Published September 19, 2026 · Updated September 20, 2026
Pedro Oliveira, Founder & Principal, Renova Strategy
It usually comes up casually. A friend, a fellow owner at an event, someone at the next table: what kind of businesses do you actually work with? And, almost always, the follow-up: is any of it actually worth buying?
They are fair questions, because business brokerage sits in a blind spot. People picture real estate on one side and Wall Street investment banking on the other, and assume everything in between is one or the other. It is neither. Most of the American economy that changes hands every year changes hands in that space in between, and it does so quietly, which is exactly why so few people can describe how it works.
We work with local businesses across a wide range of sectors, and with technology companies, typically with annual revenue between $150,000 and $10 million.
That range covers two overlapping worlds. At the smaller end are Main Street businesses: service companies, trades, restaurants, retail, professional practices. At the larger end is the lower middle market, where transactions start to resemble formal M&A processes, with prepared financial packages, competing qualified buyers, and structured negotiations. The same fundamentals run through both: an owner who built something real, financial records that live in tax returns and internal statements rather than audited reports, and a transfer of ownership that has to be handled with care because the business is usually the largest asset its owner has.
On the sell side, the work starts well before the business is ever shown to anyone. Exit strategy and valuation come first: what the business is likely worth, what is helping or hurting that number, and whether now is the right time or whether a year of preparation changes the outcome materially.
Then comes the part most owners worry about: going to market without anyone finding out. The business is presented through a blind profile, with no business name in any marketing. Buyers sign confidentiality agreements before learning anything identifying, and they demonstrate financial capability before the owner's identity is revealed. From there the work is qualification, negotiation, coordinating due diligence, and managing the process through closing, while the owner keeps doing the one thing that protects value most: running the business as if nothing were happening.
On the buy side, the engagement starts with the buyer, not the listings. We develop a clear acquisition profile: size, sector, geography, the role the buyer intends to play, and what the deal needs to accomplish beyond the purchase itself. Then we search on both sides of the market: businesses already listed for sale, and businesses that are not for sale but might be, approached directly and confidentially.
Some of these engagements have objectives that go beyond return on investment. One recent example: an investor based abroad acquiring an established local services company, with the existing leadership team staying in place after closing, as part of a broader plan managed together with the investor's immigration counsel. Deals like that are won or lost on fit and structure, not just price, and they rarely start with a listing.
We take engagements on both sides of the market, representing sellers in some transactions and buyers in others.
Honestly: some of it. Price is what people ask about first, and it is only part of the equation.
The businesses worth buying at this size share a few traits. Earnings that survive the owner's departure, because they come from systems, teams, and customer relationships rather than from the owner personally. Clean, defensible financial records. A customer base that is not dangerously concentrated in one or two accounts. Recurring or repeat revenue. Licenses, contracts, and relationships that actually transfer.
The businesses that look most glamorous often fail those tests, and the ones that pass them tend to look ordinary from the outside. A great deal of our work, on both sides, is telling those two apart before anyone commits money to the answer.
There is a structural reason business brokerage stays invisible: confidentiality is not a courtesy in this market, it is a requirement. Businesses this size cannot afford for employees, customers, or competitors to learn a sale is being explored, so there are no signs, no announcements, and no public record of most of what happens. The market works precisely because you cannot see it.
Brokerage transactions we advise on are conducted through eXp Commercial, LLC, under Florida Real Estate Commission licensure. If you are an owner starting to think about an exit, or a buyer trying to turn a search into a purchase, we are happy to explain what the process would look like in your specific situation. Learn how we work with sellers, see how we represent buyers, or reach out and start the conversation.