Clearly Acquired Blog

Expert insights, funding strategies, and practical guidance for securing capital, financing growth, and navigating business acquisitions. Whether you're raising capital for expansion, restructuring debt, or exploring your first acquisition, our blog provides the knowledge and resources to help you succeed.

Growth
July 18, 2025

What Is High-Leverage Risk in SMB Deals?

High-leverage risk in SMB acquisitions occurs when a buyer uses significant debt—often 70% to 90% of the purchase price—to fund a deal, amplifying both potential returns and financial vulnerability. High debt levels can strain cash flow, limit operational flexibility, and increase the risk of financial distress if revenue declines. To mitigate this, buyers should use conservative financial modeling, diversify funding sources (e.g., SBA loans and seller financing), and stress-test scenarios to ensure the business can withstand unexpected challenges.

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Growth
July 18, 2025

Checklist For Detecting Inventory Fraud In Acquisitions

Inventory fraud can inflate a company’s value or mask financial problems, leading to costly surprises after an acquisition. To avoid this, look for red flags like mismatched inventory counts, abnormal stock patterns, and questionable vendor transactions. Conduct thorough audits, verify documentation, and leverage experts or platforms like Clearly Acquired to ensure inventory data is accurate before closing the deal.

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Growth
July 16, 2025

Working Capital in M&A: Role of Cash Conversion Cycle

In M&A, working capital—and specifically the Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)—is a critical indicator of a company’s liquidity, efficiency, and financial risk. CCC measures how quickly a business turns inventory and receivables into cash while managing payables, directly affecting deal valuation, pricing adjustments, and post-close integration. Buyers favor companies with shorter CCCs, as they signal strong operational discipline and reduce the need for excess working capital.

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Growth
July 16, 2025

How to Resolve Post-Acquisition Disputes

Post-acquisition disputes—such as price adjustments, breaches of representations, and contract ambiguities—can derail integration and strain relationships. The best resolution path begins with direct negotiation, followed by advisory input or mediation, and escalates to arbitration or litigation if needed. Clear contracts, thorough documentation, and early expert involvement are key to both resolving and preventing these costly conflicts.

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Growth
July 15, 2025

Mergers vs. Acquisitions: Employment Law Differences

Mergers and acquisitions affect employees differently depending on the transaction structure. In a merger, employees usually transition to the new entity with contracts and benefits intact, while acquisitions—especially asset purchases—give buyers discretion to retain, renegotiate, or terminate employment relationships. Key employment law considerations include WARN Act compliance, union agreements, severance obligations, and due diligence to uncover hidden liabilities.

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Growth
July 15, 2025

Profitability Benchmarks for Logistics Companies by Revenue

Logistics companies typically operate on tight margins, with gross margins ranging from 20%–40% and net margins between 5%–15%, depending on company size and operational efficiency. Smaller firms face higher relative overhead, while larger companies benefit from economies of scale and tech-enabled efficiencies. Benchmarking profitability metrics like operating margin, ROI, and cost structure by revenue range allows logistics businesses to identify areas for improvement and guide acquisition or growth strategies effectively.

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Growth
July 14, 2025

How To Qualify Business Buyers

Qualifying business buyers is essential to protecting your time, confidentiality, and deal success. Focus on three key factors: financial capability (proof of funds, credit, and liquidity), clear intent (motivated, strategic, and timeline-driven), and relevant experience (industry knowledge or operational skill). Tools like Clearly Acquired can streamline this process by verifying buyers, managing secure data rooms, and automating early-stage screening.

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Growth
July 14, 2025

7 Tips to Boost SBA Loan Approval Odds

Getting approved for an SBA loan takes more than just filling out an application — it requires preparation, documentation, and strategic communication. To boost your approval odds, focus on strong credit, healthy cash flow, and a detailed business plan, while ensuring all financial documents are accurate and consistent. Using tech-enabled platforms and maintaining transparent communication with lenders can streamline the process and give you a serious edge in today’s lending environment.

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Growth
July 10, 2025

How Automation Improves SMB Efficiency

Automation significantly boosts efficiency for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) by streamlining repetitive tasks, cutting errors, and freeing up valuable time for strategic work. From automating order processing and client communications to simplifying financing and deal management, businesses using tools like Clearly Acquired are seeing measurable gains in productivity, accuracy, and customer satisfaction. With over 90% of SMBs reporting improved performance from automation, it’s becoming less of a luxury and more of a competitive necessity.

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Growth
July 10, 2025

How Revenue Trends Impact SMB Valuations

Revenue growth is one of the most important drivers of SMB valuation—businesses growing 25%+ annually often command significantly higher multiples than their slower-growing peers, even if those peers are more profitable. Modern investors and acquirers increasingly prioritize verified, upward revenue trends over short-term margins, especially in tech-enabled or scalable industries. Platforms like Clearly Acquired use AI and verified data to analyze these trends, helping buyers avoid overpaying and structure financing aligned with a business’s true growth potential.

