My first step is getting to know you and your business. I'm keen to learn about your history with the company, your customers, your employees, your finances, your operations, and more. I have preliminary questions to help my team understand if your business matches my search criteria. And I want to know what outcomes must be true for you and your team to be happy with a deal.

Once we have a preliminary understanding of your company and ambitions, my team and I draft a letter of intent summarizing an acquisition offer's critical financial and legal terms. The letter of intent outlines the funds you would receive for selling your business's assets and the activities your team would need to complete to enable a sale.

My initial letter of intent will rely on incomplete, preliminary information from the Seller, so my team and I will need to verify and validate the information before executing a final deal. My team of finance, legal, environmental, intellectual property, employment, and other advisors will need access to detailed data and records from your team. This definitive due diligence process strengthens the accuracy of the acquisition assumptions.

I plan to fund my future acquisitions in part with commercial loans. The bank providing the loan will have a parallel set of document requests and questions for the Buyer and Seller. The bank's independent diligence, appraisal, site visits, and other underwriting work unlock an additional funding source to help maximize the purchase price I can offer the Seller.

As the above activities wrap up, we enter the phase affectionately known as "The Great Paper Chase." During this phase, my team produces a definitive purchase agreement incorporating work from the above activities. My team would also close the debt financing agreements with the bank and open escrow accounts.

In most cases, all of the combined activity blocks above should take three to six months, depending on the complexity and readiness of the business for sale.

After the deal closes and the Seller has received their initial payments, there will be a rapid phase to transition the selling company's operations to the buying company. I want to complete as much of the knowledge and logistics transfer process as possible early during the definitive due diligence phase. However, some activities need to happen immediately after the deal closes.

In the weeks following the deal's close, I will need some limited ongoing support from the Seller to help tie up any remaining loose ends. But my goal is to let the Seller move to Hawaii, write their autobiography, travel around the world, or do whatever they plan to do with their money as soon as possible!

If all goes well, you will have sold a business! Congrats!