What are transaction advisory services?
Transaction advisory services provide strategic and financial guidance for business owners considering a sale, recapitalization, ownership transfer, acquisition, or restructuring. The work can include evaluating readiness, analyzing value drivers, preparing financial and marketing materials, identifying qualified counterparties, structuring terms, and coordinating a competitive process. The objective is to help an owner make informed decisions and pursue a transaction aligned with financial, operational, and legacy priorities.
What is the difference between M&A advisory and business brokerage?
M&A advisory typically involves a more strategic, preparation-intensive process for larger or more complex companies. Advisors assess institutional readiness, develop an investment thesis, research buyers, prepare detailed transaction materials, manage diligence, and negotiate structure. Business brokerage often focuses more directly on listing and selling a business. Exit Boston’s approach is designed for middle-market founders seeking private equity, strategic, or family-office buyers.
When should I begin preparing my company for a sale?
Preparation is most effective when it begins well before a planned exit. Early work can improve financial reporting, reduce founder dependence, document operating processes, strengthen management incentives, and clarify growth opportunities. These factors often affect buyer confidence and transaction terms. Owners may start while simply exploring options, then use the resulting roadmap to prioritize improvements before formally going to market.
What does the Seven Pillars diagnostic evaluate?
The Seven Pillars diagnostic assesses owner independence, management depth, financial clarity and data discipline, margin quality and visibility, recurring and predictable revenue, technology and operating infrastructure, and growth pathways. It is a confidential review that identifies institutional-readiness gaps and produces an execution plan. Each pillar maps to a question buyers and their quality of earnings accountants ask, starting with the hardest one: what breaks if the owner steps away?
How do you identify potential buyers for a business?
Buyer identification begins with the company’s industry, size, strategic strengths, growth profile, transaction history, and owner objectives. Exit Boston uses industry research, competitive analysis, precedent transactions, and buyer criteria to profile relevant private equity firms, strategic acquirers, and family offices. A targeted buyer universe helps ensure outreach is focused on parties with a credible rationale and capacity to pursue the opportunity.
Can you help with an internal shareholder transition?
Yes. Shareholder advisory supports majority owners navigating internal ownership transfers, succession planning, and corporate restructuring. The process can address financial considerations, alternatives for structuring the transaction, execution planning, and continuity concerns. Internal transitions require careful alignment among shareholders, management, and the business itself, so clear analysis and disciplined documentation are important before commitments or ownership changes are finalized.
What types of companies does Exit Boston advise?
Exit Boston focuses on founder-led, middle-market companies, particularly those generating approximately $10 million to $100 million in revenue. The firm has documented industry experience in distribution and logistics, building products, chemicals, manufacturing and fabrication, electronic manufacturing services, specialty plastics, and food and beverage. Each engagement is assessed based on its specific objectives and transaction readiness.
Is my information kept confidential during a consultation?
Yes. A confidential consultation is intended for owners evaluating a sale, exit plan, ownership transition, or current institutional readiness. Exit Boston states that information submitted is kept strictly confidential and is not shared with third parties without explicit consent. The initial discussion can cover revenue range, timing, owner goals, business quality, valuation improvement opportunities, and the steps needed to prepare for a stronger outcome.
Why do transactions fail after the LOI?
Less often for financing reasons than owners assume. In Axial's 2025 Dead Deal Report, diligence findings unrelated to quality of earnings caused 25.3% of broken letters of intent, up from 19.1% in 2023, and disagreements over EBITDA caused 21.3%, up from 10.6%. Financing failures fell over the same period, from 21.3% to 10.7%. Most broken deals do not collapse dramatically either; they end in exhaustion, after sixty or ninety days in which trust erodes faster than the gap on price closes.