Acquisitions & ownership
Selling your business: an owner’s guide
You have built something valuable. Explore how a sale can create personal flexibility, bring support for the next stage of growth and make room for your next chapter. These guides explain the process, from a first conversation to life after closing.
Blue Aries Ventures pursues majority or full acquisitions. A majority sale may allow you to take some value off the table while retaining a stake in what comes next.
1. Understand your options
Clarify the outcome you want before discussing a structure.
All business owners
Majority vs. full business acquisition: what changes for the owner?
Compare a majority sale with a full acquisition through control, cash proceeds, retained ownership and your role after closing.
All business owners
Business valuation: why the headline multiple is only a starting point
Understand how earnings, operating dependencies and deal terms affect the value discussion when you are considering selling your business.
All business owners
Selling a business with real estate: separate decisions, connected economics
Consider the property, lease terms and operating business together when a potential acquisition involves owner-held real estate.
2. Prepare for a confidential conversation
Organize the information and understand the process.
All business owners
Selling your business confidentially: what to share and when
Protect sensitive information during a business-sale discussion with staged disclosure, clear permissions and appropriate professional advice.
All business owners
Financial records to organize before selling your business
Prepare financial information that is consistent and explainable before a buyer reviews your business, without sharing sensitive files prematurely.
All business owners
Business-sale timeline: what moves a transaction forward or holds it up?
Understand the stages of a business acquisition and the information, approvals and decisions that influence timing before closing.
3. Understand the proposed terms
Look beyond the headline amount and ask the right questions.
All business owners
Business-sale letter of intent: questions to ask before signing
Understand the purpose of an acquisition letter of intent and the price assumptions, exclusivity and next steps owners should review.
All business owners
Working capital in a business sale: what owners should understand
Learn why inventory, receivables and operating liabilities matter in a business sale, and why the agreed definition affects the transaction.
All business owners
Asset sale vs. equity sale: what business owners should ask
Understand the practical questions behind an asset sale or an ownership-interest sale, including contracts, liabilities and tax review.
4. Plan life after the sale
Explore liquidity today, continued participation and your future role.
All business owners
Rollover equity: take value off the table and share in future growth
Explore how selling a majority stake can provide cash today and retained equity for future growth, with lessons from the COVID-19 shutdowns.
All business owners
The seller’s transition after a business sale: defining your role
Clarify responsibilities, decision authority and the handover before agreeing to stay involved after selling your business.
All business owners
Employees and customers during a business sale: planning the transition
Plan who communicates an ownership change, when they do it, and how the business maintains continuity for employees and customers.
Related ownership decisions
Selling a trade business
Industry-specific questions for HVAC, plumbing and electrical owners.
Trades & home services
Selling your HVAC business: what to prepare for a buyer conversation
Understand how service mix, maintenance agreements, team continuity and your preferred transition shape an HVAC business sale.
Trades & home services
Selling your plumbing business: planning the next chapter
Prepare a plumbing business sale around your service mix, team, customer relationships and preferred retirement or transition timetable.
Trades & home services
Selling an electrical contracting business: preparing for a smooth transition
Understand how project commitments, customer relationships, qualified personnel and your future role affect an electrical contractor acquisition.
Trades & home services
HVAC maintenance agreements in a business sale: more than a contract count
Understand how renewal behavior, service obligations and delivery capacity help explain maintenance revenue during an HVAC acquisition.
Trades & home services
Contractor licensing when selling a business: questions to resolve early
Understand why contractor licensing, qualifying personnel and ownership changes need early review during a trade-business acquisition.
Trades & home services
Selling a contracting business: what shapes the timeline?
Understand the stages of a trade-business sale and how records, licenses, project commitments and transition decisions affect progress.
Considering a sale?
A general overview of your business and goals is enough to start. You do not need to send sensitive documents with your first inquiry.