The Funnel, Ep. 6: How Long Does Selling Take?

Описание: How Long Does It Take to Sell a Business? What Founders Should Really Expect

If you’re thinking about selling your business, one of the first practical questions is timing. How long does a business sale actually take, and when should you start planning if you want a strong outcome?

In this episode of The Funnel, Candor Advisors founder Kirk Michie walks through the real timeline of selling a business, moving beyond early curiosity and into practical exit planning. He explains what happens after founders move past valuation questions and start asking how long a transaction really takes, depending on whether they respond to an unsolicited offer or formally go to market with advisors. The discussion focuses on realistic expectations, common misconceptions, and how timing impacts exit strategy.

The video breaks down the sale process step by step, from early preparation and market outreach to negotiating a letter of intent and entering exclusivity and due diligence. Kirk explains why even “simple” businesses rarely close quickly, how long buyers and sellers typically spend in diligence, and why founders often underestimate the time required. Understanding this timeline is critical for exit timing, planning around EBITDA performance, and aligning personal and business goals with market realities.

For founders considering a sale in the near future, this episode provides a clear framework for planning backward from a desired exit date. It highlights why preparation matters, how transaction advisors fit into the process, and why starting earlier can protect valuation and reduce pressure during negotiations. This is practical guidance for owners who are no longer just curious about selling, but actively thinking about what comes next.

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Transcript

The Funnel – How Long Does It Take to Sell a Business?
Speaker: Kirk Michie, Candor Advisors

Hey founders, Kirk Michie here.

We’re moving down the funnel from curiosity about selling. We’ve already covered topics like what’s your number, what your business might be worth, and how to understand multiples in your market. Those are top-of-the-funnel questions, useful when you’re just curious and haven’t made a decision yet.

Those data points combine with what’s in your gut and what’s motivating you to decide whether selling even makes sense. Once you move past that stage, you’re not at a decision yet, but you are starting to strategize. The next question usually is: how long is it going to take to sell my business?

Most owners think their transaction will be simple. They assume their business is straightforward because it’s an LLC or an S-corp, or because they don’t have many contracts, or because their contracts are recurring or non-recurring. In reality, all transactions take time.

If you’re responding to an unsolicited offer and the price and terms are right, you negotiate the letter of intent and involve counsel. At the fastest, that process might take 90 to 120 days.

More commonly, if you decide to go to market, hire a transaction advisor, assemble the right deal team, and optimize for outcome, the process usually takes four to nine months. In some cases, it can drift into ten or eleven months. We’ve even seen transactions go beyond a year.

Preparation alone often takes 30 to 90 days. That’s the time required to get materials ready, build the data room, and prepare for outreach. Once outreach begins and indications of interest or letters of intent start coming in, it takes additional time to evaluate and negotiate them. Even with a strong business and multiple buyers, that phase often takes about a month.

By the time you enter due diligence, you’re usually three to five months into the process. After the letter of intent is signed, you enter exclusivity and heavy due diligence. Buyers tend to want this phase to last longer, while sellers want it shorter. Most deals settle around 90 to 120 days in exclusivity.

Between information requests, processing on both sides, and normal life interruptions, it usually takes that long. By the end of the process, you’re typically looking at six to nine months total.

For planning purposes, if you want to sell your business this year, it’s probably already too late. But if you go to market now and hire a transaction advisor, you’re more likely to be finished by the end of the first quarter or possibly the first half of next year.

That’s it for now. More to follow.