Buying a Business
Buying a business can be one of the most consequential financial decisions you make.
The opportunity may look attractive. The financials may appear strong. The seller may have a compelling story. But beneath the surface can be customer concentration, questionable add-backs, owner dependency, working-capital requirements, deferred investment, employee risk, and deal terms that materially change what you are actually buying.
HartmannRhodes provides buy-side M&A advisory services and business acquisition guidance for individuals, business owners, strategic acquirers, search funds, family offices, private equity groups, and other investment buyers pursuing privately held companies generally valued between $1 million and $25 million.
Whether you have already identified a business or need help finding the right acquisition, we provide experienced, independent guidance from initial evaluation through closing.
Ready to discuss an acquisition?
Buy-Side M&A Advisory for Lower-Middle-Market Acquisitions
Experienced guidance for buying the right business — at the right price and terms.
Are you looking for businesses coming to market?
HartmannRhodes maintains a network of qualified buyers interested in established privately held businesses.
Tell us what you are looking for — industry, geography, size, and acquisition criteria — and we can match you with relevant HartmannRhodes opportunities as they come to market.
The Seller Has an Advisor. Shouldn’t You?
In most business acquisitions, the seller is represented by a business broker or M&A advisor whose responsibility is to achieve the best possible outcome for the seller.
That advisor does not represent you.
A buy-side M&A advisor — sometimes called a business acquisition advisor — works on your side of the table.
HartmannRhodes helps buyers evaluate the economics of an acquisition, identify risks, assess value, structure important business terms, coordinate due diligence, and navigate negotiations.
Our job isn't simply to help you close a deal. It's to help you make a sound acquisition decision — even when the right decision is to renegotiate, pause, or walk away.
Our Buy-Side M&A Advisory Services
FINANCIAL REVIEW & VALUATION
Evaluate a Business You’ve Found
You may already have an opportunity in front of you — through a broker, marketplace, industry contact, competitor, or direct conversation with an owner.
Before committing significant time and capital, we help you understand what the business may actually be worth and what deserves closer scrutiny.
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Historical financial performance and tax returns
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Normalized earnings and seller-proposed add-backs
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Revenue, margins, profitability, and cash-flow trends
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Customer, vendor, employee, and owner concentration
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Preliminary valuation and purchase-price guidance
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Working-capital requirements
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Capital-expenditure needs
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Acquisition financing considerations
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Key questions, risks, and potential warning signs
The objective is straightforward: determine whether the opportunity deserves the next step.
DUE DILIGENCE & NEGOTIATION
Navigate a Transaction Already Underway
Finding a business is only the beginning.
Once discussions become serious — or a letter of intent is signed — the transaction becomes more complicated. Financial diligence begins. Attorneys get involved. Lenders ask questions. Working capital gets negotiated. Purchase-agreement language begins to turn business decisions into contractual obligations.
HartmannRhodes helps you keep sight of the entire transaction.
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Financial review and earnings normalization
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Valuation and purchase-price analysis
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Deal-structure analysis
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Indications of interest and letters of intent
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Seller financing, earnouts, escrows, holdbacks, and rollover equity
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Working-capital analysis and purchase-price adjustments
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Business acquisition due diligence planning and coordination
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Assessment of issues uncovered during diligence
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Renegotiation strategy
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Review of the business terms reflected in transaction documents
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Coordination with attorneys, accountants, lenders, appraisers, insurance professionals, and other specialists
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Transaction management through closing
HartmannRhodes does not replace your attorney, accountant, lender, quality-of-earnings provider, or other licensed or specialized professionals. We help connect those workstreams and keep the business implications of the transaction in view.
FIND THE RIGHT BUSINESS
Acquisition Search and Target Sourcing
For buyers with a defined acquisition objective, HartmannRhodes can provide a more comprehensive business acquisition search and buy-side advisory engagement.
We help develop the acquisition strategy, identify potential targets, approach owners confidentially, screen opportunities, evaluate fit, and move qualified transactions toward closing.
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Defining your acquisition criteria and buyer profile
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Establishing industry, geography, revenue, earnings, and investment parameters
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Acquisition target identification and screening
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Reviewing marketed and off-market acquisition opportunities
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Confidential outreach to business owners
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Financial and strategic evaluation
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Valuation and transaction analysis
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Offer, indication-of-interest, and LOI support
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Negotiation strategy
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Financing coordination
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Due-diligence management
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Transaction support through closing
The scope is customized around your acquisition strategy, experience, internal resources, and desired level of involvement.
What Are You Really Buying?
Purchase price gets attention. Risk is often buried somewhere else.
A disciplined acquisition review looks beyond the headline number to understand what happens after ownership changes hands.
These issues do not automatically make a business a bad acquisition. They do affect what the business is worth, how the transaction should be structured, and what you should know before you sign.
Quality of Earnings
Are the company’s earnings sustainable, transferable, and supported by financial records?
Seller
Add-Backs
Are adjustments to earnings legitimate, documented, and likely to benefit you after closing?
Customer Concentration
How dependent is revenue on a handful of customers — and what happens if one leaves?
Owner Dependency
Do important relationships, knowledge, and decisions still run through one person?
Working Capital
Will you receive enough working capital at closing to operate the business normally?
Employees and Management
Who is critical to the business, and what is the risk that important people leave after the transaction?
