Weeks Weekly with Ed Weeks Jr.

Every serious buyer who looks at your company is going to ask the same questions. Who is the rock star in here? Who really runs this thing? And what happens if that person walks out the door?

In this episode of Weeks Weekly, Ed Weeks Jr. starts with a question a buyer asked him last week: how do you take over a company in a trade you are not licensed in? Then he flips it around for owners, because the most important person in your business might not be you.

In this episode:

• The 30 day test: if you were gone with no phone and no email, who would the phone ring for?
• Why a buyer is buying the next five years, not your past, and who keeps the place together while a new owner learns
• How a strong key person lowers risk, and how a single point of failure shows up in price, structure, or how long you have to stay
• Two places this goes wrong: cutting pay after the close, and selling to your key people without your eyes open
• Six things to do now: name the person, get their role on paper, look at their pay, ask your attorney and CPA about a retention plan, decide who knows and when, and let them run it now
• What to do if the most important person really is you

This week's homework: Do the 30 day test. Write down who the phone rings for if you are gone. Then put a name next to every job that only one person can do.

Read the full article: Will Your Key People Stay After You Sell?

Watch the video: Will Your Key People Stay After You Sell? on YouTube

Where do you stand today? Take the Business Optionality Assessment. It takes about 3 minutes: https://edweeksjr.com/assessment/

Host: Ed Weeks Jr., MBA, CM&AA Weeks Consulting Group edweeksjr.com

General education, not legal, tax or investment advice.

CHAPTERS (timed from the final master audio): 00:00 Intro 00:19 The rock star inside the business 01:40 The 30 day test: who does the phone ring for? 03:05 Why buyers care so much 04:31 Where it goes wrong 06:13 Six things to do now 08:17 What if the most important person is you? 09:18 This week's homework 09:59 Outro

Why sellers lose negotiating leverage after the letter of intent, and how to find the expensive surprises before buyers do.

You agreed on a price. Signed the letter of intent. Started thinking about what life might look like after the sale.

Then the buyer's accountants call.

Some of your earnings adjustments don't hold up. Working capital isn't what they expected. Suddenly, the buyer wants to renegotiate.

And you've already stopped talking to other buyers.

This is where business owners can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars without anything actually changing in their business.

In this episode of Weeks Weekly, Ed Weeks Jr. explains why the most dangerous financial surprises aren't necessarily the ones you discover. They're the ones your buyer discovers first.

Drawing on conversations with a quality of earnings professional and his own experience working with business owners, Ed breaks down:

• Why your negotiating position changes dramatically after signing a letter of intent.

• What buyers actually examine when they challenge your adjusted EBITDA.

• How working capital and other financial adjustments can reduce what you take home.

• When a sell-side quality of earnings (QoE) report is worth the investment.

• What the new October 2026 SBA lending requirements mean for owners selling businesses for $3 million or more.

• What you can do today to protect your options, even if selling is still years away.

The takeaway: Don't wait for a buyer to tell you what's wrong with your numbers. Find out while you still have the time and leverage to do something about it.

Thinking about selling, raising capital, or figuring out your next move?

Take the free, 3-minute Weeks Consulting Group assessment to understand where your business stands and what deserves your attention first.

https://edweeksjr.com/assessment/

ABOUT THE HOST

Ed Weeks Jr. brings more than 33 years of operating, investing, and advisory experience to conversations about buying, selling, growing, and financing privately held businesses.

Weeks Consulting Group https://edweeksjr.com

SOURCES & ADDITIONAL READING

• Carr, Riggs & Ingram: https://www.criadv.com/insight/sba-quality-of-earnings-requirement-7a-loans/

• HartmannRhodes: https://www.hartmannrhodes.com/post/new-sba-business-acquisition-rules-october-1-2026

• Federal Reserve, September 2026: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/monetary20260916a1.pdf

• GF Data Q2 2026: https://www.acg.org/news-trends/news/gf-data-reports-show-steady-middle-market-deal-flow-amid-more-selective

This episode is for general educational purposes and is not legal, tax, or investment advice.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction 00:19 The phone call that can change your sale price 01:11 Why sellers lose leverage after the LOI 02:39 Working capital: The hidden price adjustment 03:53 What a sell-side quality of earnings report reveals 04:28 What a QoE professional told me 05:44 Why financing conditions matter 06:59 New SBA rules every seller should understand 08:20 The lesson from second-generation business owners 09:20 How to prepare before buyers start looking 10:59 Closing thoughts

Why two companies with the same $2 million of EBITDA can sell millions apart, and the five things buyers actually price. Two companies each earn about $2 million of EBITDA. One sells for $8 million. The other sells for $14 million.

