5 Signs You’re Ready to

Sell Your Business

With the holidays approaching, now is a great time to reflect on the past year and assess the health of your business—and your mindset. Many owners think about selling long before they actually prepare for it. If you’ve wondered whether 2026 might be the year to exit, these signs can help you determine if you’re truly ready.

Prepare for Due Diligence

Before You Sell

When it’s time to sell your business, due diligence is where buyers dig into every detail—and sellers who prepare early gain a major advantage.

While financial statements are the cornerstone, buyers also examine:

• Three years tax returns
• Financial statements
• Articles of incoporation
• HR policies and organizational charts
• Customer and vendor contracts
• Insurance coverage
• Real estate and property information

Start organizing this information 6-12 months before going to market. A clean, well-documented business builds buyer confidence, speeds up due diligence, and can directly increase your company's value.

M&A Statistics

GENERATIONAL HAND-OFF

HAS BEGUN

Baby Boomers continue to dominate the sell-side, making up nearly 60% of current business owners bringing companies to market. Another 27% are Gen X, while Millennial and Gen Z sellers together account for just 7%. In other words, most deals still involve longtime owners exiting after decades of growth, not younger founders moving on to their next venture.

On the buy-side, however, the age curve bends sharply younger. Millennials and Gen Z make up large portions of search funders (45%) and serial entrepreneurs (58%), signaling a new generation of professional buyers eager to acquire and scale. Even at the corporate level, nearly a third of C-suite buyers are under 45.

Data taken from the Q3 2025 Market Pulse Report published by the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) and M&A Source.