Insights

Understand the transaction before the transaction starts.

Clear information helps owners ask better questions, prepare without panic, and recognize the difference between a promising headline and a workable deal.

Owner readiness check

How prepared does the firm feel today?

2/6

Three years of financial statements or tax returns are organizedRevenue and owner cash flow can be explained clearlyClient concentration and recurring work are understoodEmployee roles, tenure, and compensation are documentedMajor contracts, leases, and software systems are inventoriedThe owner has thought about timing and post-closing involvement

You are at the beginning—which is exactly when preparation helps most.

Guides for owners

The questions worth understanding before buyer outreach.

These guides are educational, not a substitute for advice tailored to your firm. They are designed to make the first professional conversation more useful.

Seller readiness

What to organize before a buyer process begins—and what can wait until serious interest exists.

Read the preparation guide

Normalized earnings

How buyers think about owner compensation, one-time costs, replacement labor, and defensible adjustments.

Understand earnings

Client concentration

Why relationship ownership, recurring work, retention, and a few large clients can change buyer confidence.

Review concentration

Offer comparison

How to compare cash, seller financing, earnouts, contingencies, transition obligations, and closing risk.

Compare deal terms

Confidentiality

What buyers should see at each stage and why an NDA should never automatically unlock the full data room.

See the access stages

Employee and client transition

How timing, communication, retention, introductions, and owner involvement can protect continuity.

Plan the handoff

Transaction glossary

Plain language for terms that often arrive without explanation.

A seller should not have to pretend to understand deal language in order to protect their interests.

Normalized earnings

An adjusted view of ongoing earnings after considering owner-specific, unusual, nonrecurring, and replacement-cost items.

Seller note

A portion of the purchase price paid over time by the buyer under agreed repayment terms.

Earnout

Future consideration tied to agreed post-closing performance or conditions.

Rollover equity

A portion of the seller's value reinvested into the buyer or combined business.

Working capital

The operating assets and liabilities needed to run the business at closing.

Letter of intent

A preliminary document describing major proposed terms before definitive agreements and full diligence.

Quality of earnings

A focused analysis of the sustainability, accuracy, and composition of reported earnings.

Data room

A controlled repository for transaction information, often divided by permission and stage.

Start with one honest conversation

You do not need a finished plan to ask the first question.

Whether you are years from a transition or actively evaluating an opportunity, the first step is private, practical, and free of obligation.