Same earnings. A $6 million difference in value.

Why?

In this episode of Weeks Weekly, Ed Weeks Jr. breaks down what actually determines the multiple a buyer is willing to pay, using current M&A market data and lessons from real business transactions.

You'll learn:

• The five factors buyers evaluate: recurring revenue, management depth, EBITDA add-backs, customer concentration, and financial quality.

• Why business size and buyer type influence valuation multiples.

• How owner dependency can reduce what buyers are willing to pay.

• Why the headline purchase price and the cash you receive at closing can be very different.

• What business owners can do now to improve value, even if they aren't planning to sell.

The two-company comparison is illustrative, but the underlying valuation principles have real financial consequences. 00:00 Intro 00:19 Two $2 Million Companies: $8 Million vs. $14 Million 01:15 What the Market Is Paying 02:39 Five Questions Every Buyer Asks 05:03 What Makes a Business Worth More 05:41 Headline Price vs. Cash at Closing 06:41 What Business Owners Should Do Now 07:44 Outro

Read the full article: https://edweeksjr.com/same-ebitda-different-price/

Research and sources:

TagniFi PowerComps Q2 2026: https://peprofessional.com/2026/08/private-equity-buyers-pay-up-for-small-add-ons-as-middle-market-multiples-climb-to-6-9x/

GF Data Q2 2026: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gfdata_acg-privateequity-pe-activity-7506424956235333632-1Q8H

PitchBook, Construction & Engineering: https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/ai-data-center-boom-private-equity-deals-electrical-hvac

SRS Acquiom Deal Terms Study: https://www.srsacquiom.com/our-insights/deal-terms-study/

SRS Acquiom Earnout Trends: https://www.srsacquiom.com/our-insights/ma-earnout-milestone-trends/

IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-market-pulse-survey-q2-2026-reports-the-latest-trends-in-business-sales-up-to-50m-302858664.html

About the host

Ed Weeks Jr. is the founder of Weeks Consulting Group, advising business owners, buyers, and capital partners on valuation, acquisitions, exits, and strategic decisions.

https://edweeksjr.com

General education only. Not legal, tax, or investment advice.

New SBA acquisition lending rules take effect October 1, and they put a seller's last fiscal year or two at the center of whether an SBA buyer can get financed. Add a September rate hike and tighter private equity leverage, and deal structure matters more than it did a few months ago.

Ed covers three ideas for owners of established companies. Historical performance increasingly decides financeability. Structure matters more when debt is tighter. And your financials and diligence materials need to be ready before a buyer puts a price in front of you.

He also talks about the household clock and the company clock, and why the owners with the most options are the ones whose company clock is ahead.

General education, not legal, tax, or lending advice. Confirm SBA specifics with your lender. Host: Ed Weeks Jr. Weeks Consulting Group https://edweeksjr.com

Sources:

- U.S. Small Business Administration, SOP 50 10 8.1, Lender and Development Company Loan Programs with Technical Policy Updates, effective October 1, 2026 (Appendix 15, 7(a) Changes of Ownership): https://www.sba.gov/document/sop-50-10-lender-development-company-loan-programs

- SBA Information Notice 5000-882227, Issuance of Technical Updates to SOP 50 10 8.1 (published September 25, 2026): https://www.sba.gov/document/information-notice-5000-882227-issuance-technical-updates-sop-50-10-81

- NAGGL, "SBA Publishes SOP 50 10 8.1 with Technical Policy Updates" (September 25, 2026): https://www.naggl.org/sop-update-sba-publishes-sop-50-10-8-1-with-technical-policy-updates/

- Federal Reserve, FOMC statement (September 16, 2026): https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20260916a.htm