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Growth
July 9, 2025

Cash Flow Lending vs Asset-Based Lending

Cash flow lending and asset-based lending are two core financing approaches used in business acquisitions. Cash flow lending focuses on a company’s future earnings and profitability (like EBITDA), making it ideal for service-based businesses with few physical assets. Asset-based lending, on the other hand, is secured by tangible assets such as inventory, equipment, or real estate, and works best for asset-heavy businesses like manufacturers or distributors.

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Growth
July 9, 2025

How to Assess Market Size for SMB Acquisitions

When buying a small business, understanding the market size helps you evaluate growth potential, assess risk, and justify your investment. Use the TAM-SAM-SOM framework to define the total market (TAM), the portion you can serve (SAM), and what you can realistically capture (SOM). Apply both top-down (broad industry data) and bottom-up (customer-level data) approaches to refine your estimates and ensure your acquisition aligns with a scalable market opportunity.

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Acquire Quality. Fund Growth. Close with Confidence.

As an AI-driven Business Acquisition Marketplace and Financing Platform, we are on a mission to simplify and accelerate the MainStreet to MidStreet lending and acquisition ecosystem.

We specialize in technology that supports price discovery, identity verification and financial qualification, and buy-side tools to help searchers source and manage deal flow, make offers, secure lending/financing solutions, and close with confidence.

illustration of team with digital platform

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions by users that are looking to buy businesses on Clearly Acquired:

How can I show business owners I'm a legitimate buyer and that I'm interested?

With a Clearly Verified account, you can instill confidence in other users, brokers and sellers that you are, who you say you are, when you "verify" your identify.  This is the key to instilling confidence in the users on the platform,  gaining traction and getting instant access to financials, supporting data and insight to quickly move to making an offer or moving on.   This will save you months of wasted time and expedite the closing of a sale.

How are my finances verified?

Using financial technology the Clearly Acquired Platform safely and securely verifies your finances, to help sellers understand your closing capability and help lenders expedite your financing. Additionally, the buy-side deal room will help you get your documentation in order, to prepare you for the debt and equity financing you will need to close your acquisition.

Can I get in touch with advisors to help support me in this process?

The Clearly Acquired team is here to support you on your business acquisition or business sale journey. That said, the platform is designed to connect you with a community of users, who are identify verified, which include: investors, lenders, advisors, brokers, consultants, and other buyers who are looking for partners.  

What is a Deal Hub?

The Deal Hub is the central repository for all transaction-related activities on our business acquisition platform. It serves as a secure and organized space where buyers and sellers can access critical information and manage the entire acquisition process efficiently. The Deal Hub is divided into two main components: the Data Room and the Deal Rooms.

Data Room: The Data Room is a secure, virtual storage space where sellers can upload and share essential documents related to their business. This includes financial statements, legal contracts, operational reports, and other due diligence materials. Buyers can access these documents to conduct thorough evaluations and make informed decisions. The Data Room ensures that all sensitive information is protected and only accessible to authorized parties.

Deal Rooms: The Deal Rooms are dedicated spaces for each business listing where buyers and sellers can collaborate and negotiate terms. Each Deal Room is equipped with tools for real-time communication, document sharing, and tracking the progress of the deal. This streamlined environment facilitates transparent and efficient interactions, helping to expedite the acquisition process and ensuring that both parties are aligned at every stage.

The Deal Hub's comprehensive and secure infrastructure simplifies the complexities of business acquisitions, providing a seamless experience for all users involved.

What is Plaid?

Plaid is a financial technology company that provides a secure and seamless way to connect and interact with financial institutions. It enables applications to access users' financial data with their consent, facilitating a wide range of services such as identity verification, account authentication, and transaction history retrieval. Plaid's robust API infrastructure ensures high security, reliability, and compliance with regulatory standards.

By integrating Plaid, Clearly Acquired can offer a secure, efficient, and reliable method for identity verification, building trust among users and ensuring the integrity of the acquisition process.

I am new to the idea of business acquisition, where can I get more information on how to get started?

Make sure to check out our Educational Course on Business Acquisition that is offered in our paid plans for buyers: From Purchase to Profit: Mastering the Art of Business Acquisition.

This Membership Course for buyers is designed to empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to navigate the business acquisition process successfully. Whether you're a first-time buyer or an experienced entrepreneur, our course equips you with the tools and insights needed to make informed decisions and achieve your acquisition goals. Join us and embark on your journey to buying a business with Clearly Acquired.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

Create Your Account. Get Verified. Start Searching.

1

Create an account

Every day, lenders, investors, brokers, and sellers come to Clearly Acquired looking for qualified operators like you. Creating an account and getting verified helps you stand out and build trust.

2

Build your profile

Build your profile to get matched with capital and opportunities. Showcase your expertise and resume, to connect with the right capital and acquisition partners—making every opportunity count.

3

Search & Connect

Browse Verified listings, source off-market deals, & manage deal flow with powerful tools to underwrite opportunities, and connect with capital to streamline the entire acquisition and funding process

Join the Clearly Acquired Search Community

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