- 859-314-1226
- contact@eastwaterstreet.com
- Lexington, KY
Most founders only go through this once, which means there’s no reason you should already know how it works. We do, because we run this process every day. Below is the path every engagement follows, adjusted to fit your business, your timeline, and your goals, but never skipped or shortcut.
Work with an advisor who understands both the founder’s side of the table and the buyer’s mindset.
Step 1: Confidential Conversation
Every engagement starts with a private, no-obligation conversation about your business, your goals, and whether a sale, recapitalization, or transition makes sense right now. There’s no pressure and no clock running. This is simply where we get to know each other.
Step 2: Exit Readiness Assessment
Before anything goes to market, we take a clear-eyed look at where your business actually stands. We identify the gaps that could reduce value or scare off buyers, and we build a plan to close them, so you’re walking into a sale prepared rather than exposed.
Step 3: Valuation and Positioning
We dig into your value drivers, your financial performance, and a realistic valuation range for your business, then shape the story that will resonate with the right buyers. This is where we position your company to be understood, not just listed.
Step 4: Marketing Material Development
We build the professional teaser and confidential information memorandum that present your business accurately and compellingly. These materials do the heavy lifting of generating serious interest without giving away more than a qualified buyer needs at each stage.
Step 5: Confidential Buyer Outreach
We identify and approach the strategic and financial buyers most likely to see the value in your business, all under strict confidentiality. Every prospective buyer is qualified before they ever see detailed information about your company.
Step 6: Managing a Competitive Process
Rather than negotiating with a single buyer in isolation, we run a structured process designed to create competitive tension among multiple qualified parties. This is what protects your leverage and drives the strongest possible terms.
Step 7: Negotiation and Diligence
Once offers are on the table, we lead negotiations on your behalf and guide you through the buyer’s due diligence process, keeping the deal moving while protecting the terms that matter most to you.
Step 8: Closing
We manage the final steps to closing, coordinating with attorneys, accountants, and other advisors so the transaction closes cleanly and on the terms you agreed to.
Step 9: Transition Support
Our involvement doesn’t end at the closing table. We stay engaged through the transition period to help ensure the outcome holds up, for you, for your team, and for the legacy you built.
Every step of this process exists for one reason: to help you move from decision to close with clarity, leverage, and confidence, and to make sure the outcome still feels right long after the deal is done. That’s not a promise we make lightly. It comes from having sat on the other side of a sale ourselves, building a company from nothing, running it for years, and eventually selling it.
That background shapes every part of how we work with founders today, from the questions we ask early on to the way we handle pressure when a deal gets complicated. It’s the same standard we’d want applied to our own company, and it’s the standard we hold every engagement to.
Veteran owned businesses are built on discipline, leadership, and service. We help owners navigate the sale of their business with clarity, confidentiality, and a disciplined process designed to maximize value.
Your business represents years of hard work, relationships, and legacy. We provide trusted sell side advisory that helps family owners navigate a successful transition with confidence.
We’ve built, scaled, and sold a business ourselves. That firsthand experience shapes how we help founders navigate successful exits with confidence and clarity.
Most business sales take between six months and a year from initial preparation to closing, though timelines vary based on the complexity of the business and market conditions. Businesses that complete exit readiness work in advance often move through the process faster.
