Acquira

05/01/2026

When you're buying a business, the number on the bottom of the P&L isn't the one that matters.

Net profit is influenced by owner decisions — how much they pay themselves, whether family is on payroll, how the business is structured for tax efficiency.

SDE cuts through all of that. It shows you the cash the business actually generates, normalized for the current owner's choices.

**Net profit vs SDE — a real example:**

A business shows $120K net profit.
Owner salary: $180K (above-market)
Personal vehicle: $18K
Travel: $12K
One-time legal fees: $25K

Adjusted SDE: $355,000.

At a 3.5x multiple, you'd value this at:
- Based on net profit: $420K
- Based on true SDE: $1.24M

That gap is where buyers overpay or sellers undervalue.

Always ask for SDE.

05/01/2026

You just closed a deal and bought your first business. Sales have been humming along for the first two or three weeks, and you’re feeling pretty good.

Suddenly, they start to drift downward for no apparent reason. Upon further inspection, you discover an alarming number of negative customer reviews made previous to your purchase of the business. You realize that customers have been increasingly complaining that the products were becoming outdated and suboptimal and that if you had noticed this earlier, you could have predicted the drop in sales.

Situations like these can be prevented with proper financial due diligence.

Closing a bad deal can usually be avoided, provided that you spend sufficient time upfront looking at the right information.

Learn more;

Financial due diligence is vital for businesses to identify risks, improve areas, and ensure stability. Check out our checklist & learn more.

04/30/2026

12 million boomer business owners will retire in the next decade.

Here's what that means for you:

Most of them have no succession plan. Most of their kids moved to cities and chose different careers. They need buyers — and they'd rather sell to someone who will care for their business than to a private equity roll-up.

That means:
- Motivated sellers who will negotiate
- Seller financing that SBA lenders love
- Businesses with 20-40 years of operating history
- Real cash flow — not projections

This is one of the most significant small business wealth transfer windows in American history.

Acquira was built to help operators navigate it.

Book a free strategy call. Link in bio.

04/30/2026

Business acquisitions can be an exciting thing.

There are often large sums of money at play; negotiations can get heated, and a lot is at stake.

But if you're not careful, you can get swept up in the excitement and end up with a bad deal.

The best protection against this is a well-defined investment thesis. An investment thesis allows you to lay out your risk tolerance to quickly and efficiently disqualify bad deals or identify good deals.

An investment thesis can be built around several criteria, including geographic scope, industry, brand moat, company culture, etc. Whatever criteria you use, the thesis will help to remove subjective opinions and emotions from the analysis of a deal, as well as quickly screen opportunities and separate the signal from the noise.

Even though it is essential, many Acquisition Entrepreneurs will skip this step due to their eagerness to get started – or ignore it entirely.

This eagerness can lead people to make bad decisions and buy bad companies. In this article, we'll go into how you can define your risk tolerance and what factors you can use to analyze deals; plus, we'll share a cautionary tale from our own acquisition experiences.

Learn more:

Accurately measuring business acquisition risk is crucial for making informed decisions. Learn about the key factors and techniques here.

04/29/2026

The most important meeting in any acquisition isn't the LOI review. It's the seller conversation.

Here are the 5 questions you need real answers to before you sign anything:

**"Why are you selling?"**
Looking for: retirement, health, lifestyle. Red flag: vague answers that might be hiding business problems.

**"How involved are you day-to-day?"**
If everything runs through the seller, you're buying a job — not a business.

**"What would you do differently?"**
This reveals both hidden problems and seller character. Honest answers = trustworthy seller note partner.

**"Are key employees staying?"**
Losing 2+ key people post-close can break your first year. Know this before you commit.

**"Will you carry a seller note?"**
The answer tells you how motivated the seller really is — and whether they believe in the business they're selling.

Comment "QUESTIONS" for our full seller interview guide.

04/29/2026

As an aspiring entrepreneur, you stand at the precipice of a life-changing journey – the acquisition of a business that will not only provide you with financial rewards but also the opportunity to make a lasting impact on your community. At Acquira, we understand the magnitude of this undertaking and the questions that inevitably arise: How likely am I to succeed? What challenges will I face along the way? How can I ensure the best possible outcome?

