Selling Your Business: Here’s What We’d Tell a Friend
Selling your business is one of the biggest personal and financial decisions you’ll ever make – and in all likelihood, you’ll only do it once. So how do you set yourself up for success? Our recommendation is to clarify what’s most important to you and develop the questions that will help you narrow in on the right buyer for your business.
Our goal is to provoke you to think through the options that exist, and call out a few things to look out for along the way.
When it comes to selling a business in home services, private equity is in the room. Even if the buyer on the other end of the phone doesn’t have “private equity” in the name, there’s a good chance a PE firm is behind them. They aren’t the only buyers out there – but they’re worth understanding when you’re making a decision this big. And before you can evaluate any buyer, you need to understand that not all of them are the same.
Not All Buyers Are the Same
The buyer who cold-calls you and the one your industry peer can’t stop talking about could be completely different animals. Five things that can separate them:
1) Track record. Have they operated in your trade or at your business’s size? Have they grown businesses like yours before? This matters most for the employees who stay with the business, including you. A buyer with a real track record will talk about it openly, in detail, and let you verify it. One without a track record will talk about their plans and ideas.
2) People and culture. Who will you be working with day-to-day after close, and how often? Are they hands-on or more passive? Is it the same deal team that executes the acquisition, or is there a team (or person) who gets involved after close? This is where trust gets built – these are the people responsible for carrying your legacy forward. Ask what the first 90 days look like. The answer tells you who gets involved, how decisions get made now that there isn’t a sole owner, and whether they see your people as the asset they’re buying or a cost line. You’re evaluating teams as much as you’re evaluating terms.
3) Funding. Where is the money coming from? Some buyers strike a deal first and go raise the money after. Strategic acquirers may have cash on the balance sheet. Established PE funds have already raised committed capital for acquisitions like yours – and fund sizes range from tens of millions to tens of billions. Most of this is findable with an hour of desktop research. It’s worth the hour: a buyer scrambling for financing brings risk to your closing, and a buyer under financial pressure tends to pass that pressure on to you. A well-capitalized one doesn’t need your deal to close on any timeline – which usually makes for a better process and a better partner.
4) Ownership stake. Will you keep a piece of the business or fully cash out? Some deals let you “roll” equity and participate in future upside – sometimes called a “second bite of the apple.” That often comes with an intense post-close role. Others offer a clean exit, usually with a transition period so you’re not gone day one, but retirement is on the horizon. There’s no right answer – just spend the time deciding what you want.
Food for thought: if you haven’t had a boss in 10+ years you may want to consider what that structure will be like for you if you stay with the business after close.
5) Deal structure. What’s the mix of cash at close, deferred proceeds, and holdbacks? There are industry norms on holdbacks, but structure often boils down to buyer preference. When do you get paid and how much? 100% of the money won’t hit your bank account at close so make sure you understand the details – what’s being held back and why, when will the rest of the proceeds come through and what’s in your control vs. timing related.
Owner tip: Ask for two references – one they choose, one you choose. Talk to a success story and ask to be connected with someone who hit a rough patch. How a buyer behaves when things are hard tells you more than anything they’ll say in a pitch.
It’s easy to be skeptical when you start having conversations with buyers. You’re about to hand over something you built to someone you’re just getting to know. But when you’re focused only on what could go wrong, you spend less time thinking about what’s really possible.
The Upsides
• Liquidity and diversification. For most owners, the vast majority of your net worth is tied up in one place. A sale lets you take real money off the table and diversify your financial picture. That breathing room matters, regardless of what else the deal looks like.
• Capital and resources to grow. More capital means doing the things you’ve wanted to do for your business for years but didn’t want to take on the risk – improvements like a better technology stack, new locations, stronger marketing, key hires you couldn’t justify yet. With the right partner, you can move faster and go further than you could on your own.
• A stronger foundation for your team. The right partner can bring better benefits, clearer career paths, and more stability for your people. For owners who care deeply about the team they built, this is often one of the most meaningful parts of a well-run deal.
• A real path to scale. Some owners have hit a ceiling – not because the business isn’t strong, but because growth requires capital, infrastructure, or capabilities that are hard to build alone. The right buyer opens doors (and windows) that would otherwise stay closed.
A buyer should feel like a partner, and that means being straight with you – including about the parts that aren’t so great.
The Trade-Offs
• Control changes. In a majority sale, final decision-making authority typically moves to the new owner. Expect budgets and a regular reporting cadence. These are meant to drive accountability and improve the business over time – but any change takes adjustment after years of running things your way.
• Culture and process change. New systems, new faces, and new ways of doing things can be disruptive. The best buyers manage this carefully and at the right pace, keeping what’s working and augmenting where you need help. The less successful ones move too fast and lose the people who made the business worth buying. Change after a transaction is inevitable, planned or not.
• More pressure on performance. Buyers view their acquisitions as investments, and the primary way they make money is by eventually selling to another buyer. That creates urgency around growth and profitability. For the right team and culture, this is exciting, but it may not be for everyone.
• The “second bite” isn’t guaranteed. If you’re rolling equity for a second bite of the apple, that value is only realized if the next sale happens at a good price, in a good market, and on a timeline the buyer controls, not you. Sometimes the next exit is bigger than the first. Sometimes it’s smaller, delayed, or to a buyer you wouldn’t have picked. Ask what their last few exits looked like for rollover shareholders.
Closing Thought
It may never feel like the right time to sell your business, and there’s no formula for knowing exactly when you should. One of our partners once said: “I’d rather choose my offramp than have it choose me.”
When done well, selling can de-risk your financial life, lift your team, give more to your customers, and give your business the fuel to become something bigger than you could have built alone. Done poorly, it can leave you watching someone else run the thing you built – on their terms, not yours.
Get clear on what you want. Test buyers. Choose the people you’ll still want in your life a year after the deal closes. And follow one simple rule: you can’t do a good deal with a bad person.
Curious what partnering with Mosaic could look like for your business?
If you're considering a sale, our team at Mosaic Service Partners can walk you through what to expect and how to get started. To learn more, email brian.dunlap@mosaicservicepartners.com.
About Mosaic Service Partners
Mosaic Service Partners is a national platform backed by Alpine Investors that partners with exceptional residential window and door replacement providers across the United States. The platform helps regional businesses scale by investing in technology, expanding marketing and sales capabilities, and attracting and developing top talent. Guided by a people-first philosophy, Mosaic supports its partners in delivering exceptional service to homeowners while building enduring, market-leading businesses. For more information, visit mosaicservicepartners.com.
About Alpine Investors
Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm committed to building enduring companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine specializes in investments in companies in the software and services industries. Its PeopleFirst™ strategy includes a talent program that allows Alpine to bring leadership to situations where additional or new management is needed post-transaction. For more information, visit alpineinvestors.com.
Media Contact
Mosaic Service Partners: Amanda Greenberg ag@mosaicservicepartners.com