Get Market Feedback

About Your Business

Without

Running a Sale Process

Advanced Acquisition Research

Run A Market Test On Your Business

Find out the information you need now, not later.

Save an enormous amount of time.

No Strings

There is no commission fee payable.

We will speak to key acquirers about your business and get you the information you need. If you want to continue the conversation with them, we will introduce you.

How It Works

Find Out if Your Business Would Sell

And at What Price

Our unique capability gets you the information you need at the time you need it. Find out if your business would sell, at what price, under what conditions and much more. Learn what needs to change, before going to market. Decide on your strategy going forward.

Make Strategic Decisions

Important questions need to be answered as you build your business - for example, what should the business look like at the time of sale, in order to appeal to investors? Are your margins strong enough? Should you invest more in proprietary IP, or does this not matter? How important is scale in your category? Get the data you need to make decisions.

Should you sell now, or later? Seek investment? Buy out your cofounder? Learn more, then decide.

The Process

  1. Analysis

    Fast thorough analysis to identify the key attributes of your business, important market dynamics and key selling points. Limited time required on your side. We will create a short form pitch book.

  2. Specific Feedback from Key Potential Acquirers

    Private equity firms and strategics specific to your sector and your business. We bring you their direct feedback and insights. Additional analysis (valuation modelling, private and public market comparables, and more) is included in your report.

  3. Move Forward

    You have the information you need. You can make important decisions regarding the next steps for your business.

Time Is Of The Essence

Don’t wait months or years. Get the information you need in weeks.

Time is one of the most important reasons to do this.

Often it is only through running a sale process that founders find out the critical information they need. At this point, they realise that if they had made different strategic decisions earlier, they could have sold for more. In some cases it is only after running this process that they realise they can’t actually sell the business at all, or at least not for a price they are happy with. And running a sale process takes 6-12 months.

To get this critical information via a Market Test, it will take a matter of weeks.

What If I Decide To Sell?

You will have warm introductions to key buyers.

Your business will have been presented to them in a very positive light. If you want to continue the conversations with them in future (or immediately), you can. There is no commission payable to us.

To achieve the optimal outcome we would still recommend engaging an investment bank like GW Hahnbeck to help you through the sale process. But this is a separate decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The cost depends on the scope of the analysis you need, but in all cases the cost is less than the retainer charged by an investment bank!

    Compared to the cost of engaging an investment bank and going to market, but in particular, the opportunity cost of the time involved in preparing your business for sale and running a full sell-side M&A process, the small cost of a Market Test is minimal.

  • There are many different use cases for this - we have outlined some examples in the section called Use Cases further down this page.

  • Yes, our analysis is important - we have to understand the key drivers of your business and your market so that we can present it in the right light to buyers. This analysis is much faster than it would be in a sale process, and most of the work is done on our side, analysing the data you send to us. However we will need your time on a couple of calls (max 120min total)

  • We will explain the key details in a short form CIM, which will present your business in a highly positive light. This will be less extensive than the CIM we would produce for a full sale process, but it will contain all of the details necessary for buyers to understand the business and inform discussions.

  • No, we won’t disclose any trade secrets. Anything else that you don’t want to disclose will also be kept confidential.

  • If we can get all of the data we need for our analysis quickly, then our preparation will only take 7-14 days. From there, we will be able to conduct the Market Test, assimilate the data and report back to you within only a few weeks.

  • We would love to help. Your decision to hire Hahnbeck as your investment bank (or to hire an investment bank and sell the business at all) is a separate decision to running a market test. If you engage us to sell the business, typically we would not exclude any buyers who were included in the market test from our sale process and our fee.

    If you do choose to engage Hahnbeck to run the sale process for you, the fee you have paid us for the Market Test would be fully deducted from our commission on the sale of the business.

Use Cases

There are many situations in which this information can be absolutely critical in deciding the best path forward.

  • You don’t know how much your business is worth and you are getting estimates that are in a very wide range. You don’t even know realistically if buyers will be interested in your business at a price that would work for you. Going to market is a huge investment in both time and money. You want this information first

  • Maybe one of them has made a serious offer. You don’t know how this compares to the market. You don’t want to actually run a wider process, but you need some information about how other buyers would see this. It can’t be vague opinions, it has to be real, tangible feedback. If you are considering taking this offer (or walking away from it) you need real feedback

  • You want this feedback in order to inform your fundraising approach. If the results are positive you will include them in the deck and in your pitch. Even if the results are negative or more nuanced, you don’t have to include them in the deck, but the results will inform your overall strategy and your fundraising approach

  • You are wondering if what the founders are saying about its future valuation is real. You need feedback from buyers about this

  • You are considering your options. You need feedback from the market regarding what a sale process would result in, to make decisions about your next steps

  • To understand how much the shares are worth, you need to understand both the valuation and saleability of the business.

To learn more about GW Hahnbeck research and how we can help you to get the answers you need, contact Taliesen Hollywood at th@hahnbeck.com.