Andrew Gazdecki explains what buyers actually want from acquisition targets. Keep your books clean and P&L statements ready, they're the first thing requested. Imperfections aren't dealbreakers; acquirers see them as chances to add value. Focus on recurring revenue and multi-year contracts because predictable cash flow is what moves the needle.
Chapters
Number 1 is keep clean books. The first thing that people ask for is going to be your P&L and your financials. Number 2 is that you don't have to have all your ducks in a row. So even if like some numbers are like a bit down or like maybe you don't have set sales guy yet, you can still sell the business. It's just a business that needs a bit of renovation, but actually the right buyer sees that as an opportunity. One thing I learned from speaking with different potential buyers is buyers really like recurring revenue and stability. I think one thing I wish I knew in hindsight, if I were to kind of do this again, I wish I would've signed my clients onto longer agreements instead of just like month to month. We did have recurring revenue, but we didn't have it, let's say like a 12-month contract kind of thing. But like if you do have those set contracts, like that definitely is like a big plus in the buyer's eyes. Let's say if you know that you're gonna try to exit in the next couple months or the next year, you can already start lining up those, you know, new clients into those contracts. Or like you could upsell current clients into longer-term contracts to prepare for that exit.
