Buyers love potential… but they pay for predictability.

You might feel ready to sell your business, but here’s the multi-million-dollar question: Is your business ready for a buyer to say yes?

When it comes to mergers & acquisitions, buyers aren’t just looking for potential, profitability, and performance without the owner in the driver’s seat. It might make for bad cinema, but a well-run, boring business will often sell for more than a high-risk, exciting one.

Buyers love stability. They’re not in the market for fixer-uppers or potential (VCs will invest in startups if they want high risk). They want businesses that run like well-oiled machines.

What buyers actually pay for:

✅ Predictable Revenue

Do you have recurring customers? Subscription models? Long-term contracts? Buyers love revenue that shows up month after month, especially from multiple customers. If you can prove your income is repeatable, you’re already ahead of the pack.

✅ Stable Financials

Three to five years of clean financial statements go a long way. Are your books buttoned up? Is your EBITDA trending up? Are your margins consistent and healthy? Buyers want proof, and they expect you to have it ready for them.

✅ Growth Potential

Buyers want to know they’re not buying a flatline. If you can show new products, untapped markets, or ways to scale, you become instantly more attractive. The more upside you can offer, the more leverage you’ll have.

✅ A Strong, Backable Team

If you step away, does the business fall apart? Or does your team know how to operate without you? Buyers want a business that’s not tied to your brain. A competent, committed team gives them confidence that operations will continue smoothly post-sale.

On the other hand, there are red flags that can turn off buyers or slash your valuation. You may want to outgrow or fix these situations before you try to sell.

What can decrease your business’s valuation: 

🚩 You’re Too Small

A business generating under $500K–$1M in EBITDA may not be worth the cost and effort of due diligence for many buyers. It doesn’t mean you can’t sell, it just narrows the buyer pool significantly.

🚩 Declining Revenue or EBITDA

If your numbers are sliding downward, you’ve got a problem. Buyers don’t want to catch a falling knife. Even if your business has great potential, declining performance creates doubt (and discounts).

🚩 You Are the Business

If customers, vendors, and employees rely on you for everything, your business is too owner-dependent. That’s a risk buyers don’t want to take. If you’re the product, you can’t really sell the business, you can only quit (or become part of the sale).

🚩 Too Much Project-Based Work or Customer Concentration

If 70% of your revenue comes from one client, or if you’re constantly chasing new work instead of building recurring revenue, buyers see that as a massive risk. They’ll worry that one lost contract or slow quarter could tank the business.

Don’t let any of this information discourage you. These issues are all fixable—what matters is approaching them with practical insight and a clear perspective. I’ve guided many companies through similar challenges and more. One of the most valuable steps you can take is an honest audit where you view your business like a buyer will.

Ask yourself:

• Would I buy my business if I saw these numbers?
• If I left for 30 days, would the business run without me?
• Do my financials paint a clean, compelling picture?

If the answer to any of those is “not yet,” that’s what this bootcamp is for.

Take advantage of the resources available to you for no cost. Meet with an expert to get a complimentary audit and a second pair of eyes on your business:

👉Book a call with an M&A advisor

In the next post, we’ll break down the documents and lingo you’ll need to know if you want to sell. M&A has its own language—once you learn to speak it, you’ll know how to play the game and win.