If you have just decided to start looking for a company to buy
you will need to understand the fundamental assumptions
involved before you make your first step to purchase the
“right” company.

This article will give you a quick “fly-over” of basic business
acquisition insights learned over many years of pursuit of
finding the ideal company that meets one’s EXACT purchase
criteria. Purchasing a business can be a complex, iterative
process made up of many steps. Most steps within the process
should be implemented in a logical sequence to achieve maximum
desired results. The very first step in any business
acquisition effort is understanding some of the basic realities
of what to expect within the anticipated business procurement
process.

There are basic or “practical” assumptions and specific or
“subjective” assumptions one must make in every business
purchase effort. Practical assumptions can be best defined as
anticipated realities that make sense to understand no matter
the potential business transaction. Subjective assumptions are
anticipated challenges and events that correlate to your own
personal perspectives based firmly within your own purchase
criteria, prior business experiences, accumulated knowledge and
developed risk/reward tolerance levels.

Like most complex business challenges it is best to make some
fundamental assumptions about the task at hand. These
assumptions are not inclusive and are documented to facilitate
develop of more thoughts and ideas prior to implementation of
any initial step to find a business:

Assumptions to Be Made Before Searching for a Company

It is nearly impossible to find the “ideal” company to buy:
Compromises will abound throughout your search and negotiations

Not all companies are for sale:

Although, this is a common “opening statement” communicated by
an owner of a business