Issue #103 • October 10th, 2026

Hi Reader,

My good friend Kyle invited me to an event last Monday. So I decided to spend the entire day in a workshop in downtown Austin with about 70 professional business buyers. They were there to get better at one thing:

They are not waiting for you to be ready.

What they already have

• A list with your company on it. One friendly message goes to 100 owners, and they expect one deal.
• A method for cutting your earnings. Every expense they refuse to count lowers your price.
• The money. There is more capital chasing companies like ours than ever before.

The terms they set

This was the part you need to understand. Buyers are taught that they can agree to almost any price, as long as they decide how and when you are paid. Two tools do most of the work.

Seller financing. You lend the buyer part of the price and get repaid over time. They are coached to ask for:

• interest-only payments, with your principal returned years later
• one payment a year, so your first check comes twelve months after you leave
• a place in line behind the bank
• no personal guarantee if the business fails

Earnouts. Part of your price is paid only if the company hits targets after you have handed it over. Buyers see an earnout as a loan from you with no interest and a lower chance of being repaid.

Here is what that does to a business earning $500K a year:

• $1.5M offer: $1.5M in cash at closing
• $2M offer: $750K in cash at closing
• $2.5M offer: nothing at closing

The biggest number puts the least money in your hands on the day you sell. Owners ask for all cash, and buyers are taught that they rarely have to give it.

The owners who will be ready

The next morning I sat with more than 100 business owners at the Business Transition Summit. In my role as Board Advisor and Regional Cohort Leader at Birthing of Giants, I invited more than 25 business owners to the event and yes it was what we promised:

I shared my journey through my exit with my two fellow Birthing of Giants Graduates and the Summit just focused on one thing: Supporting Business Owners with their transition and exit plan

They spent the day learning the other side of everything I heard on Monday. They will meet the same buyers you will, and they will know which terms to refuse.

Only 20% of owners who go to market transition on their own terms. Somebody is going to be in that 20%.

What waiting costs

Buyers look at three years of your financials. The year you are in right now is one of them.

I know the difference preparation makes. In 2021 I sold the business I had bootstrapped from nothing, for cash and ownership in another company. I was ready for the conversation about terms because Birthing of Giants had prepared me before a buyer ever appeared.

12 seats. January.

My next Birthing of Giants cohort is forming now. It takes 10 to 12 owners, seats are filling up. Get one of them now.

For two years you sit with owners building toward the same day, alongside people who have already been through it. You do not walk into the biggest deal of your life alone.

Want a seat? Book a call with me and I’ll tell you personally how it works.

Not ready for that conversation? Reply to this email with the word PAPER and I’ll send you my key learnings from Monday: how buyers find you, value you, and structure an offer, plus a scorecard to see where you stand.

I read every email, and I answer them myself.

Mathias Ihlenfeld | Entrepreneur | Coach | Advisor

P.S. I’m sharing the real woom story (the messy parts, not just the highlight reel) at Texas State University in Round Rock next Thursday, October 15, 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. I’d love to see you there: https://luma.com/miu7zz7b​

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