Category: Ask Us Anything

What separates the buyers who find great businesses from the ones who inherit someone else’s problems?
 
The questions they ask, and when they ask them.
 
The right questions do two jobs at once: they tell you whether the business is worth buying, and they tell the seller you’re a serious buyer who won’t be easy to mislead. Both messages matter.
 
From why are you really selling, to what happens to your best customers when you leave, to who else knows this business is for sale, this guide collects the questions that earn their place in your first meetings, and explains what each answer actually tells you.

How much of a down payment do you actually need to buy a business?
 
Less than you might fear, and more than the no-money-down crowd on the internet promises.
 
A realistic deal stacks several sources: your own equity, bank or BDC financing, and very often a piece the seller finances themselves. Where the mix lands depends on the business’s cash flow, the assets available as security, and how motivated the seller is.
 
This piece walks through the real numbers: what lenders expect you to put in, how seller financing shrinks the cheque you need to write, and the structures that get deals done when the down payment is thin.

You closed a share purchase and the working capital came in short. Do you fix it through the adjustment or bring an indemnity claim?
 
This is one of those questions that sounds technical until it’s your money. The two mechanisms overlap, they have different deadlines, different caps, and different procedures, and choosing the wrong lane can cost you the recovery entirely.
 
The working capital adjustment is built for the math being off. The indemnity is built for the representations being wrong. Real problems have a way of being both at once.
 
This guide explains how each mechanism works, where they collide, and how to protect the choice while it still exists.

How much does a business valuation cost?
 
The honest answer: it depends on what kind of report you need, and the range is wide enough that asking for the wrong one is the most expensive mistake in the process.
 
A rough estimate for negotiation purposes and a comprehensive report that stands up in court are entirely different products. Buyers who order more report than the deal needs burn money. Buyers who order less than the situation demands pay for it later, with interest.
 
This piece breaks down the types of valuation reports, what drives the cost of each, and how to buy exactly as much valuation as your situation requires.

Who do you actually hire when you need a business valued?
 
It’s a fair question, because the market is confusing: accountants, CBVs, brokers, and online calculators all claim to do it, at wildly different prices, producing wildly different things.
 
The right answer depends on what the valuation is for. A deal negotiation, a shareholder dispute, a tax reorganization, and a court proceeding each need a different professional and a different kind of report, and hiring the wrong one means paying twice.
 
This guide sorts out who does what, what a Chartered Business Valuator actually adds, and how to match the professional to your situation.

You found a problem after closing, but you can’t put an exact dollar figure on it yet. Have you lost your claim?
 
This question matters more than it sounds like it should. Purchase agreements set deadlines for indemnity claims, and buyers sometimes sit on a known problem while they try to quantify it perfectly, only to watch the notice period expire.
 
The good news: a claim you can’t fully quantify yet is usually still a claim you can make, if you give notice properly and on time.
 
This piece explains how notice provisions actually work, what you need to say before the deadline, and why waiting for a perfect number is the wrong move.

Want to know the most expensive mistakes buyers make in a letter of intent?
 
They’re rarely dramatic. Nobody forgets the price. What kills deals, or costs buyers six figures without anyone noticing until much later, are the small ones: making the whole document binding by accident, giving away exclusivity without a deadline, skipping the deposit terms, or conceding deal structure before the tax advice comes in.
 
LOI mistakes have a way of following a deal all the way to closing, because sellers treat every concession as settled even when the document says non-binding.
 
Here are the most common LOI mistakes, why each one hurts, and what to write instead.

Does the format of a letter of intent actually matter?
 
More than you’d think. A one-page offer scribbled in an email and a structured LOI with defined binding terms can both start a deal, but only one of them protects you when the deal gets contested.
 
The best format isn’t the longest one. It’s the one that separates what binds you (confidentiality, exclusivity) from what doesn’t (price, structure), states the conditions clearly, and gives the seller nothing to argue about later.
 
This guide breaks down the format that works, section by section, and why each piece earns its place.

Tempted to grab a sample letter of intent off the internet and send it to a seller?

I get why. It’s fast, it’s free, and the deal feels simple right now.

But a template doesn’t know your deal. It doesn’t know whether you’re buying assets or shares, what conditions protect you, or which of its clauses are binding in Ontario. Some sample LOIs bind you to things you never meant to agree to, and some concede points a lawyer would have held back for negotiation.

This piece answers the real question: what a sample LOI is safe to use for, where it turns dangerous, and the small set of terms that should never come from a template.

You’re ready to make an offer on a business. What actually goes in the letter of intent?

More than price. A good LOI sets the deal structure, the deposit, the conditions, the exclusivity period, and the timeline, and it decides which of those promises bind you and which stay negotiable.

Get it right and the rest of the deal runs on rails you laid down. Get it wrong and you spend the next three months negotiating uphill against your own signature.

This guide walks through each section of a strong LOI and what it should say, in plain language, with the buyer’s leverage protected.