Free buyer's guide, 2026 edition
Five mistakes that kill business buyers
One in four search fund acquisitions loses money. A third of signed LOIs never close. This 26-page guide names the five mistakes behind those numbers and shows you what disciplined buyers do instead.
- Every statistic sourced and dated
- Written by a sell-side deal advisor
- 26 pages, free, no sales call
Free Buyer's Guide
Five mistakes that kill business buyers
26 pages. Every statistic sourced and dated.
What this guide covers
Five Mistakes That Kill Business Buyers is a free 2026 guide to buying an owner-built business. It covers the five most common buyer mistakes: buying the owner instead of the business, taking seller numbers at face value, falling in love with one deal, missing customer concentration, and underfunding the deal after closing. Every statistic is sourced and dated, drawing on Aon Hewitt, Stacking Capital, CT Acquisitions, and SBA lending data.
Last updated July 2026
The numbers buyers learn too late
62%
of founders are gone within 24 months of close
Aon Hewitt study of 250 acquisitions, 2024
60-80%
of QoE-supported deals get repriced after the report
Stacking Capital, 2026
~30%
of signed LOIs in the lower middle market never close
CT Acquisitions, 2026
0.71%
default rate on SBA acquisition loans. Done right, buying works.
GoSBA Loans, 2026
The five mistakes, and what disciplined buyers do instead
You buy the owner, not the business.
The handshake test that reveals owner dependency before you pay for it.
You take the numbers at face value.
Why the seller's adjusted EBITDA is an opening argument, and how to verify it.
You fall in love with one deal.
The kill list and pipeline discipline that beat deal fever.
You miss the concentration in the customer list.
The revenue thresholds every lender flags, and the contract clause that can cost you a customer on day one.
You underfund the deal you just won.
The first-year cash map: working capital, stress-tested debt service, transition budget.
Plus a buyer FAQ, a full glossary, and a chapter on what a professionally run sale process looks like from your side of the table.
Free. Instant download. We never share your email.
Written from the other side of the table
Jarrod Stanton has spent 20 years inside owner-built businesses as a hands-on consultant and now works sell-side at BuiltWorth Advisory, preparing companies for sale and facilitating competing acquisition bids. This guide is what he watches buyers get wrong on live deals.
The buyers who lose are rarely stupid. They are undisciplined. Discipline is free.
Questions buyers ask
The lending data says no. SBA change-of-ownership loans defaulted at 0.71% from 2020 to 2025, versus 1.99% for new-business loans (GoSBA Loans, 2026). Existing cash flow, existing customers, and existing staff derisk the first years. The risk concentrates in what you pay and what you verify.
An independent analysis of the target's true, sustainable earnings: add-backs tested, revenue quality checked, working capital examined. On any deal where the price is a multiple of earnings, yes, you need one. 60 to 80% of QoE-supported deals reprice after the report (Stacking Capital, 2026). Skipping the review does not make the findings go away. It just means you buy them.
In a professionally run process, the valuation work stays between the seller and their advisor. There is no magic formula and no official multiple, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a formula. You are asked to bid what the company's future is worth in your hands. An asking price would anchor the process to the seller's math instead of yours. Good processes let the bids find the price.
Because confidentiality protects the value of the business you might buy. If word gets out, employees update resumes, customers hedge, competitors circle, and the asset you are pricing gets damaged before you own it. A seller who is careless with confidentiality before the sale is showing you how they handle risk in general. Sign it, and then ask what else they protect and how.
Customer concentration. A single customer above 20% of revenue is material to every serious buyer and lender, and above 30% many institutional buyers pass outright (Omni Online Strategies; Livmo, 2026). Read the customer-level revenue before you fall in love.
Read it before you send a wire transfer
Free, 26 pages, every statistic sourced. The most expensive mistakes in this guide were made by smart people.
Free. Instant download. We never share your email.
The work of a lifetime deserves more than a formula and a number.