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
April 2, 2025

Aligning Values In Family-Owned Business Acquisitions

Buying a family-owned business requires more than analyzing financials—it demands alignment with the company’s deeply rooted values, traditions, and relationships. Emotional ties, informal practices, and strong community connections can complicate the transition, so buyers must prioritize cultural fit, stakeholder trust, and heritage preservation. Success hinges on blending modernization with respect for legacy—using structured tools, expert guidance, and thoughtful leadership planning to ensure a smooth and respectful handoff.

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Growth
April 1, 2025

Vendor Due Diligence Checklist

A Vendor Due Diligence Checklist helps businesses assess the financial health, operational capacity, legal compliance, and security protocols of their suppliers before entering or continuing a partnership. It ensures vendors are reliable, minimizes risk, and supports informed decision-making using structured evaluations and ongoing performance monitoring.

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Growth
March 31, 2025

How Brokers Help Manage Deal Flow

Brokers play a crucial role in managing deal flow by organizing listings, screening opportunities, and guiding buyers and sellers through every stage of a transaction. They combine industry expertise, strong networks, and digital tools like secure data rooms, dashboards, and automated NDAs to ensure deals move quickly and confidentially. By simplifying complex steps—from valuation to due diligence—they increase the chances of successful, efficient business acquisitions.

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Growth
March 28, 2025

7 Key Clauses in Escrow Agreements Explained

Escrow agreements are essential tools for ensuring secure, smooth transactions, particularly when large sums of money or sensitive assets are involved. They outline key provisions—like fund release conditions, dispute resolution procedures, and legal protections—that protect both parties by involving a neutral third party. Understanding these core clauses helps mitigate risks, reduce misunderstandings, and ensure a transparent, enforceable process for all stakeholders.

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Growth
March 25, 2025

7 Acquisition KPIs Every Buyer Should Know

7 most important KPIs business buyers should track when evaluating an acquisition, including CAC, CLV, conversion rate, ROI, churn, CAC payback, and new customer growth. It explains how each metric offers insights into profitability, customer retention, and growth potential—equipping buyers to make smarter, data-driven decisions.

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Growth
March 24, 2025

Invoice Financing vs Business Loans

Invoice financing helps businesses get quick cash by turning unpaid invoices into immediate working capital—ideal for short-term needs like covering payroll or buying inventory. In contrast, business loans provide a lump sum repaid over time, making them better suited for long-term investments like equipment or real estate. The right choice depends on how fast you need the funds, your credit profile, and whether you’re solving a short-term gap or funding long-term growth.

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Growth
March 22, 2025

Top 7 Market Trend Tools for SMB Buyers

This guide covers seven top market trend tools—ranging from free resources like Google Trends to AI-powered platforms like Clearly Acquired—designed to help small and medium-sized business buyers evaluate risks, uncover opportunities, and make data-driven decisions with confidence.

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Growth
March 21, 2025

7 Tips for Positioning SMBs for Acquisition

Preparing your small or medium-sized business for acquisition starts with strengthening key fundamentals that buyers care about—financial transparency, operational independence, diverse revenue, and growth potential. These 7 tips help you clean up your financials, build a strong leadership team, modernize systems, protect assets, and highlight scalability. Together, they make your business more attractive, reduce buyer risk, and lead to a smoother, more successful sale process.

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Growth
March 19, 2025

Key Account Transition: Lessons from Case Studies

These strategies, drawn from 15 case studies across industries like SaaS, manufacturing, and services, show that smooth transitions rely on preparation, communication, and monitoring

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Growth
March 18, 2025

SBA Loan Default: 2025 Guide to Offer in Compromise

If you're struggling with an SBA loan default, the Offer in Compromise (OIC) program allows you to settle your debt for less than you owe by proving financial hardship. The process requires submitting detailed financial records, a written explanation, and a reasonable settlement offer for SBA review. Acting quickly, organizing your documents properly, and seeking professional advice can improve your chances of approval.

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Growth
March 17, 2025

Debt Service Coverage Ratio: Basics for Buyers

The Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) and its importance for business buyers evaluating acquisitions. It covers the DSCR formula (Net Operating Income ÷ Total Debt Service), lender expectations, and industry benchmarks, helping buyers assess a company's ability to cover debt payments. The blog also explores ways to improve DSCR—such as increasing revenue, cutting costs, or refinancing—and highlights how Clearly Acquired's AI-powered tools streamline DSCR analysis and deal structuring.

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Growth
March 15, 2025

SBA Loan Default: Credit Score Impact

A breakdown of how an SBA loan default affects both personal and business credit, the financial consequences, and actionable strategies for recovery. Insights into credit score impact, challenges in securing future financing, and real-world solutions for managing and mitigating default risks. With practical steps on credit repair, lender negotiations, and alternative funding sources, this resource equips business owners with the knowledge needed to navigate financial setbacks and rebuild their credit successfully.

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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