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
August 12, 2025

5 EBITDA Benchmarks for SMB Valuation

EBITDA is one of the most important metrics for valuing small and medium-sized businesses because it focuses on core operating profitability, removing financing, taxes, and non-cash expenses. Multiples for SMBs typically range from 3x to 6x adjusted EBITDA, with the exact figure influenced by factors like margins, growth, customer concentration, revenue stability, and cash flow conversion. Understanding these benchmarks helps buyers and sellers align on value, assess risk, and negotiate deals based on both profitability and the business’s ability to generate sustainable cash flow.

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Growth
August 11, 2025

Partnership Buyouts: Legal and Financial Steps

A partnership buyout happens when one partner purchases another’s ownership stake, requiring clear legal agreements, accurate valuation, and well-planned financing. The process often involves tax considerations for both parties and can be funded through bank loans, SBA 7(a) loans, or seller financing. While traditional methods rely heavily on attorneys and advisors, tech-enabled platforms like Clearly Acquired streamline the process with automation, integrated funding, and centralized deal management.

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Growth
August 11, 2025

Why Broker Relationships Matter in SMB Acquisitions

Strong broker relationships are critical in SMB acquisitions because they provide buyers with access to exclusive, high-quality listings, expert guidance on valuations and negotiations, and faster, smoother closings. Without these connections, buyers risk slower deal flow, missed opportunities, and challenging negotiations. Combining broker expertise with technology platforms like Clearly Acquired further enhances collaboration, streamlines documentation, and integrates funding options for better acquisition outcomes.

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Growth
August 10, 2025

SBA Rule Changes: Impact on Small Business M&A

The SBA’s recent rule changes are reshaping small business M&A by tightening lending standards, shortening recertification timelines, and altering eligibility for government set-aside contracts. These updates—effective now with key provisions hitting January 17, 2026—are extending deal timelines, raising equity and credit requirements, and pressuring contractors to close transactions before losing set-aside status. While the rules create hurdles, they also favor small-to-small acquisitions, which can preserve contract value and competitive advantages.

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Growth
August 10, 2025

SBA Loan Document Requirements for Acquisitions

When using an SBA loan to acquire a business, buyers must meet strict documentation requirements, including ownership records, proof of equity injection (usually 10%), seller financing agreements, and detailed purchase and transition plans. Recent SOP 50 10 8 updates have tightened verification rules, making early preparation and lender alignment critical to avoiding delays. While the process is paperwork-heavy, the favorable terms—low down payments and long repayment periods—often outweigh the complexity.

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Growth
August 9, 2025

Role of Knowledge Base in Post-Acquisition Support

A knowledge base serves as a central hub for information, helping companies maintain stability and customer trust during post-acquisition transitions. It enables 24/7 self-service, reduces support costs, and streamlines onboarding for employees and customers. By keeping content updated, organized, and easy to navigate—with the help of AI and automation—businesses can preserve institutional knowledge and ensure a smooth integration process.

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Growth
August 9, 2025

Ultimate Guide to AI in Deal Sourcing

AI is revolutionizing deal sourcing by automating market scans, ranking prospects through predictive analytics, and streamlining workflows like NDA generation and document analysis. This enables buyers to uncover on- and off-market opportunities faster, reduce errors, cut costs, and scale deal flow without adding headcount. Platforms like Clearly Acquired integrate these tools end-to-end, making sophisticated sourcing and acquisition management accessible even to smaller firms.

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Growth
August 8, 2025

Competitive Landscape Analysis for M&A Deals

Competitive landscape analysis in M&A evaluates a target company’s market position, strengths, weaknesses, and risks to guide smarter deal decisions. By combining qualitative tools like SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces with quantitative metrics like DCF, market share, and valuation models, buyers can assess threats, opportunities, and potential synergies. This process reduces uncertainty, informs negotiations, and helps shape post-deal integration strategies for long-term success.

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Growth
August 8, 2025

Quality of Earnings vs. Revenue Verification

Quality of Earnings (QoE) reports and Revenue Verification serve different roles in due diligence. Revenue Verification confirms that reported sales are accurate and supported by documentation, making it a faster, lower-cost option for smaller or early-stage deals. A QoE report goes much deeper—assessing the sustainability, reliability, and true earning power of a business—making it essential for larger or more complex transactions where long-term financial health is critical.

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Growth
August 7, 2025

When SBA Loans Go Bad: What Rising Defaults Mean for Small Businesses, Lenders & Taxpayers

The SBA's flagship 7(a) loan program is experiencing a spike in early defaults, following a wave of policy changes that lowered lending standards and waived guarantee fees. While some lenders profited from the looser terms, taxpayers and borrowers are now bearing the cost. This article breaks down what caused the surge, what reforms are being implemented, and what small businesses need to know going forward.

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Growth
August 7, 2025

The Private Equity Secondaries Market Is Quietly Booming: What Investors Need to Know

The private equity secondaries market is experiencing explosive growth, driven by liquidity needs among LPs and strategic extensions by GPs. With record deal volume expected in 2025, secondaries are transforming from a niche solution into a mainstream tool for portfolio management and value creation. This article explores what’s driving the trend, how the major players are adapting, and what investors should watch next.

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Growth
August 7, 2025

SBA Loan Fees: Breakdown of Costs

SBA loans offer competitive financing for small business owners, but they come with a range of fees that can significantly affect your total borrowing cost. These include guarantee fees (up to 3.75%), closing costs (2–3%), servicing fees, and potential prepayment penalties—some of which vary by loan type and are updated annually. Understanding how these fees are calculated, when they apply, and how they compare between SBA 7(a) and 504 loans is essential to making an informed financing decision.

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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