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
June 3, 2025

SBICs: The Backbone of Small Business Growth in America

Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) are the hidden engine powering small business growth across the U.S. These licensed funds combine private capital with government-backed leverage to invest in and support small businesses, helping them expand, create jobs, and build long-term value. Understanding how SBICs work is essential for entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone involved in the small business ecosystem.

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Growth
June 3, 2025

Lease vs. Loan: The Best Equipment Financing Strategy for Business Buyers

When it comes to equipment financing, leasing offers lower upfront costs, predictable payments, and flexibility to upgrade, making it ideal for businesses that prioritize cash flow and adaptability. Loans, on the other hand, build ownership and equity over time, making them better suited for long-term assets with stable technology. Your decision should align with your industry, cash flow needs, and growth strategy—leasing for flexibility, loans for equity, and long-term savings.

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Growth
June 1, 2025

Clearly Acquired: Revolutionizing Business Acquisitions and Growth with Smarter Capital, Tech, and Advisory

Clearly Acquired is a tech-enabled platform that empowers entrepreneurs to acquire and grow small businesses through smarter capital, advanced technology, and expert advisory services. By combining debt and equity funding with AI-driven tools and a comprehensive support system, we streamline the acquisition process and help entrepreneurs build long-term wealth. Whether you're acquiring your first business or scaling an existing one, Clearly Acquired provides the resources and guidance you need to succeed.

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Growth
June 1, 2025

How Industry Consolidation Impacts SMB Valuations

Industry consolidation reduces the number of potential buyers, often leading to lower valuations for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). As larger companies dominate the market, businesses with operational inefficiencies or poor financial records may see their valuations decline, while well-prepared companies can still command higher prices. Buyers now prioritize scalability, operational readiness, and clear financial records, making strategic acquisitions at favorable terms more common.

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Growth
May 30, 2025

SBA’s New SOP Clarification: What It Means for Search Funds, Control, and the Future of Main Street Acquisitions

The SBA’s recent SOP update clarifies rules around control and equity in SBA-financed search fund deals but risks unintended harm. By restricting investor control and repayment structures, the SBA limits mentorship and capital access that first-time entrepreneurs often rely on to succeed. Combined with stagnant loan limits and rising business prices, this policy shift may reduce deal flow, leave sellers stranded, and ultimately weaken the Main Street economy.

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Growth
May 28, 2025

Earnings Quality in Business Valuation

Earnings quality is a key pillar of business valuation, reflecting how accurately reported profits represent sustainable, cash-backed performance. High-quality earnings come from repeatable operations and strong cash flow, while low-quality earnings may be inflated by one-time events, aggressive accounting, or irregularities. For buyers, brokers, and lenders, assessing earnings quality—often through adjusted EBITDA, cash flow analysis, and financial ratios—is essential for informed pricing, risk mitigation, and deal success.

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Growth
May 26, 2025

How to Source Proprietary Deals as a Searcher (Without a Huge Network)

Learn the step-by-step approach to finding off-market businesses and building a deal flow engine that works, even if you're not a big-name PE firm or MBA graduate.

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Growth
May 26, 2025

How to Communicate with Key Accounts During M&A

When a company undergoes a merger or acquisition, key accounts often feel uncertainty and concern. Without proactive communication, these clients may lose trust and explore alternatives, leading to potential revenue loss. A structured communication plan that includes early outreach, consistent messaging, and multi-channel updates ensures key accounts stay informed, confident, and loyal during the M&A process.

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Growth
May 24, 2025

Seller Notes, Earnouts, and SBA: The Building Blocks of a Main Street Deal

Seller Notes, Earnouts, and SBA Loans are the building blocks of small business acquisitions. While SBA loans prohibit traditional earnouts, performance-based seller notes can create similar upside potential—if structured properly and placed on full standby for 24 months. Mastering these tools allows buyers to structure creative, win-win deals and unlock opportunities on Main Street.

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Growth
May 24, 2025

Escrow vs Indemnity: Managing Contingent Liabilities

Escrow and indemnity provisions are essential tools for managing contingent liabilities in M&A deals, such as lawsuits, tax issues, or warranty claims. Escrow sets aside a portion of the purchase price with a neutral third party, ensuring immediate funds for known risks but tying up capital. Indemnity provisions, in contrast, allow sellers to retain full proceeds at closing, while contractually agreeing to compensate the buyer for specific losses—offering flexibility but relying on the seller’s future solvency.

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Growth
May 23, 2025

Debt Tranching Basics for Multi-Source Financing

Debt tranching breaks down a loan into multiple layers—senior, mezzanine, and junior—each with different levels of risk, return, and repayment priority. This approach enables businesses to combine multiple financing sources, reduce overall borrowing costs, and tailor capital structures to fit acquisition strategies. By using a waterfall repayment system and collateral prioritization, companies can attract a broader range of lenders and investors while protecting core assets.

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Growth
May 23, 2025

Clearly Acquired: The Y Combinator of ETA for Operators and Ownership-Minded Professionals

At Clearly Acquired, we’ve created the first tech-enabled, capital-backed ecosystem for Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). We're not just helping people buy businesses—we're equipping mid-career professionals and seasoned operators with the platform, strategy, capital, and team to acquire, operate, and scale high-margin, cash-flowing companies.

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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

Create Your Profile & Get Verified for Free