- CNBC, "Fed approves interest rate hike, signals one more to come this year" (September 16, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/fed-rate-decision-september-2026.html

- GF Data Q2 2026 M&A and Leverage Reports, via ACG (August 27, 2026): https://www.acg.org/news-trends/news/gf-data-reports-show-steady-middle-market-deal-flow-amid-more-selective

- IBBA and M&A Source, Market Pulse Survey Q2 2026 (August 25, 2026): https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-market-pulse-survey-q2-2026-reports-the-latest-trends-in-business-sales-up-to-50m-302858664.html

- BNY Wealth, Structuring the Sale, survey of 354 deal advisors conducted by The Harris Poll, via InvestmentNews (September 25, 2026): https://www.investmentnews.com/practice-management/private-business-owners-selling-now-are-often-unprepared-bny-survey-says/268367

Owners get burned when introductions go out before four answers are on paper: 1. Who owns the relationship after the intro? 2. What is each party responsible for? 3. How is everyone compensated if something real happens? 4. What happens if progress stops? Good intent is not commercial infrastructure. When social agreements get treated like process, three things tend to follow: - money shows up and memory gets creative; - nothing shows up and reputation was already spent; - or the path stalls and the owner is parked with no written way back to a decision. Operating standards from this episode: - Write the economics before the introductions. - Agree the floor before shared work or shared lists. - Protect the return path before a soft handoff. Owners do not need more introductions. They need introductions that can still produce a decision if the first path fails. Host: Ed Weeks Jr. Weeks Consulting Group https://edweeksjr.com

A business owner is deciding whether to sell his company or keep growing it.

But what if those aren't the only two choices?

In this episode of Weeks Weekly, Ed Weeks looks at the decision that should come before the transaction.

An owner might sell. But they might also bring in capital, recapitalize, acquire a competitor, build a management team, take some liquidity off the table—or simply keep the damn company.

The real question isn't "Should I sell?"

It's: What am I actually trying to accomplish, and which choices do I need to preserve to get there?

Ed also explores why financial reporting, owner dependency, access to capital and management depth aren't merely "exit readiness" issues. They determine how many good choices an owner has while they still own the business.

Plus, why the experience gap matters when a transaction finally does happen:

Most owners will do one major transaction in their lifetime. Everyone else at the table does this for a living.

Weeks Consulting Group works with established business owners navigating growth, acquisitions, capital, succession and M&A.

Better decisions for business owners.

Your best year in business might also be your most dangerous.

Revenue is up. Sales are strong. The backlog is full. You're hiring, buying equipment and taking on bigger customers.

So why is there less cash in the bank?

In this episode of Weeks Weekly with Ed Weeks Jr., Ed breaks down one of the most misunderstood problems in a growing business - growth consumes cash before it produces cash.

Using the example of a $5 million business growing toward $6 million, Ed explains how payroll, equipment, materials, receivables and customer payment terms can create a working-capital squeeze even while the income statement looks great.

You'll hear why owners should pay attention to:

• The cash conversion cycle • Working-capital requirements • Receivables and payment terms • Customer concentration • Margin quality • Owner dependency • The difference between growing revenue and growing business value

Because the real question isn't simply whether your company is getting bigger.

Is it becoming a better business — and is it creating more options for you as the owner?

Ed also explains why these issues matter long before you're thinking about selling. Lenders, investors, partners and eventual buyers all evaluate the quality of growth differently than an owner looking at top-line revenue.

Weeks Weekly with Ed Weeks Jr. is for owners of established $2M–$20M+ businesses navigating growth, capital, acquisitions, succession and M&A.

Most owners do one major deal. The other side does it for a living.

Not sure what your next move should be? Take the Business Optionality Assessment: edweeksjr.com/assessment

Weeks Consulting Group: edweeksjr.com

Weeks Weekly: weeksweekly.substack.com

Build a more valuable company. Create more options.

Thinking about what's next for your business? See what it's worth to a buyer with the free Exit Readiness Scorecard: edweeksjr.com/scorecard

Most founders selling a $2M to $20M business think the headline number on the page is the win. It isn't. The real money lives in the parts that come later: the earnout, the rolled equity, the so-called second bite. And later only pays if the business keeps performing after you've stopped running it the way only you knew how.

