Time Kills Deals

Heather explains that closing an SMB acquisition is a race against time because you typically have only 90 days to complete what is realistically six months of work. The core challenge lies in the overlap of three critical areas: buyer readiness, seller alignment, and financing structure. Heather notes that it takes four signed Letters of Intent (LOIs) to close a single deal because 75 percent of transactions fail during diligence when these three circles do not intersect perfectly. To maximize success and avoid wasting months on a doomed project, you must pull forward high risk diligence items as early as possible. If the seller’s price expectations do not align with the actual business characteristics or if the debt coverage ratio fails to satisfy lenders, you should find out quickly so you can walk away and focus on the 25 percent of deals that actually close.