Construct or Deconstruct Your Buy Box
One of the biggest reasons buyers struggle isn't because there aren't enough businesses for sale. It's because they're searching without a clear strategy. If your buy box is too broad, you'll spend months chasing deals that were never a good fit. If it's too narrow, you may overlook outstanding opportunities. This two-hour working session is designed to help you build a buy box that reflects your experience, financial resources, lifestyle goals, and competitive advantages. Together, we'll evaluate your background, strengths, financing capacity, geographic preferences, industry experience, and long-term objectives to determine where you're most likely to succeed as a business owner. We'll also challenge assumptions, identify blind spots, and discuss where you may have an unfair advantage over other buyers. Whether you're building your buy box from scratch or refining one you've already developed, you'll leave with a focused acquisition strategy that helps you spend less time searching and more time pursuing the right opportunities.
What's included
I'll move at your preferred pace, diving deeper into areas where you have more questions and moving more swiftly through topics you are familiar with. This isn't a canned course with pre-scripted content. It will be structured and tailored to what you know, what you need to learn, and where you are in your search.
- A personalized buy box defining the industries, business characteristics, deal size, geography, and ownership model that best fit your goals.
- A clear acquisition strategy you can use to guide your search and keep yourself disciplined when evaluating opportunities.
- A buyer advantage assessment identifying the experiences, skills, and relationships that make you a stronger buyer in certain industries or business types.
- A list of industries to prioritize and those to avoid based on your background, financing strategy, and long-term objectives.
- Clear acquisition criteria including target size, profitability, management structure, customer characteristics, and operational preferences.
- A practical search roadmap outlining where to source opportunities and how to focus your efforts for maximum efficiency.
- Greater confidence saying "no" to businesses that don't align with your strategy, allowing you to spend your time on opportunities that truly fit.
Meet your expert
Mark F.
100+ Deals In: Navigating Seller Fraud, Buried Cash, & Real Successes
Hi, I'm Mark. I'm a business owner, investor, and acquisition entrepreneur who has participated in more than 40 successful small business acquisitions across a wide range of industries. Since acquiring my first business a decade ago (a residential cleaning company, which I have since exited), I have co-acquired and evaluated thousands of opportunities, navigating everything from seller fraud and hidden liabilities to complex deal structures and successful post-acquisition growth. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience in finance and investing, I specialize in business valuation, deal structuring, SBA financing, due diligence, and acquisition strategy. My coaching combines the analytical rigor that comes with being a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and financial risk manager (FRM) with practical, real-world lessons from transactions that have ranged from exceptional to extremely challenging. Whether you're refining your buy box, evaluating your first acquisition, or working through a live deal, my goal is to help you think like an experienced buyer and make better decisions with greater confidence.
