Clint Fiore·June 7, 2022

How to Get Good Deals from Business Brokers

This episode features Clint Fiore, president and founder of Texas Business Buyers, a Texas-based brokerage focused on main street to lower middle market deals ($500k–$15M enterprise value). Rather than an operator's acquisition story, this is an expert/advisor episode in which Clint shares the broker's perspective on working with searchers: what makes buyers credible (pre-secured financing, relationship with SBA lenders, clean NDA execution), common searcher mistakes (mass template emails, failing to look at broker websites first), and how to differentiate yourself. He explains why the anticipated 'silver tsunami' of baby boomer sellers hasn't materialized for searchers — most small businesses are owner-operated jobs with no transferable earnings — and argues that the $200k–$800k SDE band under $5M enterprise value is 'one of the last great asset classes not at bubble prices.' Clint also introduces his 'Probably a Good Deal' newsletter, a curated, capped pre-market deal flow service for serious buyers ($100/month, 250-member cap). Key tactical advice includes targeting brokers who specialize in your geography/industry, asking about pipeline deals not yet listed, and doing targeted multi-touch outreach to a short list of sellers rather than mass email blasts.

Deal facts

notes: No specific acquisition deal discussed. Guest is a broker/advisor, not a buyer-operator. Texas Business Buyers operates in the $500k–$15M deal range; average deal in the $1M–$5M enterprise value range. Guest mentions the SDE sweet spot of $200k–$800k for searchers, and notes that under-$5M enterprise value stays under the SBA loan threshold.

Why this business

Clint Fiore founded Texas Business Buyers after being a buyer and searcher himself, building the brokerage he wished had existed when he was looking — one that filters for quality, educates sellers on realistic valuations, and advocates for serious buyers.

What's working

Highly selective listing approach: turns away ~75% of prospective sellers who don't meet quality or valuation standards, resulting in a >90% closing rate vs. industry average of 20–30%
VIP early-notice list that gives serious buyers a ~1-week head start before deals hit public marketplaces like BizBuySell or Axial
Referral network from CPAs, lawyers, commercial real estate agents, and wealth managers drives most deal flow organically
Strong SEO and social media presence on Twitter (now X) generates inbound seller inquiries
'Probably a Good Deal' newsletter: a curated, capped-at-250 subscriber list ($100/month) offering pre-market deal flow from quality brokers nationwide

What's hard

Brokers are overwhelmed by volume of form-letter inquiries from searchers and have limited bandwidth for 'get to know you' calls
Finding the right buyer match is harder than it looks — even well-priced, quality deals can sit for months if the geography or industry doesn't match any active buyer
The 'silver tsunami' of retiring baby boomers rarely materializes as deal flow for searchers because the vast majority of small businesses are owner-operated jobs, not transferable assets with meaningful earnings
Seller psychology around valuation is almost universally over-optimistic; sellers rarely accept market pricing immediately and often need months of processing before returning to the table

Notable quotes

I view the under five million dollar deal as kind of like the premium main street little league or minor league play and then when you get up to above five million you're kind of in that institutional and strategic space where multiples generally start at five.

You're betting on yourself more than anything else. This business once you become the owner of the operator it's on you now. Whatever the historical P&Ls that you're basing your evaluation off of, they're gone, they're in the rearview mirror.

I think that two to 800k there's a sweet spot of they are selling in that two to four x range in many industries and that is in my opinion one of the last great asset classes of the United States that is not at bubble prices.

The tsunami of sellers — most of it's not even you don't even see the wave because it's under the surface of stuff that you would even consider. Most people that own businesses own a job, they do not own a transferable asset with proven historical earnings.