Capital Expenditures
Will equipment, vehicles, technology, or facilities require significant investment shortly after closing?
Deal Structure
How should cash at closing, seller financing, earnouts, holdbacks, escrows, or rollover equity shape the deal?
Financing and Cash Flow
Can the business support acquisition debt, working capital, reinvestment, and owner compensation?
Transition Risk
What must the seller transfer, and how long will the transition to new ownership take?
Who We Work With
Individuals Buying a Business
Buying an established company can provide a path to business ownership without starting from scratch. However, first-time buyers are often negotiating against experienced sellers, brokers, attorneys, and investors. We help individual buyers understand the process, evaluate opportunities, assess financing considerations, and avoid costly mistakes.
Existing Business Owners
An acquisition can help an established company enter a new market, add customers, expand geographically, obtain talent, acquire equipment, or increase operating scale. We help business owners evaluate whether a proposed acquisition will create strategic and financial value—and whether the expected benefits justify the risks.
Search Funds and Independent Sponsors
Finding an acquisition is only part of the challenge. Buyers must also screen opportunities efficiently, develop credible offers, coordinate financing, manage diligence, and keep the transaction moving. HartmannRhodes can provide additional M&A experience and transaction support without requiring the buyer to build a full internal acquisition team.
Private Equity and Strategic Acquirers
We assist private equity groups, portfolio companies, family offices, and strategic buyers pursuing platform investments and add-on acquisitions within the lower middle market. Our regional relationships and knowledge of privately held businesses can supplement an existing corporate-development or investment team.
Why HartmannRhodes?
An Operator’s Perspective
Mark Hartmann came to M&A after building, scaling, and selling his own company in an eight-figure transaction. That experience brings an owner’s perspective to every acquisition—understanding not only the numbers, but what it means to lead the people, serve the customers, manage the risks, and ultimately operate the business.
Experience on Both Sides of the Table
Working with sellers gives HartmannRhodes insight into how businesses are positioned, how earnings are presented, and how owners think about value and deal terms. On the buy side, that perspective helps us ask better questions, identify potential issues, and evaluate the opportunity beyond the seller’s presentation.
Lower-Middle-Market Focus
HartmannRhodes focuses on privately held businesses generally valued between $1 million and $25 million. These transactions can involve sophisticated financing, diligence, legal, tax, operational, and negotiation issues without the internal deal teams available to larger corporate acquirers. That is where experienced coordination matters.
Independent, Practical Advice
We're not here to convince you that every acquisition is a good acquisition. A good outcome may mean moving forward. It may mean changing the price. It may mean changing the terms. And sometimes it means walking away. The objective is not the transaction. The objective is to make the right decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does a buy-side M&A advisor or business acquisition advisor do?
A buy-side M&A advisor works on behalf of a buyer pursuing a business acquisition. Depending on the engagement, the advisor may help identify acquisition targets, evaluate financial performance, assess valuation, develop offers, structure transaction terms, coordinate due diligence, support negotiations, and manage the acquisition process through closing.
2. Do I need an advisor if the seller already has a business broker?
The seller’s broker represents the seller. Their responsibility is to help the seller achieve an acceptable transaction. A buy-side advisor provides independent guidance focused on your objectives, economics, risks, and transaction decisions.
3. Can HartmannRhodes help if I have already found a business?
Yes. You do not need to engage HartmannRhodes for a full acquisition search. We can assist buyers who have already identified a company or are in discussions and need help with evaluation, valuation, deal structure, due diligence, negotiation, or transaction coordination.
4. Can HartmannRhodes help me find a business to buy?
Yes. Acquisition-search engagements can be structured around your industry, geography, investment criteria, resources, and desired level of involvement. If you simply want to receive information about HartmannRhodes listings as they become available, you can also join the Buyer Network.
5. Does HartmannRhodes perform legal, accounting, or quality-of-earnings due diligence?
No. Legal, tax, accounting, quality-of-earnings, lending, appraisal, insurance, and other regulated or specialized professional services should be performed by appropriately qualified professionals engaged by the buyer. HartmannRhodes works alongside those professionals and helps coordinate the transaction from a business and M&A perspective.
6. What size acquisitions does HartmannRhodes advise on?
HartmannRhodes generally focuses on privately held businesses valued between approximately $1 million and $25 million. We welcome conversations about opportunities outside that range when they fit our experience and capabilities.
7. How are buy-side advisory services priced?
The engagement depends on what you need — evaluation of a specific opportunity, transaction support, an acquisition search, or broader buy-side representation. Scope and fee structure are established in advance based on the nature and complexity of the assignment.
8. What happens if diligence uncovers a serious problem?
First, understand it. Then determine what it changes. Depending on the issue, the appropriate response may be additional diligence, a revised purchase price, a different deal structure, additional contractual protection, a delay, or a decision not to proceed. Finding a problem before closing is considerably better than owning it afterward.
Before You Buy, Know What You’re Buying
A well-chosen acquisition can create growth, income, independence, and long-term enterprise value. The wrong acquisition can consume capital, management attention, and years of effort.
The time to understand the difference is before you close.
HartmannRhodes provides experienced, independent guidance to help you evaluate the opportunity, understand the risks, negotiate intelligently, and make a decision you can stand behind.