This week, Ed breaks down "the vacation tell," the pattern one acquirer noticed after buying up ten small companies and keeping the old owners on. About a year after each deal closed, those owners started taking the vacations they'd sworn for fifteen years they could never take. They weren't slacking. They'd exhaled. The weight was somebody else's now. As the buyer put it: they were cooked without telling me they were cooked.

Ed connects that to the brutal math nobody puts in front of you at closing. SRS Acquiom found that of all the earnout money that could have been paid out across a pile of recent deals, only about 21 percent actually was. One dentist hit 97 percent of her revenue targets and collected 60 percent of her earnout. Miss the line by a hair and the box stays shut, in a business you no longer control.

The trap is the cruel part: the exact engine that makes the back half of your deal pay at full power is the exact thing closing is designed to switch off. This episode is about seeing that clearly before you sign, and being honest about which version of the deal you're really walking into.

Inside this episode:

• Why the relief you feel at closing is a leading indicator your number is about to shrink
• The 21-cents-on-the-dollar reality of earnouts most advisors won't say to your face
• Why "sell, stay, and ride it out" is the riskiest plan, not the safest
• What founders actually want when they stop chasing top dollar
• The only homework that matters this week if you're 54 to 58 and quietly thinking about it

Legacy lasts longer than the wire transfer. Read the structure, not the headline.

This isn't legal or financial advice. Use your own counsel. Every deal is its own animal.

Ed Weeks Jr. is a buy-side M&A advisor and the principal of Weeks Consulting Group. Book an introductory call: https://calendly.com/ed-edweeksjr/introductory-call

Thinking about what's next for your business? See what it's worth to a buyer with the free Exit Readiness Scorecard: edweeksjr.com/scorecard

Two guys hated private equity so much they built the thing that hunts you. I got one of them on a call this week, and about ten minutes in he said something that rearranged how I think about founders, fear, and money.

This is the story of an operator who started a managed IT shop in 2010, built it customer by customer to 75 people and $12M a year, and kept getting the same call once a month: some firm he'd never heard of wanting to buy his life's work so they could "optimize" it. Most owners do one of two things with that fear. They ignore it, or they cave. He picked a third door. He became the buyer.

In this episode:

• The humility test: the one question to ask any buyer or capital partner, then shut up and listen
• Why "take the money, keep the controls" are two different products that come bundled, and how to buy them separately
• The vacation tell: the moment a seller checks out, even the ones who swear they're staying
• Operator vs checkbook, and why the best deals go to the most believable owner, not the highest bidder
• The second bite: why the quiet fortune is in the rollover, not the check at closing

Free essay (Weeks Weekly): https://substack.com/home/post/p-201129131 The 7 contract terms playbook (paid issue): https://substack.com/home/post/p-201436597

If this one lands, send it to one operator who needs to hear it. That's the whole marketing plan.

FIPO. Fuck it, press on.

Thinking about what's next for your business? See what it's worth to a buyer with the free Exit Readiness Scorecard: edweeksjr.com/scorecard

He runs a company most people would kill to own. Booming. Biggest contracts of his career. Over 150 people on the payroll. And the first thing he told me was, "I'm not for sale."

Then he spent twenty minutes explaining why he might have to be.

This week I break down a real call with a thirty-year operator getting strangled by his own success. His biggest customers stretched payment terms from 30 days to 90, so now he's funding every job out of his own pocket for 120 days before he sees a dollar. On a big project, that's five to ten million floating on his personal credit line. The business isn't failing. It's growing faster than the structure under it can carry.

Inside this episode:

• The 120-day cash trap quietly pushing healthy companies toward a sale
• The fork every operator hits: fund the growth, or position for an exit
• Why "I don't know my EBITDA" is a million-dollar mistake at the closing table
• Why a business that can't run without you is a job, not a company
• The three numbers to pull this week so you know exactly where you stand

Know your number. Know your options. Then press on. FIPO.

Booming on the outside but white-knuckling the cash inside? That's the exact fork I help operators sort out, in both directions. Grab time with me 👉 https://calendly.com/ed-edweeksjr/introductory-call