60+ questions answered from searchers looking for off-market deals

This Week in ETA:

• Searchers: We did a webinar on Finding & Bonding with Off-Market Business Owners in collaboration with Alex at Rejigg on Wednesday. The 160+ attendees who joined submitted 60 great questions, which we answered live. The recording is here, and the slides are here if you missed it. 

• Investors: The #1 reason we’ve seen good deals fall apart for no good reason is that the searcher or the seller has a lawyer who doesn’t typically do M&A. Searchers should ALWAYS be using an attorney who specializes in self-funded search transactions. It will save you (and them!) an enormous amount of time, money, and hassle; we’ve learned this the hard way. Five M&A lawyers we recommend are in this guide.

Plus:

• How to frame the seller note in your mind (and the seller’s). It’s not a loan, it’s a deferred payment plan.

• How you communicate with a seller matters as much as the deal you’re offering them. This is a great reminder.

Question:

Hit reply and tell us - If you could give one piece of advice to a first-time searcher about deal structure negotiations, what would it be?