Selling a business is a process with a shape, and knowing the shape removes most of the fear. Here is each stage, what it is for, and roughly how long it takes.
From first conversation to money in the bank is typically three to six months. Most of that time is not interrogation; it is two sides building enough confidence to sign the same piece of paper. Here is the sequence.
Informal, confidential and commitment-free. A good buyer wants to understand the business, what you want from a sale, and whether there is a fit worth exploring. You should be interviewing them just as hard: what have they done before, how do they work with owners, what happens after completion. Nothing you say here binds you to anything.
Before any real information changes hands, a confidentiality agreement is signed. Then you share the basics: two or three years of accounts, current management figures, order pipeline and a sense of the customer base. From this a serious buyer can form a view on value in a week or two.
If both sides want to proceed, the buyer puts a detailed term sheet in front of you: the price, the structure, what is cash and what is deferred, what stake you keep, and the exclusivity terms. A good term sheet forces every contentious point into the open now, so you never pay lawyers to discover a disagreement later. Take advice before you sign it; it is the document that shapes everything after.
With terms agreed, the buyer gets a period of exclusivity, to verify what they are buying: financial, commercial and legal checks, covered properly in a separate post. This is the heaviest phase for you, mostly in document gathering. The better your records, the shorter it is.
Diligence done, lawyers paper the deal: the sale and purchase agreement and its attachments. Expect some negotiation on warranties, the promises you make about the state of the business. Then signatures, funds flow, and completion. The money is in your account that day.
With the right buyer, day one looks surprisingly like day minus-one: same name over the door, same team, you still in charge, now with capital behind you and a plan you helped write. What that plan typically contains is covered in The first 100 days.
Tatu partners with the owners of UK service businesses making £500k to £3m a year in profit: money out today, a meaningful stake kept, and a bigger sale built together. See how it works, try the free valuation estimate, or write to nico@tatu-capital.com.