approval. Seller-side issues (commingled financials, missing tax returns, asset structure problems) can also create SBA delays. Pre-clearing both sides with the lender before signing the LOI reduces this risk substantially.

Why owners under-estimate the timing: the listing-to-LOI phase is often quick (60-90 days) when the buyer pool is right. Owners assume that pace continues through close. In reality, the LOI-to-close phase is slower because it’s gated by SBA approval, legal documentation, and confirmatory diligence — none of which is responsive to owner urgency.

Industry buyer demand at small business size

Industry demand depth applies at small business size too. Even when the buyer is an individual searcher rather than an institutional PE firm, the industry-specific tailwinds and headwinds still drive multiple ranges. Searchers and individual buyers gravitate toward industries that have strong PE consolidation activity in the sizes above — both because the exit story is clearer and because the operational playbooks are more developed.

Industries with strong small business buyer demand in 2026: home services (plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing) where boomer-owner retirement waves create supply and PE consolidation creates exit visibility. Distribution and specialty services where margin defensibility supports SBA underwriting. Manufacturing sub-segments where reshoring and specialty positioning create durable demand. Healthcare services and specialty practices where regulatory complexity rewards consolidation.

Industries with thinner small business buyer demand: restaurants and food service (high turnover, thin margins, hard to underwrite at any size). Traditional retail (e-commerce displacement). Print, media, and traditional professional services facing AI displacement. Commodity manufacturing exposed to offshore competition. Selling small businesses in these categories is still possible but the buyer pool is thinner and the multiples are lower.

How the 76 active LMM buyers we work with affect the small business market: Many maintain platform companies in the 11 active-roll-up industries (manufacturing 50%, electrical 40%, HVAC 36%, distribution 34%, plumbing 29%, home services 29%, business services 25%, industrial services 20%, software 20%, healthcare services 16%) and pursue tuck-in acquisitions at sub-$1M EBITDA size. If your small business is in one of these industries, you may have institutional add-on buyers in your pool alongside the individual buyer archetypes.

Common mistakes when selling a small business

Mistake #1: defaulting to a Main Street listing without considering the actual buyer pool. BizBuySell and similar marketplaces are great for sub-$500K SDE businesses with broad-buyer appeal. They’re less effective for $500K-$1M SDE businesses where industry-specific buyers (search funders, PE add-ons, strategic operators) might pay materially more through a curated process.

Mistake #2: comingling personal and business expenses up to the moment of listing. SBA underwriting requires clean separation. Family members on payroll who don’t actually work in the business, personal vehicles run through the business, family vacations classified as travel, country club memberships — all of these need to be either removed 12-24 months pre-listing or clearly identified as add-backs with backup documentation. Comingled expenses delay SBA approval by 30-90 days when they’re found in diligence.

Mistake #3: refusing to provide seller financing. 10-30% seller financing is standard in SBA-financed small business sales. Sellers who refuse to provide it cut their buyer pool dramatically — in many cases by 70% or more. The seller note is typically subordinate to the SBA loan with 2-3 years on standby (no payments) and a 5-10 year amortization. The economics are real but acceptable for most sellers when modeled against the alternative of a much smaller buyer pool.

Mistake #4: not preparing for SBA buyer-side scrutiny. SBA lenders look closely at the buyer’s ability to operate the business, not just the seller’s historical financials. Industry experience, operational background, post-close transition plans, and seller availability all matter. Sellers who haven’t thought about transition support often get caught off-guard by lender requirements that they stay 6-24 months post-close.

Mistake #5: underestimating the role of the buyer’s CPA in valuation discussions. Small business buyers often have CPAs who specialize in evaluating SDE-based valuations. Those CPAs scrutinize add-backs aggressively. Sellers who can’t document add-backs with backup invoices, payroll records, or expense reports usually see their proposed SDE figure adjusted down 10-25% by the buyer’s CPA. Pre-documenting add-backs prevents this.

Tax planning specifics for small business sellers

Tax planning has outsized impact at small business size because the dollar amounts are smaller and every percentage point matters more. A $2M sale generating $1.5M in net proceeds before tax can become $900K-$1.2M after federal capital gains, state tax, and structural costs. The difference between ‘good tax planning’ and ‘no tax planning’ can be $100K-$300K of after-tax outcome on a transaction this size.

Asset sale vs stock sale dynamics: most SBA-financed small business deals are structured as asset sales because lenders prefer them (cleaner liability transfer to the buyer). Asset sales are usually less tax-efficient for the seller because depreciation recapture and goodwill allocation drive tax outcomes that differ from straight capital gains. Modeling the asset-allocation schedule with a CPA pre-LOI lets you negotiate allocation terms that minimize your tax bill.

