The questions every owner
asks us first.

Fair question, and we would rather you ask it than wonder. Salt Creek Advisory is new. The experience behind it is not: Connor worked on the buyer’s side of more than 40 transactions at Cadence Education, with a stint as an investment banking analyst at Brown Gibbons Lang. Jack worked in private equity business development at Blue Wolf and Kingfish. Here is what that means for you: we know how buyers think because one of us worked inside one. And because we are new, you get something no big bank will give you: both principals on every call, total focus on your deal, and a fee structure where we get paid when you get paid. Get us on the phone, ask us anything, and judge for yourself.

It depends on your earnings, your industry, your growth, and how much of the business runs without you. Anyone who quotes you a number before understanding those things is guessing. What we can tell you: the range of outcomes is wide, and the single biggest driver of where you land in that range is whether buyers are competing for your business. Our valuation tool will give you a starting range in about two minutes. For a real number, get us on the phone. There is too much a calculator cannot see, and that conversation is free. New to the math? Start with EBITDA and business valuation basics.

Maybe. Some unsolicited offers are genuinely fair, and if yours is, we will tell you so and shake your hand. But understand what an unsolicited offer is: a number designed to work for the buyer, delivered before you had a chance to create competition. Buyers approach owners directly precisely because it is cheaper than winning an auction. Before you sign anything, benchmark it. One call with us costs you nothing, and either you walk away confident the offer is strong, or you find out what leverage looks like.

Earlier than you think, and earlier than most owners do. The best outcomes happen when an owner starts the conversation two or three years before they want to be done. That gives time to fix the things buyers will discount and to choose your moment instead of having it chosen for you. That said, if you have an offer in hand or a timeline forced on you, reach out today. We move fast when we need to.

A well-run process typically takes six to nine months from engagement to close. We aim to have first offers on the table within 30 days of going to market, because speed creates leverage. The longest part is usually diligence and documentation after a buyer is chosen, and that is where having an advisor managing the timeline matters most.

No retainer and no monthly fees. On some engagements we ask for a small deposit up front, so both sides have skin in the game, and it is credited against our success fee at closing. The rest of our fee is a percentage of the transaction, paid when your deal closes. If your deal does not close, you owe nothing beyond that deposit. You pay our fee, and we never take a fee from a buyer. We structured it that way on purpose: our incentives should look exactly like yours. For context, and as an industry benchmark rather than our own fee: the Firmex M&A Fee Guide finds roughly three-quarters of middle-market advisors charge a work fee payable whether or not a deal closes, and only 54% credit it back against the success fee. On a $20M sale, the same guide models a success fee of roughly 3.4%–3.9%. Our guide to M&A advisor fees compares the fee models side by side.

Not always, and most banks will never say that out loud. If you have one obvious buyer, a simple deal, and experienced M&A counsel, you might do fine without us. Where an advisor earns the fee many times over: creating real competition, running diligence so the business does not suffer while you sell it, and negotiating terms most owners do not know are negotiable, including working capital, earnouts, indemnification, and rollover equity. Tell us your situation on a call and we will tell you which case you are. If the honest answer is that you do not need us, you will hear that too. If you are weighing a business broker instead, here is how a sell-side advisor and a business broker differ.

Then we will not push you into one. For owners who prefer a quieter path, we can take your business confidentially to one or a few buyers we think fit, instead of running a full process. We still represent only you, and the fee works the same way: a success fee you pay at closing, no retainer, and never a fee from the buyer. We will be honest that a competitive process usually produces a better number, but the right answer depends on what you want: speed, confidentiality, a specific successor, or top dollar. We listen first, then recommend.

This is the question owners actually lose sleep over, and it deserves a straight answer: it depends on the buyer you choose, which means it is a choice. Some buyers consolidate and cut. Others, especially long-hold buyers and holding companies, keep management, the name on the building, and the culture intact, because that is their whole model. If continuity matters to you, we make it a requirement of the process, not a hope. Price is one term of a deal. It is not the only one we negotiate.

Usually for a while, and how long is negotiable. A buyer that mainly needs introductions may want a few months; a private equity firm that wants you to keep running the company may ask for one to three years, often with an earnout or equity that rewards staying. The length depends mostly on how much of the business still runs through you, and the terms that matter most are what happens if the job ends early. We settle your role, its length, and your pay in the letter of intent, before you grant exclusivity. What to expect after closing.

Almost certainly, because buyers are paying for the goodwill you built. The FTC’s 2024 ban never took effect and exempted business sales anyway. What you can negotiate is the length, usually three to five years, a geography tied to where the business actually operates, carve-outs for your other investments, and how much of the price is labeled as payment for the covenant, which is taxed as ordinary income. How seller non-competes work.

Not from us. Confidentiality is built into every step: blind marketing materials, NDAs before any name is shared, and buyer lists you approve before anyone is contacted. Most processes close without employees, customers, or competitors ever knowing one was run. How and when to tell your team is your call, and we will help you plan it.

No. We represent business owners only, and we do not take buy-side mandates. If you are a private equity firm, family office, holding company, or strategic acquirer working in our sectors, we still want to hear from you. When one of our clients goes to market, we reach out to the buyers who fit, so join our buyer list and tell us what you buy: sectors, size, geography, and check size. Good buyers are how good outcomes happen for the owners we represent. Join on our For Investors page.

Because the best part of this work is the people who build things. The Making Of Hosted by Jack Pitts is where Jack sits down with founders, operators, and investors to talk about how businesses actually get built, bought, and sold. It keeps us close to builders, it sharpens how we think, and it gives you something no pitch deck can: a chance to hear exactly who you would be working with before you ever pick up the phone. Give it a listen.

We are based in Chicago, Illinois, and we work with business owners nationally. That said, the Midwest is where we know the terrain best: manufacturing and industrials businesses built over decades by one family, business services companies that grew by reputation and referral, and early childhood education operators navigating a fast-consolidating industry. If you are a Midwest owner, we likely already understand your buyer landscape. If you are not, deal size and sector fit matter more to us than geography.

No. Salt Creek Advisory is not a broker-dealer registered with FINRA or the SEC, and it is not a registered investment adviser. To the extent applicable, our M&A engagements are conducted in reliance on the M&A broker exemption at Section 15(b)(13) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. § 78o(b)(13)), which exempts an M&A broker from registration when acting solely in connection with the transfer of ownership of an eligible privately held company: a company with no registered securities whose EBITDA is less than $25,000,000 or whose gross revenues are less than $250,000,000 (amounts subject to periodic inflation adjustment). We do not hold, custody, or take possession of client funds or securities at any time. The federal exemption does not displace state law, and some states separately regulate business brokers and M&A intermediaries. Where a transaction would fall outside the exemption, any services that only a registered broker-dealer may perform would have to be provided by a registered broker-dealer, not by us.