Partner Network · Member Firm
Jackim Woods & Co.
A sell-side advisory practice with 200+ closed transactions and more than $750M in aggregate value across 25+ years. Jim Bates co-authored Business Valuation For Dummies (Wiley) and writes the firm's owner briefings on how value and leverage are built long before a sale.
Co-author, Business Valuation For Dummies (Wiley)
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Owner briefings
Written by Jim
Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Buyer Pool Is Wider Than Most Owners Assume
Most owners picture two buyers: their biggest competitor and private equity. The real pool for a lower-middle-market company is wider: PE-ba…
Jim Bates · Sep 25, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Mistakes Owners Make After the Buyer Shows Up
Most of the value owners lose in a sale is lost after a buyer is already at the table: negotiating alone with the first offer, signing a let…
Jim Bates · Sep 23, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
What a Quality of Earnings Review Is Really Looking For
A quality of earnings review is the buyer rebuilding your profit their own way to see how much of it is real and repeatable. It reprices you…
Jim Bates · Sep 21, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Part of the Sale That Comes After You Sell
A business sale does not end at closing. The purchase agreement also governs the months after: a transition period, sometimes a consulting a…
Jim Bates · Sep 18, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
Where Leverage Comes From When You Sell a Business
Leverage in a sale is decided months before the negotiation. The four places it comes from, how each one gets spent, and the one document th…
Jim Bates · Sep 16, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
Who the Buyer Has to Convince Before They Can Pay You
The person across the table is rarely the person who approves the price. Understanding the committee, the lender and the memo behind a buyer…
Jim Bates · Sep 11, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
Readiness Has a Lead Time: What to Fix First When the Exit Is Two Years Out
Most of what makes a business easy to buy takes longer to build than a sale takes to run. Two years out, the question is not what to fix but…
Jim Bates · Sep 9, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
Where the Multiple Comes From: How Buyers Build the Number They Offer
Owners treat the multiple as a market fact. It is a conclusion a buyer reaches, one step at a time, and every step is something you can infl…
Jim Bates · Sep 7, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Customer Everyone Said Would Sink the Sale: A Deal Lesson
A composite from the sell-side table: a good company with 40 percent of revenue in one account, two buyers who walked, and the eighteen mont…
Jim Bates · Sep 4, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
What Ready Actually Looks Like: A Pre-Market Checklist
Owners hear get ready to sell and picture a cleanup week. Readiness is narrower and more concrete than that: five things that have to be tru…
Jim Bates · Sep 2, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Best Time to Sell Is Before You Have To
Owners treat the timing of a sale as a market question - wait for rates, wait for multiples. It rarely is. The timing that moves the number …
Jim Bates · Aug 31, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
What Kind of Buyer Should You Actually Want?
Owners ask what their business is worth. The more useful question is what it is worth to whom - because a private equity fund and a competit…
Jim Bates · Aug 28, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Market for Your Business Is Not the Market in the Headlines
Is this a good time to sell? The question is reasonable and the premise is usually wrong - the market described in the headlines is not the …
Jim Bates · Aug 26, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
What Buyers Actually Verify Before They Wire the Money
Diligence is not an audit of your honesty - it is a buyer converting your story into evidence and pricing whatever will not convert. The fiv…
Jim Bates · Aug 24, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Five Mistakes Owners Make Before the Business Ever Hits the Market
Most of what a buyer will pay for is decided years before the sale process begins. The five pre-market mistakes owners make most often - and…
Jim Bates · Aug 21, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Deal Behind the Price: How Structure Decides What You Actually Keep
Two deals with the same headline price can net out hundreds of thousands apart. How earnouts, seller notes, holdbacks, working capital pegs,…
Jim Bates · Aug 19, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
The Unsolicited Offer: What to Do When a Buyer Calls You First
An unsolicited offer for your business is a signal, not a verdict. What the buyer's approach really means, what to protect, and how to turn …
Jim Bates · Aug 17, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
Five Things Buyers Check Before They Check Price
Serious acquirers evaluate risk before they negotiate price. Here are the five things they look at first — and how to be ready for each.
Jim Bates · Aug 15, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
What Is Your Business Actually Worth? The Three Numbers Every Owner Should Know
Most owners anchor on a headline number. The owners who sell well understand three numbers: true earnings, the market multiple, and net proc…
Jim Bates · Aug 15, 2026Jackim Woods · Owner briefing
Meet Jackim Woods & Co. — A BizNexus Partner Network Firm
Jackim Woods & Co. is a middle market M&A advisory firm with 200+ closed transactions and over $750 million in aggregate deal value. Meet Pa…
Jim Bates · Aug 15, 2026Free resource
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Deal flow and developing trends in the lower middle market — written for practitioners, not spectators.