Openfair

08/14/2026

Most owners start thinking about the sale process itself. The businesses that sell well started earlier, cleaning up financials, reducing owner-dependence, diversifying the customer base, and tightening systems well before a listing ever goes live.
Two to three years out is when that work actually pays off. See what needs fixing first at Openfair.co

08/14/2026

Most of the planning goes into the deal itself, the valuation, the negotiation, the closing. Far less goes into the week after. Structuring the payout, replacing the income, figuring out what the next chapter actually looks like.
Think past the wire transfer. Openfair.co

08/14/2026

Walking away only works as leverage if there's actually somewhere to walk to. Another buyer, no urgency to sell, a real alternative. Bluffing without one rarely holds, and experienced buyers can usually tell the difference.
Know where your real leverage sits before you use it. Openfair.co

08/14/2026

Earnout disputes rarely come down to the number itself. They come down to what happens after close, who's running the business day to day, and whether the metric was defined tightly enough to survive new ownership in the room.
Get the structure right before you sign, not after the payments stop matching expectations. Learn what to watch for at Openfair.co

08/14/2026

An NDA doesn't protect a business sale the way most sellers assume. It restricts what a buyer can do with information after they receive it, it doesn't undo the damage once that information is already out.

That's why a serious sale process starts before any NDA exists, with an anonymized listing. Name, exact location, and identifying financials stay out entirely until a buyer shows real interest and signs.

Most of the damage happens earlier than sellers expect: a revenue figure mentioned on a call before paperwork is signed, an NDA negotiated on the buyer's own template with a narrow definition of what counts as confidential, no non-solicitation clause stopping a buyer who walks away from hiring key employees directly.

We laid out what a properly drafted NDA actually covers, what it can't do, and the specific clauses sellers skip that end up costing them later.

An NDA protects the financial and customer details a seller shares with buyers. See what it does and doesn't cover, and mistakes to avoid.

08/14/2026

Most business sales go to buyers who've never set foot in the company before close. A management buyout skips that entirely, the people already running the business become the owners.

The catch: management teams rarely have the capital to pay outright. Every MBO that actually closes runs on a layered financing stack, usually senior debt through an SBA 7(a) loan, a seller note carrying a real chunk of the price, some capital from management itself, and sometimes mezzanine debt filling what's left.

Sellers weighing an MBO run into two problems more than any others: negotiating price informally with a team that already knows the business's weak points, and underestimating how much risk they're still carrying once they've handed over the keys. A seller note means the payout isn't done at closing, it depends on the business performing without you there.

We laid out what makes a business MBO-ready, how the financing stack actually breaks down, and the note protections sellers negotiate to protect what they're still owed.

Management buyouts let your team buy the business they run. See what makes a business MBO-ready and how the financing stack works.

08/13/2026

The hardest business to sell is one that only works because you're the one running it.

Buyers see that risk and price it in. Businesses that can operate without their owner in the room sell for up to 53% more than businesses where the owner is still the hub of every relationship and decision.

The good news is this is fixable, and the earlier you start, the more it's worth at close. Get your free valuation at Openfair.co.

08/13/2026

Banks used to be the default answer for financing an acquisition. Not anymore.

Private lenders now fund roughly 70 to 80% of new lower middle market buyout deals, faster underwriting, more flexible terms, and less friction than a traditional bank line.

If you're looking to buy a business, the financing landscape works in your favor right now. Find your next acquisition at Openfair.co.

08/13/2026

SBA loans are now completely closed to foreign buyers. As of March 1, 2026, .S. Small Business Administration requires 100% US citizen or national ownership for every 7(a) and 504 loan, no exceptions for minority foreign ownership, no exceptions for green card holders.

For Canadian buyers who had SBA pre-approval built into their acquisition plan, that plan is dead on arrival now.

The buyers who still close deals are doing three things differently: confirming their visa path before they build the offer (the E-2 treaty investor visa, per , is still open to Canadians with no cap and no lottery), rebuilding the financing stack around seller notes and non-SBA lenders instead of assuming SBA backing, and getting the entity structure right before signing, since Canada taxes a US LLC as a corporation and that alone can trigger double taxation if nobody catches it in advance.

The buyers who don't plan around this find out mid-diligence, usually after the seller is already expecting a number that depended on financing that no longer exists.

We laid out the full financing stack and the entity-structure fix in the post.

SBA loans are now closed to foreign buyers. Here's what Canadian buyers need to know about financing, visas, and entity structure before buying a US business.

08/13/2026

Big investors are watching small businesses right now.

Lower middle market buyouts have posted a pooled 39% average yearly return since 2009, and 3.3x money back for every dollar invested, the strongest numbers of any deal size in private equity.

If you're thinking about selling, this is the environment to do it in. See what your business could be worth at Openfair.co.