Buying or Selling a Business

Clarity and confidence for every stage of a business transition

Whether you’re preparing to exit, stepping into ownership, or navigating the middle of a transition, Good Apple offers structured support to help you understand the numbers, strengthen operations, reduce risk, and move forward with confidence.

Our team includes CEPA-certified advisors, experienced operators, and business management specialists who guide you through the practical, financial, and operational realities of buying or selling a small business.

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Two ways we support business transitions

  • Four young men in an office meeting room with exposed brick walls. One man is standing and speaking near a whiteboard with sticky notes, while the other three are seated, listening and using laptops.

    Exit Planning

    A structured process to prepare your business for sale within 12 to 36 months.


    • Improve valuation
    • Strengthen financial reporting
    • Clean up contracts and systems
    • Reduce key risks
    • Increase transferability
    • Develop a transition roadmap

    Explore Exit Planning
  • Two people shaking hands during a meeting or agreement, with one person holding a folder.

    Brokerage Services

    Hands-on representation and guidance throughout the buying or selling process.


    • Buy-side and sell-side support
    • Due diligence assistance
    • Business evaluation and readiness
    • Buyer qualification
    • Listing preparation and marketing
    • Deal structure support
    • Transition planning

    Explore Brokerage Services

OUR APPROACH TO BUYING & SELLING

At Good Apple, we believe business transitions should set both parties up for long-term success.

We’re motivated by outcomes where sellers feel confident in who they’re handing their business to and buyers step into ownership with clarity, support, and a realistic understanding of what comes next. That means looking beyond price alone and paying attention to people, systems, and the practical realities of operating the business after the deal closes.

Our approach emphasizes preparation, transparency, and integration so transitions are less disruptive and more durable for everyone involved.

Brokerage Services

When you’re ready to move forward with a sale or acquisition, Good Apple provides hands-on, full-cycle brokerage support. Our approach emphasizes clarity, strategy, and protecting both parties throughout the process.

We work with sellers who want a thoughtful, well-prepared transition and buyers who want to understand the full operational picture before making a major investment.

  •  • Opportunity evaluation
    • Due diligence assistance
    • Financial + operational review
    • Integration planning
    • Early-stage ownership guidance
    • Support during the first 90 days

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  •  • Business evaluation + readiness
    • Pricing insights
    • Listing preparation + materials
    • Buyer qualification
    • Deal structuring guidance
    • Coordination with advisors (CPA, attorney)
    • Operational handoff planning
    • Post-sale transition support

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Explore Brokerage Further

Exit Planning for owners preparing to sell

Exit Planning helps you prepare your business for a successful transition well before you list it. Using the Smart Business Framework, we assess your business across all five domains to identify valuation risks and opportunities.

Exit Planning includes:
 • Exit readiness assessment
• Financial normalization and reporting cleanup
• Contract and systems cleanup
• Value-building improvements
• Operational strengthening
• People structure and role clarity
• Risk reduction initiatives
• A transition roadmap
• Recommendations for timing and next steps
• Introduction to Brokerage Services

Learn More About Exit Planning

Integration Support

Whether you’re taking over a business or handing one off, the transition period matters. Good Apple provides optional, scoped project support to strengthen early-stage ownership, stabilize systems, and ensure nothing gets lost in the handoff.

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  •  • Process mapping and documentation
    • System design & setup
    • Role clarity & team communication
    • Financial reporting setup
    • Owner transition workflows
    • Operational cleanup
    • SOP development

View Project Options
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Why founders trust Good Apple with business transitions

• CEPA-certified advisory oversight
• Integrated operational, financial, and people-system support
• Ongoing coordination through complexity and change
• Alignment across accounting, legal, and advisory partners
• Strategy carried through to implementation
• Balanced assessment of risk and opportunity
• A structured roadmap from preparation to final transition

Meet the team

  • Most businesses benefit from 12–36 months of preparation. We can help you understand your current readiness.

    Sometimes life circumstances don’t wait for you to be ready. If you’ve got urgency, we can talk about accelerated solutions.

    Schedule a consult to discuss your situation!

  • Not always, but all sellers benefit from strengthening valuation and reducing risk before going to market, if you’ve got the time.

    Good Apple manages a select portfolio of market-ready businesses, so we’ll likely want to do some planning first!

  • We work with both buy-side and sell-side clients.

    We generally represent one side of a transaction at a time, with a clearly defined role and scope.

    This clarity allows us to provide focused guidance and reduces confusion as decisions are made throughout the process.

    In some situations, particularly when interests are already well aligned and the work centers on deal structure, transition planning, and operational continuity, we may support both parties in a facilitated or brokered role.

    In those cases, our responsibility is to the integrity of the process rather than advocacy for either side. Roles, boundaries, and expectations are made explicit, and legal and financial advisors remain responsible for formal representation.

    Depending on the nature of our engagement, we may work in a coordinated way to help both parties arrive at deal terms and transition arrangements that are workable, durable, and aligned with long-term success.

  • Absolutely. We offer integration projects to help new owners stabilize operations and full-service retainers at a variety of engagement levels.

    Either solution (or a combination of both) could be a great fit!

  • We work with small and mid-sized privately held companies, across many industries.

    Pricing and scope of our engagements are based on the complexity, maturity, and structure of each unique business.

    Schedule a consult if you have specific questions!

FAQs

Let’s talk about your next chapter.

Whether you’re buying, selling, or exploring your options, we’ll help you understand your readiness, evaluate opportunities, and choose the path that makes the most sense for you.

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