Free Resources for Business Owners
Practical guides and checklists to help you prepare for selling your business. Download these free resources to understand the M&A process and maximize your exit value.
Business Sale Readiness Checklist
A detailed checklist to help you prepare your business for sale. Covers financials, operations, legal, and strategic positioning.
- Financial documentation requirements
- Operational improvements
- Legal & compliance items
- Value enhancement strategies
M&A Process Timeline
Understand the typical timeline for selling a business, from initial preparation through closing. Know what to expect at each stage.
- 6-12 month typical timeline
- Key milestones explained
- Due diligence process
- Closing procedures
Documents Needed to Sell Your Business
Complete list of documents buyers will request during due diligence. Start gathering these early to speed up your transaction.
- Financial statements
- Tax returns & filings
- Contracts & agreements
- Employee information
What Determines Your Business Value
Learn the key factors that buyers use to determine what they will pay for your business. Maximize your exit value.
- EBITDA & multiples
- Growth trajectory
- Customer concentration
- Management team
When to Use Each Resource
Owners rarely need all four of these at once. Which one helps depends on how far along you are, and the order below follows the sequence most sale processes actually take.
Twelve months out: understand what drives your number
Value is largely set before a process begins. Start with What Determines Your Business Valueto see how buyers weigh earnings quality, growth, customer concentration and depth of management. This is the window where changes still move the outcome, because a buyer diligencing you next quarter will be looking at this year's numbers. For the detail behind it, read how to increase your business valuation.
Six months out: close the gaps before a buyer finds them
The Business Sale Readiness Checklist covers financial documentation, operational cleanup, and the legal and compliance items that surface late and cost leverage when they do. Working through it early turns problems you control into problems you have already solved. See also what buyers really look for in diligence.
Starting a process: know the shape of the road
The M&A Process Timeline sets expectations across preparation, marketing, diligence and closing, so a quiet stretch reads as a normal phase rather than a stalled deal. For a fuller treatment of pacing and what moves it, read how long it takes to sell a business.
Under LOI: get ahead of the document request
Documents Needed to Sell Your Business lists what buyers ask for once a letter of intent is signed. Assembling it before the request arrives shortens the exclusivity period, and a shorter diligence window gives a buyer less room to renegotiate. Before you sign, read how to evaluate an LOI.