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 2, 2025

Fed Holds Rates: What It Means for M&A and Business Buying in 2025

The Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates at 4.25–4.50% impacts debt financing, valuations, and the timing of mergers and acquisitions. Buyers face a tight but stable lending environment, while sellers are increasingly open to creative deal structures. If rate cuts arrive in Q4 2025, business buyers and investors who prepare now can capture opportunities before competition and valuations rise.

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Growth
August 2, 2025

The Origin of Search Funds: From Stanford Experiment to Billion-Dollar Asset Class

Search funds began as a Stanford GSB experiment in the 1980s, giving ambitious entrepreneurs a path to ownership without starting from scratch. By raising small pools of capital to acquire profitable small businesses, searchers have built a global, billion-dollar asset class. This article explores the model’s origin, evolution, and why it’s now a mainstream path to entrepreneurship.

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Growth
August 2, 2025

Best Practices for Application Standardization in M&A

Application standardization during M&A streamlines technology, reduces costs, and minimizes security risks by consolidating redundant systems and aligning software with deal objectives. Starting early with application inventories, risk assessments, and prioritization ensures smoother integrations and protects deal value. Companies that combine clear planning, AI tools, and expert advisory support are far more likely to capture post-merger synergies and avoid costly disruptions.

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Growth
August 2, 2025

5 Steps to Define Workplace Values Post-Acquisition

Defining workplace values post-acquisition is essential to prevent cultural clashes, employee turnover, and workflow disruptions. By assessing existing cultures, engaging leadership and employees, and embedding clear, actionable core values into daily operations, companies can build a unified culture that drives retention, collaboration, and long-term success. Organizations that actively manage cultural integration see significantly higher merger success rates compared to those that do not.

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Growth
August 1, 2025

How to Analyze Customer Base Overlap in Acquisitions

Analyzing customer base overlap in acquisitions helps identify shared customers, potential cross-selling opportunities, and market expansion risks. By collecting clean data, segmenting customers, and measuring overlap, buyers can uncover growth opportunities while anticipating challenges like cannibalization or retention issues. This insight guides integration strategies and maximizes the value of the combined customer base.

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Growth
August 1, 2025

How to Customize NDA Templates for M&A Deals

Customizing NDA templates for M&A deals ensures that sensitive information like financials, trade secrets, and customer data is properly protected during due diligence. Generic NDAs often miss critical clauses—such as clear definitions, permitted disclosures, and duration—which can leave parties exposed or slow down negotiations. Tailoring your NDA with legal guidance or automated tools not only strengthens confidentiality but also sets the tone for a smoother, more secure transaction.

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Growth
July 31, 2025

The Hidden Giant: How Church & Dwight Quietly Acquired Their Way to $25 Billion

This article explores how Church & Dwight grew into a $25 billion company by acquiring well-known consumer brands and scaling them through operational excellence. It’s a powerful case study in acquisition entrepreneurship, showing that you don’t need to start a business from scratch to build massive value. If you're an operator, investor, or aspiring buyer, there’s a proven playbook here — and it's hiding in plain sight.

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Growth
July 31, 2025

Cultural Alignment Tips for Small Business M&A

SBA loan defaults can damage your credit, put your assets at risk, and trigger federal collections. To avoid default, business owners should create a strong financial plan, diversify revenue streams, maintain open communication with lenders, and leverage AI tools or professional advisors to stay ahead of potential risks. With proactive management and early intervention, most defaults are preventable.

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Growth
July 31, 2025

How to Prevent SBA Loan Default

SBA loan defaults can lead to severe consequences like damaged credit, wage garnishment, and asset seizure, but they’re often preventable with the right strategies. Business owners can avoid default by creating a detailed financial plan, diversifying revenue streams, leveraging AI-powered tools for early risk detection, and communicating proactively with lenders at the first sign of financial strain. Taking these steps builds resilience and improves long-term loan compliance.

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Growth
July 30, 2025

Marc Bartomeus: From Spain’s First Searcher to a Global Investor in 70+ Deals

Marc Bartomeus pioneered the search fund model in Spain, raising €200K in 2011 with no local playbook and acquiring a €16M packaging distributor after three years of searching. Despite challenges like supplier bankruptcy, COVID, and team turnover, he achieved a successful exit to Berlin Packaging in 2020. Today, Marc invests globally, backing 70+ searchers and advocating for patient, disciplined entrepreneurship through acquisition.

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Growth
July 30, 2025

M&A Tax Compliance: Common Mistakes

In M&A deals, tax mistakes, such as overlooked liabilities and transaction structure errors, can significantly impact financial outcomes. Issues like misclassification of workers, errors in purchase price allocation, and state and local tax (SALT) compliance oversights can create unforeseen liabilities. To mitigate risks, thorough tax due diligence is essential, along with consulting experienced tax professionals and utilizing advanced AI-powered platforms for improved compliance and efficiency.

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Growth
July 28, 2025

M&A Metrics vs. Deal Flow Metrics: Key Differences

M&A metrics focus on measuring the success of individual acquisitions, evaluating factors like revenue growth, customer retention, and operational performance post-deal. Deal flow metrics, on the other hand, track the efficiency of the acquisition pipeline—monitoring deal volume, conversion rates, and the time it takes to move opportunities from sourcing to closing. Together, they provide a complete picture of both pipeline health and the long-term impact of completed deals.

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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