Your options
Thinking about selling your business? Start here
If you want to sell your business, start with what you want from it, not with a buyer. Decide your timing and goals, find out roughly what the business is worth, and get your records in order. This guide walks through those first steps, who your buyer could be, how to find them, and an option many owners don't hear about until late.
In short: write down your goals and timeline, get a rough valuation, clean up your financial records, and talk to your accountant and attorney. Then choose how to find a buyer: a broker, your own network, a marketplace, or a successor who takes over gradually.
First steps
- Get clear on your goals. When do you want to step back? How much do you need to retire comfortably? Does it matter to you what happens to your employees, your customers, or the name on the door? Your answers shape every decision after this one.
- Find out roughly what it's worth. Most small businesses are valued as a multiple of what they earn the owner. Start with a rough range (try our free estimate), then get a professional valuation when you're closer to a deal.
- Get your records in order. Buyers and lenders will want several years of clean financial statements and tax returns, plus leases, key contracts, and a list of equipment. Messy books slow a sale down and can lower the price.
- Think about timing. Selling while the business is doing well usually gives you more choices than selling because you have to. If your health, energy, or a lease renewal is forcing the date, factor that in now.
- Talk to your accountant and attorney. How the sale is structured affects how much you keep after tax. Have that conversation before you agree anything with a buyer. Our guide totaxes when you sell lists the questions to bring.
How long it takes
There's no standard answer, and anyone who gives you a precise one is guessing. Roughly, think in three stages:
- Preparing: a few months if your records are clean and the business runs without you; a year or more if not.
- Finding a buyer and agreeing a deal: often many months, sometimes longer, depending on your industry, size, location, and price.
- Closing and transition: due diligence, financing, and legal work, followed by a period where you help the new owner settle in.
A gradual handover to a successor runs longer, usually several years, because you sell in stages and step back as they take on more. See how a phased buyout works.
Who your buyer could be
| Buyer | What to expect |
|---|---|
| An individual buyer | Often someone leaving a corporate job to own a business. Usually needs a bank loan and often some seller financing. |
| A competitor | May pay well for your customers or location, but may merge your business into theirs. |
| Private equity | Generally interested in larger, fast-growing businesses. Expect a formal process and big changes after the sale. |
| Your employees or managers | Know the business best, but rarely have the cash. Usually paid over time. |
| A family member | Keeps it in the family. Raises questions about price, fairness, and readiness. |
| An outside successor | Someone who wants to run an established business for the long term and buy it gradually from its earnings. |
If you're weighing family or employees, read selling to an employee, a family member, or a successor. For a side-by-side of every route, seeexit strategies compared.
Ways to find a buyer
A business broker
A broker values the business, markets it without naming it, screens buyers, and helps negotiate. They're usually paid a commission when the sale closes. A good one is worth it for many owners. Ask any broker for their exact fees and how they keep your sale confidential.
Your own network
Suppliers, customers, your accountant, your banker, and other owners in your industry often know who's looking. It's cheaper, but harder to keep quiet, and you'll handle more of the work yourself. Seehow to sell without a broker.
Online marketplaces
Websites where businesses are listed for sale reach a lot of buyers. You'll hear from many people, and you'll need to sort serious buyers from browsers and protect your business's identity carefully.
Successor matching
Some services, including ours, don't list your business at all. Instead they introduce you privately to people who want to take over and run a business like yours, and help you plan a gradual handover.
Keeping it confidential
If word gets out that you're selling, employees may start job hunting, customers may get nervous, and competitors may use it against you. A few habits help:
- Share financial details only after a buyer signs a confidentiality agreement (an NDA).
- Describe the business in general terms until you know who you're talking to.
- Meet buyers away from the business, or after hours.
- Decide in advance when and how you'll tell your key employees, and tell them yourself.
Preparing the business
The things that make a business easier to sell are the same things that make it easier to run without you:
- Your team can make day-to-day decisions without you.
- Key customer and supplier relationships aren't held by you alone.
- How things are done is written down, not just in your head.
- Leases, licenses, and contracts can be transferred to a new owner, or you know what it would take.
- Personal expenses are out of the business's books, or clearly separated.
The handover option most owners don't hear about
Most advice about selling assumes a clean break: you find a buyer, they pay, you leave. That works for some owners. But it isn't the only way, and it can be hard to find a buyer who can pay up front and will look after the people you've worked with for years.
The alternative is a gradual handover. You choose a successor who joins the business, learns it alongside you, and buys it in stages over several years, largely paid from the business's earnings. You keep a hand in while they take on more, and the business carries on with its employees and customers. It isn't right for everyone: you're paid over time rather than all at once, so you need to trust the successor and protect yourself in the agreement. Read about planning a handover andseller financing.
Checklist: before you talk to any buyer
- Write down your goals, your ideal timeline, and what matters besides price.
- Get a rough estimate of what the business is worth.
- Gather three or more years of financial statements and tax returns.
- List your leases, key contracts, licenses, and equipment.
- Meet your accountant about taxes and your attorney about structure.
- Note what only you know, and start handing it over.
- Decide how you'll find a buyer and how you'll keep it confidential.
- Think about who you'd want to take over, not just who could pay.
Want to hand over, not just sell?
We introduce owners to vetted successors who want to carry a business on and buy it gradually. We're not a broker, we never list your business publicly, and we never contact your employees, customers, or competitors. You choose who takes over, and it costs owners nothing. See how it works ortalk with us confidentially.
Common questions
I want to sell my business. Where do I start?
Start by writing down what you want: when you'd like to step back, what you need from the sale, and what matters to you besides the price. Then get a rough idea of what the business is worth and put your financial records in order.
Talk to your accountant and attorney early, before you talk to any buyer. Only then decide how you'll find one.
How long does it take to sell a small business?
It varies a lot. Preparing the business can take a year or more if your records or systems need work. Finding a buyer and closing a deal often takes many months after that, and some businesses take longer. A gradual handover to a successor takes several years from start to finish, but you start getting paid along the way.
How do I find a buyer for my business?
The usual routes are a business broker, your own network (suppliers, customers, competitors, people in your industry), online marketplaces where businesses are listed for sale, and services that introduce owners to successors. Each has trade-offs in cost, reach, and confidentiality.
Can I sell my business without anyone finding out?
You can keep it quiet for most of the process. Brokers usually market a business without naming it, and buyers sign a confidentiality agreement (an NDA) before seeing details. Telling employees is a judgment call about timing, and most owners wait until a deal is close or a successor is chosen.
Do I have to leave the day the business sells?
Not usually. Many sales include a transition period where you stay on to train the buyer and introduce them to customers. In a gradual handover you stay involved for longer, often a few years, and step back in stages.