Published June 27, 2026 · Updated August 21, 2026
Pedro Oliveira, Founder & Principal, Renova Strategy
It’s a business transaction. Yes. I know.
But anyone trying to play it like it’s purely clinical, purely financial, purely logical, is seriously downplaying what it actually feels like to go through one. And I say that as someone who has been on both sides of the table, more than once, with my own businesses.
The reality is that for most people, selling a business will be the second largest financial transaction of their lifetime. Possibly the largest. Second only to buying a home, and for some people, not even that. Unless you’re in the business of acquiring and selling companies regularly, as a buyer you may do this many times. As a seller, most people do it once.
Once. After a decade, or two, or a lifetime of building something.
This is the part that catches people off guard.
When you go to market, everything you built becomes a product. Your revenue, your processes, your team, your reputation, your client relationships. That last one has a name in the transaction world. It’s called goodwill. And it gets a number attached to it.
There’s something profoundly strange about watching the relationships you’ve built over years, the trust you’ve earned, the reputation you’ve cultivated, get translated into a line item on a valuation report. It doesn’t make the number wrong. It just makes it feel different than you expected.
People sell for all kinds of reasons, and most of them are deeply personal.
Maybe selling was the goal all along and you’ve finally gotten where you wanted to be. Maybe it’s retirement. Maybe it’s time for something new. Maybe, and I’ll say this because I’ve lived it, you’re just burnt out. Running a business is relentless, and sometimes the most honest reason is that you’re done. There is no shame in that. It’s one of the most valid reasons there is.
Whatever the reason, the process is time-consuming, emotionally taxing, and longer than most people expect. You’re preparing, then waiting, then negotiating, then waiting again, all while trying to run the business as if nothing is happening.
This is where it gets hard.
The offers. Are they coming? How many? Is this a good number? Is the buyer serious? Your instinct when you’ve built something is to believe it’s worth what you know it’s worth. Sometimes the market agrees. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sitting with that uncertainty, while simultaneously trying to keep the business performing well enough to hold its value, is genuinely one of the harder things I’ve navigated.
Then comes due diligence. If you haven’t been through it, it’s difficult to fully describe. A buyer’s team goes through everything. Financials, contracts, operations, systems, customer lists, legal history. It can feel invasive. It can feel frightening. Even when you have nothing to hide, the scrutiny is intense and the process is exhausting.
Having been through this, and having seen both good and difficult transactions, what I can tell you is that preparation and clear expectations make an enormous difference.
Not just financial preparation, though that matters. The emotional preparation matters just as much. Knowing what each stage of the process looks like before you’re in it. Understanding what due diligence actually involves so it doesn’t feel like an ambush. Having someone in your corner who has navigated this before and can tell you honestly what’s normal, what’s a red flag, and what you should push back on.
That’s a big part of what we do at Renova Strategy on the M&A side. Not just the mechanics of the transaction, but helping you walk through the process with clear expectations at every step. Because the financial outcome matters, and so does getting through it in one piece.
If you want to talk through where your business stands, that is exactly what we do.