Acquivo reading library
Running a business sale process
Keep the timetable, disclosures, questions, and decisions organized as interest develops. These guides explain how to compare opportunities on terms and certainty as well as headline price, with accountable human decisions throughout.
Published guides
Why a Competitive Process Raises the Sale Price
An educational guide to how qualified buyer competition can affect price, terms, certainty, and leverage in a private-company sale process.
For Business OwnersHow Should an Owner Structure a Competitive Sale Process?
A seller-controlled framework for organizing buyer outreach, confidentiality, indications of interest, diligence, exclusivity, and decision gates in a competitive business sale.
For Business OwnersWhat Should an Indication of Interest Include?
A practical guide to the valuation, financing, structure, diligence, and conditions an owner should request in an indication of interest.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Compare Letters of Intent with Different Deal Structures?
A practical framework for comparing competing letters of intent by separating cash at closing, contingent proceeds, retained investment, adjustments, and execution conditions.
For Business OwnersWhat Do Cash, Debt, and Working Capital Terms Mean for an Offer?
Learn how cash, debt, and working capital assumptions bridge an acquisition offer from enterprise value to estimated seller proceeds, and how to review definitions before signing.
For Business OwnersHow Can Sellers Assess Whether a Buyer Can Fund Its Offer?
A practical framework for sellers to test whether an offer is backed by available equity, financing commitments, lender conditions, and internal approvals before granting exclusivity.
For Business OwnersWhat Should Sellers Negotiate Before Accepting an Earnout?
A practical guide to negotiating earnout definitions, operating protections, reporting rights, payment safeguards, and dispute procedures before selling a business.
For Business OwnersWhat Should Sellers Check Before Accepting a Seller Note?
A practical checklist for evaluating the repayment risk, economics, collateral, priority, guarantees, and default protections in seller financing.
For Business OwnersWhat Should Sellers Evaluate Before Agreeing to Equity Rollover?
A practical framework for evaluating rollover equity, including valuation, security class, dilution, governance, transfer limits, liquidity and future exit assumptions.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Set the Terms of Exclusivity?
A practical framework for business owners to set the scope, duration, buyer-readiness conditions, exceptions, notices, and stopping rules for exclusivity.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Respond When a Buyer Retrades the Deal?
A practical, evidence-led framework for evaluating and responding to a buyer's post-LOI retrade request.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Organize Buyer Q&A During a Sale Process?
A practical framework for logging buyer questions, assigning answer owners, approving responses, and sharing material clarifications consistently without uncontrolled disclosure.
For Business OwnersHow Should Owners Prepare for Buyer Management Meetings?
A practical guide for business owners preparing management meetings with prospective buyers, including objectives, roles, evidence checks, sensitive questions, confidentiality, and disciplined follow-up.
For Business OwnersWhich Buyers Should Be Invited into a Sale Process?
A practical framework for choosing an initial buyer list by acquisition rationale, financial capacity, ownership fit, and competitive sensitivity before outreach begins.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Choose Which Bidders Advance to the Next Round?
A practical framework for screening first-round indications and deciding which bidders should receive more access in the next stage of a sale process.
For Business OwnersWhich Parts of a Letter of Intent Can Be Binding?
Learn how confidentiality, exclusivity, access, expenses, breakup fees, and dispute terms can operate differently from a nonbinding acquisition outline, and what to ask counsel to review.
For Business OwnersWhat Information Should Sellers Share at Each Stage of a Sale Process?
A staged disclosure framework for deciding what to share before an IOI, after an IOI, before an LOI, and during exclusivity while protecting sensitive information.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Handle Diligence Requests from a Competitor?
A practical seller workflow for handling a competitor’s diligence requests with redaction, aggregation, restricted access, and counsel-designed clean-team controls.
For Business OwnersWhen Should Buyers Be Allowed to Contact Employees or Customers?
A practical framework for deciding when buyer access to employees or customers is justified, how to obtain permission, and how to control reference conversations during a sale process.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Track Buyer Progress During Exclusivity?
A practical milestone tracker for sellers evaluating whether a buyer is making meaningful progress toward diligence completion, financing, approvals, and a definitive agreement during exclusivity.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Handle Backup Buyers During Exclusivity?
A practical, contract-first workflow for documenting backup-buyer interest, routing inbound approaches through counsel, protecting confidentiality, and planning a lawful restart after exclusivity.
For Business OwnersWhen Should Sellers Ask Bidders for Revised or Final Offers?
A practical guide for business owners on deciding when another offer round adds useful information, how to issue consistent instructions, and how to evaluate final submissions without losing process discipline.
For Business OwnersWhen Should an Owner Pause or End a Sale Process?
A practical framework for deciding whether to continue, pause, or end a business sale process when offers, distraction, and restart costs do not align with the owner’s objectives.
For Business OwnersWhat Should Sellers Do When a Bidder Misses a Process Deadline?
A practical framework for deciding whether to extend a missed bidder deadline, proceed without the bidder, or revise the timetable for everyone while preserving a fair, documented sale process.
For Business OwnersHow Should Sellers Handle a Bidder's Request to Partner with Another Buyer?
A practical framework for reviewing a proposed buyer consortium, including funding, confidentiality, information-sharing controls, independent competition, and legal review.
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Educational information, not individual legal, tax, or investment advice. Consult qualified professionals for your circumstances. Acquivo provides software, not representation or negotiation on your behalf.