Thinking About Selling the Business?
The market is shifting in 2026, and some clear trends are emerging.
Good morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
The data-center land grab is pricing home builders out of the market.
Alan Pentz says family businesses are better positioned to survive AI disruption than you might think.
What can small businesses learn from the way hiring has evolved in Silicon Valley?
The Trump administration is rethinking its tariffs on steel and aluminum.
SELLING THE BUSINESS
Here’s what owners looking to exit in 2026 should know: “We asked M&A advisors, brokers, and other professionals to share their predictions for this year. Of the 17 players who contributed: Most focus on the digital and online space, including agencies and tech-enabled services, software and SaaS, e-commerce, and media and content businesses. A few sell main street businesses. All focus on 6, 7, and low-8 figure sales. The advisors we surveyed make their living helping people sell businesses, so they have a natural incentive to be optimistic about market conditions. Their livelihoods depend on active buyers and sellers. While we trust their expertise and frontline insights, it’s worth keeping this context in mind as you read their predictions.”
“Many advisors predict 2026 will be more active from an M&A perspective than the last few years. ‘I think we’ll see the most activity we’ve seen in three years as the economy stabilizes,’ says Jonathan Baker, Practice Lead for M&A Services at Punctuation. Marla DiCarlo, Owner and CEO of BizNavigators, agreed: ‘2026 is expected to be a strong, growth-oriented year for M&A, driven by improving interest rates [and] increased buyer confidence.’”
“Put simply, ‘buyers are getting smarter,’ said Nick Santillo, M&A Advisor at Anny.Biz. BizNavigators’ DiCarlo explained: ‘Buyers in the lower-middle market are becoming more sophisticated, often joining peer groups, investment clubs, and education-focused communities that help them better understand what to look for in a business.’ ‘As buyer knowledge increases,’ she continued, ‘it becomes even more important for sellers to clearly understand their value drivers—such as recurring revenue, strong margins, operational systems, and clean financials—and to price their business realistically.’”
“Another significant structural shift is pirate equity firms”—I’m pretty sure the author meant private equity firms; talk about a Freudian slip!—“expanding into smaller deals, territory that was previously considered too small for institutional buyers. ‘[There’s] massive interest in the $1-2 million EBITDA market—no longer too small for PE, and not necessarily too big for strategics,’ said Kerpen of the Whisper Group. This creates new opportunities for mid-sized businesses that previously struggled to find sophisticated buyers.”
“Artificial intelligence is reshaping buyer priorities in contradictory ways, creating opportunities for some businesses while threatening others. On one hand, ‘obviously AI is all the rage,’ said Joe Burrill, Founder & CEO of Just Website Brokerage. ‘Any businesses using AI effectively and in a high-quality way will be more desirable than ones without.’ On the other hand, buyers are increasingly careful not to invest in a business that could be replaced by AI in a few years. That’s driving demand for businesses that can’t be easily automated.” READ MORE
