How to Buy a Small Business
A practical, step-by-step walkthrough of buying a small business: setting criteria, finding deals, analyzing earnings, financing and closing.
9 min read · Updated 2026-08-18
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Insights and guides
Everything you need to evaluate, finance and close a business acquisition with confidence.
Buying a Business
Due Diligence
Questions to Ask Before Buying a Business
The questions that reveal earnings quality, owner dependency and hidden risk before you spend money on due diligence.
7 min read · Updated 2026-08-06
Red Flags When Buying a Business
The warning signs that most often precede a bad acquisition, and how to test each one during diligence.
6 min read · Updated 2026-08-13
Entrepreneurship
Buying vs Starting a Business
A structured comparison of acquisition and startup: capital, time to income, risk profile and the situations where each wins.
7 min read · Updated 2026-08-24
Financing
How Seller Financing Works
Why sellers carry a note, how terms are typically structured, and what seller financing signals about a business.
6 min read · Updated 2026-07-30
Selling a Business
How to Prepare Your Business for Sale
What owners can do in the twelve months before a sale to raise the multiple and reduce the chance of a deal falling apart.
8 min read · Updated 2026-08-27
Valuation
SDE vs EBITDA Explained
What seller's discretionary earnings and EBITDA actually measure, when each is used, and why the difference changes the price of a business.
6 min read · Updated 2026-08-10
How to Value a Small Business
Estimate a small business value step by step: normalize earnings, choose comparable multiples, check assets and debt, and build a range.
10 min read · Updated 2026-09-26
How to Calculate Owner's Cash Flow (SDE)
Calculate seller's discretionary earnings from net income with a worked example, identify valid add-backs, and distinguish SDE from take-home cash.
8 min read · Updated 2026-09-26
Business Valuation Multiples: How to Use Them
Learn how SDE and EBITDA multiples work, calculate implied multiples from an asking price, and avoid mixing earnings definitions.
7 min read · Updated 2026-09-26
Asset-Based Business Valuation: A Practical Guide
Estimate net asset value from equipment, inventory, property and liabilities, and understand when asset value differs from earnings value.
7 min read · Updated 2026-09-26