Former CEO here — how do you qualify and convert prospective sellers?

Hey all, I'm a former CEO who sold my business to private equity in 2021 with the help of an investment bank.

The two biggest exit mistakes I made during my 30 years in business were:

1. Believing you need $10M+ in revenue before any bank will take you seriously
2. Trying to manage the sale process myself

Both cost me a lot of time. Having someone in your corner who actually knows the process and follows a proven methodology, whether that's a bank, M&A advisor, or quality broker, makes all the difference.

After my deal closed, I stayed on as CEO to help grow the business further and complete a few buy-side transactions, then spent the last three years partnering with the bank's BD team telling my story of selling. I met hundreds of prospective sellers and kept seeing many of the same patterns. Lots of strong operators, but many were misguided when it came to selling, getting bad advice like I did, holding unrealistic expectations, or simply lacking clarity on the factors that drive a successful sale.

Not trying to pitch anything here, just genuinely interested in how different folks are approaching this idea of prospective seller education, qualification, and conversion.

How do you qualify business owners before taking them to market?

• Do you have a formal readiness or screening process?
• How do you separate serious sellers from tire kickers?

Once they're in your pipeline, what works best for converting interest into mandates?

• Do you educate them along the way, or is that something that happens earlier?