Section 1202 QSBS exclusion (where applicable): if your business is a C-corporation that qualified as a Qualified Small Business at the time stock was issued, up to $10M (or 10x basis) of gain may be excluded from federal capital gains tax entirely. Most small business sellers operate as S-corps or LLCs and don’t qualify, but if you’ve been a C-corp for 5+ years and meet the qualification rules, this is among the most powerful tools in the tax-planning toolkit. Review with a tax advisor 12+ months before going to market.

State residency planning: state-level capital gains tax varies dramatically — California 13.3%, Oregon 9.9%, New York up to 10.9%, Texas / Florida / Tennessee / Washington 0%. Sellers who can structure their residency before the sale year can save 5-13% of the gain in state tax. The rules vary by state and the relocation has to be substantive (not a paper move), but for sellers who are flexible on geography, this is a high-leverage planning move 12-24 months pre-sale.

Installment sale treatment: if you accept a seller note as part of the deal (common in SBA-financed sales), the gain on the seller note portion can often be recognized over the term of the note rather than all at once at close. This spreads the tax bill over multiple years and may keep you in lower brackets. The trade-off: the buyer’s default risk on the note. Modeling the installment math vs paying tax upfront on a fully-cashed-out deal is part of the LOI-stage decision.

How to use this guide starting today

Identify which buyer archetype is most likely to buy your business. Self-funded searcher? Search funder? Individual buyer? PE add-on? Family transition? Main Street buyer? Each archetype has a different process, different financing, different price discipline, and different timing. Building your sale strategy around the right archetype is the single highest-leverage decision you make.

Run a smaller version of the 47-item pre-sale checklist. Not every item applies at small business size, but the core categories (financial cleanliness, customer documentation, owner-dependency reduction, employee retention, tax/structure planning, personal post-close planning) apply at every size. The compressed version focuses on the items that drive SBA underwriting: clean tax returns, separated personal expenses, documented add-backs, and a transition plan.

Decide on your buyer-outreach strategy before listing. Main Street broker? Industry-specific direct outreach? Buy-side partner with relationships in your industry? Hybrid approach? The right answer depends on size, industry, and the specific archetype most likely to be your buyer. The wrong default is to list with the first broker who pitches you without considering whether your business fits their channel.

Pre-clear the SBA underwriting risk with a lender before signing an LOI. Most experienced SBA lenders will give an informal read on whether a deal can be financed before the LOI is signed. Spending 60-90 minutes with a lender pre-LOI prevents the most expensive surprise in small business sales: a deal that closes in principle but fails SBA underwriting in practice.

Conclusion

Selling a small business is a different game than selling a $5M+ EBITDA company. Different buyers, different financing, different price ranges, different timing. The owners who get the best small business exits don’t default to listing with the first broker who calls. They identify the actual buyer pool for their specific business — self-funded searcher, traditional searcher, individual buyer, PE add-on, family transition, or Main Street buyer — and run a process designed for that pool. They prepare 6-12 months pre-listing rather than scrambling during it. They embrace SBA financing rather than fighting it. They model the after-fee, after-tax math honestly so they aren’t surprised at close. And if you want to talk to someone who knows the buyers personally instead of running an auction, we’re a buy-side partner — the buyers pay us, not you, no contract required.

The buyers are out there. The process just has to be designed for them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between SDE and EBITDA?

SDE (seller’s discretionary earnings) is EBITDA plus the seller’s salary, benefits, and personal expenses run through the business — essentially the total economic benefit a single owner-operator extracts. EBITDA is operating earnings before non-cash items, calculated as if the business had professional management compensation in place. Small businesses are typically valued on SDE; LMM businesses on adjusted EBITDA. Multiples differ accordingly: 2.5-5x SDE roughly equates to 4-7x EBITDA for the same business.

How long does it take to sell a small business?

Four to nine months from listing to close, plus 6-12 months of preparation work that should happen before listing. The listing-to-LOI phase typically takes 1-3 months. LOI to close takes 60-120 days, gated mostly by SBA underwriting and legal documentation. Owners who skip preparation can sometimes compress to 3-5 months total but typically face SBA delays and re-trades that erase any time saved.

Do I need a business broker to sell my small business?

Below $500K SDE with a Main Street buyer profile (local services, retail, lifestyle businesses), a Main Street broker is usually the right channel. Between $500K and $1M SDE with industry-specific buyers (search funders, PE add-ons, strategic operators), direct outreach or a curated buy-side process often produces better outcomes. Above $1M SDE / $1M EBITDA, you’re moving into LMM territory and the playbook shifts to sell-side or buy-side advisors. The right answer depends on your industry, size, and buyer-pool profile.