Our answer is that your success is directly proportional to your dedication and the quality of support you receive. And while this remains true, we’d like to share some data with you to support that statement. We've separated the journey into 4 key milestones, and then shown our data to support your likelihood to hit each milestone, the average time to complete it, and the monetary cost you're likely to pay. We've done this for both our Accelerator and Accelerator+ programs, as well as estimating how you do if you go it alone (primarily from third party surveys with self searchers).

But first, a quick description of each program:

Acquira’s Accelerator Program is a transformative journey designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to acquire a thriving, cash-flowing business in under 12 months.

Our Accelerator+ Program is a premium service that ensures you will find a deal. It requires less oversight on your part because the Acquira team sources and vets the business before presenting it to the Investment Committee on your behalf. You're notified when businesses that that meet your Investment Thesis criteria are ready to issue LOIs on.

Note: Due to overwhelming demand, the Accelerator+ program is currently only available to existing Accelerator customers as an upgrade.

Learn more:

Discover your chances of success with Acquira, a business growth and acquisition program. Learn how it can help with your entrepreneurial goals.

04/28/2026

Most business buyers spend their time scrolling listing sites.

The best buyers are building relationships with people who hear about deals before they're listed.

Here's a stat worth sitting with: roughly 70% of business transactions happen off-market — through direct outreach, broker relationships, and word-of-mouth referrals.

If you're only looking at what's publicly listed, you're competing for the bottom 30% of deal flow.

The five sources that drive off-market deal access:

1. Direct outreach to owners (cold email, direct mail, LinkedIn)
2. Broker relationships — being the first call before a listing goes public
3. Industry networks — owners who refer each other
4. LinkedIn cold DM to operators in your target vertical
5. CPA and attorney referrals — they know who's thinking about selling first

The best businesses are sold before they're ever listed.

04/28/2026

A Quality of Earnings (QoE) study can be a game-changer when buying or selling a business.

A QoE study comprehensively analyzes a company's financial statements and accounting practices that go beyond the standard due diligence process.

It provides a detailed picture of the business's historical financial performance and an evaluation of the sustainability of its future earnings potential.

A QoE study is significant for home services businesses because these companies often have unique financial characteristics that require careful consideration.

For example, their revenue streams can be heavily dependent on seasonality and weather conditions, making it important to assess how consistent and sustainable those revenue streams are.

Additionally, these businesses often rely on many contractors or subcontractors, creating complex accounting and reporting issues that may require a closer look.

Learn more:

Discover the importance of a Quality of Earnings report in business acquisitions through our comprehensive guide.

04/27/2026

The number one question we get: "How do people actually buy a $1M business with $100K?"

Here's the complete breakdown:

**The 80/10/10 Structure:**

- **80% Bank (SBA 7a):** $800K loan backed by SBA guarantee. 10-year term. ~$9,500/month.
- **10% Seller Note:** The seller loans you $100K. Full standby — they collect nothing until the SBA loan is paid. They agree because a deal beats no deal.
- **10% Your Cash:** $100,000 out of pocket.

**The Returns:**

$500K SDE business
– $114K annual debt service
= $386K net cash to you

That's a 386% cash-on-cash return in year one.

**2025 Update:** With the new 5% cash floor, the most aggressive structure is $50K cash + $50K seller note on a $1M deal — meaning some buyers are getting in with just $50K.

Comment "SBA" for our deal calculator.

04/27/2026

Navigating the complex world of business acquisitions as a small business owner is no simple task.

One of the most crucial elements to comprehend is the quality of earnings (QoE), a vital determinant of a company's financial health.

An analysis of the quality of earnings provides an in-depth perspective on the company's earnings, emphasizing the extent to which those earnings are sustainable, consistent, and reliable over time.

A QoE report isn't a simple restatement of what's presented in the financial statements. Instead, it goes beyond the surface-level numbers to uncover the real drivers of cash flow and profits.

Learn more:

One of the most crucial elements to comprehend is the quality of earnings (QoE), a vital determinant of a company's financial health. An analysis of quality of earnings provides an in-depth perspective on the company's earnings, emphasizing the extent to which those earnings are sustainable, consist...