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Acquiring a Small Business

A written buy box, a deal team and financing map, a steady sourcing rhythm, honest diligence, a clean close and a first hundred days that keep staff, customers and the lender with you.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Acquiring a Small Business, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

200

Starter tasks

🚀 Founding & Startups

Acquiring a Small Business

Buying an existing small business to run instead of starting from scratch, from searching and due diligence to the first hundred days.

  1. Acquisition thesis and written buy box
  2. Household budget and personal capital for the search
  3. Choosing self-funded search, funded search or a partnered buy
  4. Assembling the acquisition deal team
  5. Mapping how a purchase could be financed
  6. Valuation basics for owner-run businesses
  7. Deal pipeline tracker set-up
  8. Buyer profile and confidentiality pack
  9. Search time box and walk-away rules
  10. Weekly deal sourcing block
  11. Business broker relationship programme
  12. Direct outreach to owners near retirement
  13. Fifteen-minute listing screen
  14. Monthly update to search investors and lenders
  15. Searcher funnel metrics log
  16. First hundred days plan for the acquired business
  17. Weekly operating review after the close
  18. Lender covenant and reporting calendar
  19. Seller transition check-ins
  20. Reading small-business accounts and tax returns
  21. Normalising earnings and testing add-backs
  22. First owner call and the questions that matter
  23. Deal structuring with seller notes and earnouts
  24. Debt service coverage model for a target
  25. Reading a purchase agreement before the lawyer sends it
  26. Two-week industry crash course before an LOI
  27. Asset purchase or share purchase decision
  28. Letter of intent drafting and negotiation
  29. Commissioning a quality of earnings review
  30. Customer and revenue diligence
  31. People and operations diligence
  32. Legal, licence and lease diligence
  33. Go or no-go decision after diligence
  34. Lease assignment and landlord negotiation
  35. Site visit and owner meeting day
  36. Meeting the key employees before signing
  37. Closing day checklist
  38. Day-one announcement to staff
  39. Customer and supplier announcement week
  40. Hundred-day review with lender and investors
  41. Buying a business with a spouse or partner
  42. From corporate career to owner-operator
  43. Bolt-on acquisition for an existing business owner
  44. Buying a business in a new town
  45. Startup founder buying a competitor or customer book
  46. Buying from a family owner with family on staff
  47. Buy-and-build strategy in one sector
  48. Working capital true-up after closing
  49. Escrow, holdback and indemnity claim management
  50. Refinancing acquisition debt and planning the next exit

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Acquisition thesis and written buy box

Searchers who look at everything end up buying nothing, or worse, buying the first business that says yes. A one-page buy box naming the industries, size range, geography, owner situation and deal breakers you will accept turns hundreds of listings into a handful worth a call, and gives brokers a reason to send you their best ones first.

First tasks

  • List the three industries where your experience gives you an edge as an owner
  • Set the revenue and earnings range you could finance and run
  • Write five deal breakers that would make you walk away
  • Sort ten current listings against the buy box as pass, maybe or no

Household budget and personal capital for the search

Buying a business can take a year or more of searching before the first salary, and most lenders expect the buyer to put real money in alongside the loan. Knowing how many months your household can carry, and how much cash you could commit as equity without touching the emergency fund, sets the size of business you can realistically chase.

First tasks

  • Total your household's fixed monthly costs from the last three bank statements
  • Work out how many months of search your savings can cover
  • Agree with your partner the most cash you would put into one deal
  • Draft a personal financial statement listing assets, debts and income

Choosing self-funded search, funded search or a partnered buy

Three models dominate small-business buying: a self-funded search where you keep most of the equity, a funded search where investors pay your search costs in exchange for a large share, and buying alongside a partner or operator group. Each changes who you answer to, how big a business you can buy and how much of it you will own after the close.

First tasks

  • Write the equity, control and budget differences of the three models in a table
  • Book calls with four searchers who have closed a deal
  • Ask each searcher which model they would choose again and why
  • Record your chosen model and the trade-offs you accept

Make it yours.

Install Acquiring a Small Business, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.