What’s the Atlanta Area Small Business Market Like?

We get a lot of questions these days about the Atlanta area small business market. What’s the seller’s market like? Who’s buying? What do the credit markets look like? In short, the market’s demand is higher than supply of fundamentally good small businesses being offered for sale based on our discussions with buyers and sellers of local area businesses.

What’s driving this interest? In short, there’s more money looking for businesses to buy. From first time buyers tired of working for someone else to private equity groups that recognize the lower risk of acquiring established businesses versus startups starting from scratch, there’s more money chasing deals than there are good businesses to buy.

However, business-valuation models are becoming more complex. Establishing a value for a small business is an increasingly difficult exercise; comparable data are not readily available for small operators. The value range between businesses in the same sector may vary significantly due to internal and external risk factors. Given multiple methodologies available to value businesses, the importance of retaining a experienced business broker with local market knowledge and access to industry research to price businesses more accurately is very important.

If you are an owner and are starting to think of selling, are you ready? Is your business ready to sell? It should come as no surprise that, in order to get the highest valuation, you have to prepare your business to warrant it.

Working with us to help what your business is worth is a worthwhile exercise whether or not you decide to sell it this year, particularly in view of the market’s strength. Give us a call, we’re here to help.