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Straight answers about verifying, listing, valuing, and closing. If the answer is not here, a person will give you one.
Help for buyers
Finding, checking, and closing on a businessFour paths, and what counts as proof.
Which inputs move the multiple, and what the range does and does not mean.
Why price is the wrong axis, and the four rows that decide it.
What the six clauses bind you to, and what signing opens.
The first call, the document order, and which red flags are fatal.
Structure, earnouts, and where sellers usually push back.
The four routes, and what a contingency costs you in negotiation.
Exclusivity, conditions, and the day itself in order.
Common questions
Step-by-step guides
From picking the path to the badge appearing on your profile.
How to ask for documents without burning goodwill, and what to read first.
The five factors that change the multiple most, with worked examples.
The six clauses in plain English, and how your signature is recorded.
Exclusivity, the conditions list, and the condition that sinks deals.
The one question that matters, and the seven to ask in order.
Which are fatal, which are a price conversation, and which are nothing.
Cash, bank, SBA and seller notes, and what each costs you against a rival offer.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization. The profit figure most multiples are applied to.
A cost in the accounts a new owner would not carry — an owner’s vehicle, a family salary, one-off legal fees. Added back to show what the business really earns. Each one needs a document behind it.
Reported profit plus agreed add-backs. Always shown alongside the reported figure, never instead of it.
Price divided by earnings. Lower is cheaper, but a cheap multiple almost always has a reason sitting in another number.
Deal glossary
31 termsThe vocabulary buyers, sellers and brokers use on a deal, in plain terms. Where a term is commonly used loosely, the definition says so.
A cost in the accounts a new owner would not carry — an owner’s vehicle, a family salary, one-off legal fees. Added back to show what the business really earns. Each one needs a document behind it.
Reported profit plus agreed add-backs. Always shown alongside the reported figure, never instead of it.
The share of revenue held by the largest customer. Above 25% you are buying a relationship; above 40% price the risk explicitly.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization. The profit figure most multiples are applied to.
Price divided by earnings. Lower is cheaper, but a cheap multiple almost always has a reason sitting in another number.
Revenue under contract that renews without being re-sold. Repeat custom is not the same thing, and buyers price the difference.
Seller discretionary earnings. EBITDA plus the owner’s salary and personal expenses run through the business. Common on smaller deals — never compare an SDE multiple against an EBITDA multiple without saying so.
What the seller has listed at. It filters who makes contact and caps every conversation that follows. Not a valuation.
A business of similar size and sector that has actually closed. Asking prices are not comparables; closed prices are.
How much the valuation range can be relied on, based on how complete and how verifiable the inputs were.
A benchmark from a sector multiple applied to reported earnings, then adjusted. Not an appraisal, not an offer, and only as good as the figures entered.
What the seller banks on the day, before any deferred element. The number that matters when comparing offers.
Part of the price paid later, contingent on performance after close. Measured on revenue is usually acceptable; measured on profit hands the buyer control of your payment.
A third-party agent holding funds until completion conditions are met. Revanu never holds your money.
A clause letting the buyer walk if funding falls through. Sellers read it as a chance the deal dies after weeks off the market.
The seller lends the buyer part of the price. The strongest available signal that the seller believes the numbers.
The seller’s committed time after close, defined in hours a week for a set number of weeks. Never agree to be simply available.
The adjustment after close when actual working capital is compared against the peg. Settles small diligence findings without moving the price.
The agreed level of working capital left in the business at close, with the calculation stated. Without the calculation in the terms there is nothing to recompute.
The day documents sign in sequence and escrow releases funds. Also called closing.
Everything that must be settled before completion — landlord consent, license transfers, supplier assignments, staff transfer. Most failed deals fail here.
The buyer’s examination of the business after an offer is accepted. A sequence of requests, each one confirming the story or exposing the gap.
The period after an LOI when the seller stops taking offers. Typically 45 days. If it lapses without extension, the listing reopens.
Letter of intent. Non-binding on price, binding on process: it starts exclusivity, sets the diligence window, and usually places a deposit.
Non-disclosure agreement. On Revanu the financials are open, so the NDA covers what identifies the business — customers, suppliers, staff, contracts, and the fact of the sale.
A full statement, dated within 90 days, in the name on your account. A screenshot of a balance is not proof of funds, and neither is a lender letter.
The buyer purchases the assets and goodwill rather than the company itself. The common structure on smaller deals.
Two brokerages on one listing, with one holding publish and pricing control.
Transferring a contract or lease to the new owner with the other party’s consent. Assignment without consent is how deals break at the last moment.
An existing franchise unit sold with trading history, as opposed to a new territory sold by the brand.
The buyer purchases the company, inheriting its liabilities and history along with its contracts.