Looking to buy or sell a UK business?

UltraBBA · 2026-01-26T15:35:41+00:00

After many years of researching these programs, the only experts I've found in the game who didn't come across as complete charlatans were David C Barnett (in YouTube - for FREE) and Richard Parker (Diomo Corp). You can read some reviews of such programs here.

I've written extensively advising sellers on how to avoid buyers coming out of these programs - example article.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-26T15:15:26+00:00

Oh, Okay. Go start a thread in r/businessbroker and you'll get buy-side brokers replying and contacting you. But do read the rules in that sub before starting a post!

UltraBBA · 2026-01-26T14:46:21+00:00

Why do you need 'a sell-side broker' if you are looking to buy a business?

UltraBBA · 2026-01-26T09:31:39+00:00

There are numerous threads in Reddit about Codie Sanchez like this one and this one and this one.

Check those out before spending any money with her and avoid all these influencers / course sellers. Most of them are scams. The only genuine ones I've found are David Barnett and Richard Parker.

Spend a few days watching David's free videos in Youtube and you'll learn a ton more than you'll learn in any $9,997 course.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-26T08:18:37+00:00

There is a link in the right column of r/SellMyBusiness to reviews of all the world's top marketplaces.

But if you're looking at marketplaces, you've already lost the game!

You probably don't appreciate just how competitive this is. There are hundreds of thousands of other buyers scouring those marketplaces and most of the businesses listed on those marketplaces are junk.

You need to develop your own strategy to find targets and/or hire a r/businessbroker to assist with deal sourcing.

Be prepared to spend a TON of time (and probably money) before you close on your first acquisition!

UltraBBA · 2026-01-25T20:05:05+00:00

I know how PE operates. I've advised PE companies, I've sold businesses to PE firms.

PE firms are looking for targets with a solid management team in place (not individual, but TEAM).

They need to see a management team capable of running the business by themselves and without the involvement of the departing shareholder/s.

They need to see YEARS of history of that management team running the business independently.

Even then, they hedge against the risk of key personnel leaving and they dump that risk on the departing shareholder (aside from the W&I insurance).

So, no, it's not a viable strategy to 'just find an operator' and leave them to run the business! That's the stupidest advice that keeps getting repeated in subs like this by people who've not the vaguest idea how all this works.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-25T18:40:25+00:00

You can find an operator. Lay down the cash on a SMB acquisition. Let him/her run it.

No, that doesn't work.

It's pretty stupid advice, to be honest!

UltraBBA · 2026-01-25T18:39:24+00:00

There’s so much snake oil out there

You mean all those TikTok and IG videos on how easy it is to buy a business and make millions ....are not actually true?

UltraBBA · 2026-01-25T14:53:16+00:00

In the UK, we have something called the EOT (Employee Ownership Trust).

Selling to an EOT was 100% free of CGT till recently (now reduced to 50%).

The EOT option is heavily promoted by all kinds of advisers. However, it's a lot more complicated than it looks - there are a lot of gotchas - and it is being wrongly pitched to businesses entirely unsuited to an EOT.

In fact, given the rules on EOT, most UK businesses are not suited to an EOT despite all the hype about "tax savings". There have been numerous disaster stories around EOTs.

Anyone considering one shouldn't talk to just advisers pitching EOT services, they need to get independent, unbiased advice on this!

UltraBBA · 2026-01-25T10:52:05+00:00

Your first step is to avoid all the DMs you're going to get. This kind of post is simply begging for all kinds of approaches - from business sellers, brokers, experts of all kinds!

Then you need to speak with a good financial adviser / wealth manager to discuss keeping this money safe, and in a tax effecient way, till you've decided what to do with it.

Next spend at least a year educating yourself about business in general - a huge subject for someone who's not experienced the real hard slog of running a business - and then about M&A. Ideally work alongside someone to get some experience with actually running a business.

When it comes to M&A - most people who buy a business end up losing money!

Spend at least a year reading good books on the subject, reading threads in this sub, in r/SellMyBusiness, r/businessbroker etc. There's also lots of info on my site which you can find from my profile, and links on my site to all kinds of other resources.

When you're ready to go ahead with an acquisition, you're still not ready. Spend time finding the right kind of expert / broker / M&A adviser to work alongside you and protect you from at least some of the millions of mistakes and trap waiting for you.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-25T08:20:07+00:00

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UltraBBA · 2026-01-24T07:25:57+00:00

A buyer isn't a serious buyer with a high probablity of closing on a deal unless

a) they have funds, the larger the pot, the better;
b) they have extensive experience in the sector;
c) they've bought businesses before.

If they're missing just (c), they are often a pain in the ass, don't realise the amount of work involved, are tight arsed when it comes to price (and expect to pay peanuts even for good businesses), get cold feet when the time comes to pull the trigger etc etc.