What is SBA 7(a) financing and how does it affect the sale?

SBA 7(a) is a federal loan program that allows lenders to make business acquisition loans up to $5M with as little as 10-15% buyer down payment, 25-year amortization, and competitive rates. The SBA guarantees a portion of the loan to the lender, which is what makes the small-down-payment math work. SBA financing dramatically expands the buyer pool for small business sales and is the dominant financing mechanism in the sub-$5M acquisition market. It also imposes specific requirements on both buyer and seller (clean financials, no comingled expenses, asset sale preferred, seller standby note typical).

Will I have to provide seller financing?

In most SBA-financed small business sales, yes — typically 10-30% of the purchase price as a seller note subordinate to the SBA loan, often with 2-3 years on standby (no payments) and 5-10 year amortization. Refusing to provide seller financing cuts your SBA-eligible buyer pool dramatically. The seller note is real cash flow risk, but it’s the standard for the buyer pool and modeling it against alternatives usually makes the trade-off acceptable.

What is a search funder and would one buy my business?

A search funder is an individual (often a recent MBA or experienced operator) who raises a small fund of committed capital from investors, then spends 18-30 months searching for a single business to acquire and operate as CEO. They typically target $500K-$3M EBITDA, with the median deal around $1-2M EBITDA. If your business is in their target range, has good fundamentals (recurring or sticky revenue, modest growth, defensible market position), and is in an industry they’re comfortable with, you’re a viable target.

How do I value a small business?

Multiple approaches: SDE multiple based on industry comparables (most common for sub-$1M SDE), EBITDA multiple if comparable LMM transactions exist for your industry/size, asset-based valuation (rarely the highest figure but a floor for asset-heavy businesses), and discounted cash flow (rarely used at small business size). The SDE multiple range is typically 2.5-5x for sub-$1M SDE, with industry, growth, concentration, and owner-dependency driving where you fall in that range.

What happens to my employees when I sell?

Most small business buyers want to retain the existing team. SBA-financed individual buyers in particular often have no operational team of their own and depend on the existing employees to run the business post-close. Buyers will typically negotiate retention agreements with key employees pre-close and may fund stay bonuses out of deal proceeds. Mass employee turnover is the single biggest post-close risk and most buyers structure incentives to prevent it.

Can I sell my business to my employees?

Yes, through several structures. Direct management buyout (key employees buy you out, usually with seller financing and a bank loan). ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) for businesses large enough to support the structure (typically $1M+ EBITDA, but sometimes smaller). Gradual sell-down where you transfer equity over years in exchange for installment payments. Each has different tax, control, and timing implications. Family-internal transitions tend to be slower than third-party sales but can preserve culture and employee continuity.

What if my business has a real estate component?

You have three options: sell the real estate with the business (generally simpler but ties real estate value to business multiple), retain the real estate and lease it back to the buyer at market rent (often nets more after-tax through a more favorable cap rate on the real estate), or sell to two different buyers (business to one, real estate to another). The right answer depends on the specialization of the real estate, your post-close cash flow needs, and the tax treatment of each option. Decide early — it affects your buyer pool.

What documents do small business buyers want to see?

Three years of tax returns, three years of financial statements (P&L and balance sheet, ideally compiled or reviewed), customer list with revenue concentration, vendor list with concentration, employee roster with comp and tenure, lease and key contracts, operational SOPs (where they exist), insurance policies, and any litigation history. SBA buyers will additionally need bank-quality versions of all of the above for their underwriting. Assemble these before listing — doing it during diligence adds 30-60 days to the timeline.

What if I want to retire and step away cleanly — will buyers still buy?

Yes, but the buyer pool tightens. Most SBA-financed individual buyers and search funders want 3-12 months of seller transition support, sometimes more for relationship-heavy businesses. PE add-on buyers can sometimes accept a shorter transition because they have a platform team. Strategic acquirers can sometimes accept a clean exit because they have operating leadership. Be transparent about your transition limits early in the process — it surfaces the right buyer types and avoids late re-trades.

How is CT Acquisitions different from a sell-side broker or M&A advisor?

We’re a buy-side partner, not a sell-side broker. Sell-side brokers represent you and charge you 8-12% of the deal (often $300K-$1M) plus monthly retainers, run a 9-12 month auction process, and require 12-month exclusivity. We work directly with 76+ buyers — search funders, family offices, lower middle-market PE, and strategic consolidators — who pay us when a deal closes. You pay nothing. No retainer, no exclusivity, no contract until a buyer is at the closing table. You can walk after the discovery call with zero hooks. We move faster (60-120 days from intro to close) because we already know who the right buyer is rather than running an auction to find one.