Set Your Price. Or You Can Sell Now. But You Can’t Have It Both.

Let me tell you about Peter Seller. (name changed)

Peter Seller had an attractive business — real revenue, loyal customers, a team that didn't fall apart when he left for vacation. He went to market with a broker, an $8 million price tag, a specific deal structure in mind, and a timeline - Now - no time for preparation! Because — well. He is Peter.

Here's the thing. Buyers showed up. Plenty of them. They signed the NDAs, asked the right questions, some even met Peter in person. And why wouldn't they? Good businesses are scarce right now. Serious buyers will look at almost anything that looks remotely interesting because the alternative is sitting on the sidelines.

But here's what happened next. They mulled it. The price didn't support the structure. The structure didn't fit the timeline. And one by one — no drama, no counter-offer, no explanation — they disappeared.

Not because the business wasn't attractive. It was. But interest is not a transaction. A full NDA pipeline is not a deal. And a market starving for inventory will absolutely engage with an overpriced listing — it just won't close one.

Peter was frustrated and burned out. He took the business off the market convinced the world had missed the point.

Six months later, he called me.

We had a conversation, a very frank one — not about what he needed the number to be, but about how the market values a business. About how a deal structure can make or break a deal. About how a seller's rigidity is perceived as a drop-and-run attitude.

Price, structure, and timeline are three levers. Pull one hard and you loosen your grip on the other two. Try to lock all three and you'll get plenty of interest — but zero closings. The market is not obligated to meet you where you are.

The sellers who actually close — at strong valuations — are the ones who come prepared, not rigid. Clean financials. A story buyers can believe in. A valuation that holds up when someone puts it under a microscope. And an advisor who creates a healthy urgency on the buyer's side.

Peter got there. And when he did, the outcome looked a lot closer to what he originally wanted than he expected.