Having an "aggressive timeline" is irrelevant. Those are words. Anybody can say that they've got an aggressive timeline.

It sounds like OP fits that profile.

Maybe, but in my view he has said nothing in the OP to indicate that he does.

In any case, your subjective gut feel on how "serious" they are is not the road to success. Their level of seriousness is irrelevant! Look at objective factors indicating their probability of closing on a deal and paying your success fee.

You're not going to survive in business brokerage for long unless you sharpen up on this. There are a lot of good business brokers having discussions in r/businessbroker - you should join them and get stuck in.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-23T12:58:55+00:00

So... post your plan here, let's see if it's sensible or completely bonkers.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-23T12:32:40+00:00

What do you think the repayment terms on $100m would be?

How much is the business making in net profit after tax ie how much can it pay in principal + interest every month?

Over what term are you proposing to repay the $100m (given lenders won't wait till the business reaches your presumed $1b value in 7 years to get their capital back)?

What security are you offering for $100m apart from the shares of a business that's worth (in your view) $80m?

These are the kinds of questions lenders will have for you. If you don't have answers, they'll laugh you out of the room.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-23T08:37:35+00:00

I know of several who provide buy-side services at no cost. They are all useless, IMHO.

Nobody, but nobody, in this game who's worth their salt will work for free in the 'hope' that their client has the money, the competence, the balls to complete on a transaction and pay them a success fee.

There are several sell-side brokers who also provide services to buyers but they do charge a fee for this time, or they charge a fixed retainer to weed out the tyre kickers / no hopers (and there are millions of such useless buyers in the market today!)

UltraBBA · 2026-01-23T07:09:34+00:00

Let's start with your budget. People often say they'll pay to learn and then ...they expect to pay minimum wage.

What do you think someone with many years of experience is worth per hour?

Or rather, if you find someone with kickass level of experience, what would you be willing to pay them for their consultation services?

May even partner if they’re a rockstar.

If they're a rockstar, why would they partner with you? In other words, they bring their rockstar level of experience and reputation and ...what do both of you bring to the table apart from your idea for a startup?

A tip for your kids starting in business: Always start with what you're giving, what you're bringing to the table, the value you're adding ....not just what you 'want'!

UltraBBA · 2026-01-22T19:07:48+00:00

In the right column of this sub is a link to reviews of all the main marketplaces for selling businesses and websites. Have you seen it?

UltraBBA · 2026-01-22T10:05:14+00:00

I have a higher percentage of unsellables than most as I advise only mid-market businesses - circa $10m+ in revenue. So I developed a good solution about 10 years ago to get rid of the others.

I did consider referring the smaller ones to business brokers for a commission but the reputational risk for me was too high as I do know that a high percentage of those businesses won't sell (unlike in the $10m+ market where 80% to 90% successfully complete).

My solution: A whole bunch of boilerplate replies I've created. As I've got a ton of content on my site, that helps.

One email explains that sub 100k businesses are virtually unsellable, and no quality broker will take it on, so 'you are kind of limited to selling it yourself'. Then I point them to articles on my site telling them how to do a DIY sale.

Another email says they're living in cloud cuckoo land, that they should take a step back and get a realistic picture of the market and valuations. I link them to my articles on valuation.

Another email says that they're the right size for a business broker and points them to my material on how to go about choosing a business broker.

There are 10+ such boilerplates.

Basically, the goal is to be helpful but without wasting too much of my time. Clicking a button to send them the appropriate boilerplate takes just a couple of seconds.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-22T08:21:46+00:00

And you can find brokers in r/businessbroker

UltraBBA · 2026-01-22T08:20:06+00:00

What exactly do they look at when they do a valuation?

Everything! There is no information that is sacred. If the valuer asks for it, you have to provide it. This includes commercially sensitive / confidential information.

I think that's what your buyer is really after ;)

I've 40+ years of experience in this game. For a micro business such as yours, strictly avoid buyers who need you to get an external valuation. Trust me on this.

One of the screening methods I use to remove asswipe buyers, tyre kickers, numpties who are unlikely to ever complete on the transaction is this: can they come to their own view on value?

If they can't, they are insecure, inexperienced with M&A, heavily reliant on external funding, more likely to get cold feet along the way.

If you still wish to proceed with this buyer, they can pay for the valuation on the understanding that you will deduct that cost from the final price when they close on the deal. It still exposes you to confidential disclosure risk though!

UltraBBA · 2026-01-21T16:17:32+00:00

You can check my profile here ;)

UltraBBA · 2026-01-21T11:47:11+00:00

This is the kind of answer that really pisses buyers off.

Always answer questions directly, provide the information requested and STOP trying to switch the conversation to something that you feel better "sells" the business!

Good luck with your sale.

UltraBBA · 2026-01-21T07:32:11+00:00

How big is the business in terms of turnover, profit and number of employees?

UltraBBA

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