The Deal Verdict
Before the LOI, get the answers that matter.
You’ve signed the NDA. You’ve read the CIM until you know it by heart. This is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make, and right now the only account of this business is the one written by the person selling it. Get an independent read from someone who’s spent a career judging deals like this one, so you can move on it with real conviction, or walk away clean.
A good CIM isn’t a good deal.
You’ve read it enough times to recite it. It’s clean, organized, and makes a good case for itself. That’s not an accident. Whoever built it built it to get you to exactly this moment.
The real question isn’t whether the CIM tells a good story. It’s whether the story holds up. A profitable business can still run entirely on the owner who’s about to hand you the keys. Its best customers can be three accounts away from a very different set of numbers next year. And the price on the cover page can already sit above what an independent read would support.
None of that shows up on a first read. It shows up on the second one, done by someone whose job is to find it.
The search that brought you here can run a thousand hours. Every one of them went into locating a business. None went into knowing whether this one is worth what they’re asking.
Right now, you’re making one of the largest financial decisions of your life on one source: the seller’s own account of the business. Get the wrong one and you find out three months and real money into due diligence, after the mistake was already made. Get cold feet on a good one and someone else closes it while you’re still deciding.
What changes that isn’t more time with the CIM. It’s someone on your side of it, and nobody else’s, who rebuilds the numbers, tests the story against what actually holds up, and tells you straight whether this is a good business at a fair price, or whether the thing holding you back is the deal itself.
The read the CIM can’t give you.
You get this two ways: a written analysis of everything the CIM and your materials show, and an hour with Lloyd to go through what it means for you. He works from what you can put in front of him — the CIM, financials, whatever the seller’s shared so far.
- The real numbers
- The CIM’s financials, rebuilt to show what the business actually earns once you strip out the owner’s perks and the one-time costs that show up in every seller’s version of the story.
- What it depends on
- How much of this business is really the owner walking out the door, how its customers and revenue hold together without him, and what changes on day one under new ownership.
- How it stacks up
- Where this business sits against others in its industry, on independent data, not the seller’s framing.
- What should give you pause
- The specific risks in this deal, named plainly: customer concentration, a number that doesn’t hold up, anything the CIM talks around.
- What to ask before you go further
- A direct list of questions for the seller, built to surface what the CIM doesn’t say.
- An opinion of value
- A professional read on what the business is actually worth, and whether the asking price reflects it.
- A written report
- Everything above, in one document you keep and can hand to your lender or your attorney.
- An hour with Lloyd
- Time to go through all of it and get a straight answer to whatever you’re still weighing.
Four steps. One verdict.
- 1
Send what you have
One form: upload the CIM and anything else you’ve received, and tell Lloyd what you know about the deal so far.
- 2
Start the review
Once you submit, you get a link to start your verdict and complete the $2,500. It’s on the confirmation page and in your inbox. Lloyd begins as soon as it clears.
- 3
Get your verdict
Your written report arrives within 48 business hours, with a link to book your hour with Lloyd.
- 4
Talk it through
Book the call whenever works for you, and go through the whole thing together, question by question.
If what you’ve sent isn’t enough for Lloyd to reach a real verdict, he tells you, and refunds the full $2,500.
$2,500
One deal. One verdict.
The full analysis, the written report, and your hour with Lloyd.
If what you send isn’t enough for a real verdict, you get the full $2,500 back.
If the price doesn’t hold up, a grounded opinion of value gives you real leverage — to talk the number down, or to hold it steady and change the terms instead. If something more fundamental is wrong with the deal, you find out now, from what’s already in front of you, not three months and a lot more money into due diligence. Set against either one, $2,500 is a small cost for a straight answer.
Is this the right read for your deal?
You’ve got a live deal
You’ve signed the NDA and you’re holding a CIM on one specific business.
It’s in range
The deal runs up to roughly $2.5M in enterprise value.
You’re still deciding
You’re weighing whether to make an offer, not managing full due diligence on one you’ve already committed to. Once you’ve signed an LOI (a letter of intent), that’s a separate, deeper engagement. The Deal Verdict is built for the decision that comes before it.
You want the read before the risk
An independent, expert opinion while you can still walk away clean.
Looking at a larger deal, or want an advisor with you through negotiation and closing? That’s a different kind of engagement.
See the buyer pathsStill searching for the right business to acquire, rather than deciding on one you’ve already found? Buy-Side Advisory is built for that search.
Explore Buy-Side AdvisoryWhy Lloyd
The only person in this deal working for you.
Right now, everyone else in this deal has a stake in you saying yes. The seller wants to close, and so does anyone helping them sell. You’re the only one in it without someone whose job is to look out for you, until you bring one in.
Lloyd Silver, CFA, has spent his career analyzing businesses like the one in your CIM and judging what they’re actually worth. As a CFA charterholder, he does the financial analysis that shows what a business earns and what it’s genuinely worth, not what a selling document claims.
He’s also a Certified Business Intermediary who has been involved in hundreds of closed transactions on both the buy side and the sell side. That’s the other half of a good read: not just what the numbers say, but how deals like this one actually get priced, where they tend to fall apart, and what a fair one looks like.
And he’s sat where you’re sitting. Over two decades running his own companies, Lloyd has personally bought and sold businesses as a principal, with his own money on the line. He knows this decision from the inside, not just from an analyst’s seat.
From buyers he’s worked with
The read that changed the call.
“What stuck with me was his discipline around walking away: knowing which deals to pursue, which to pass on, and how to pressure-test the assumptions buyers most often miss.”
“He has an expert understanding in evaluating a company’s financials as well as valuing a business.”
Dan Sullivan“Having insights from both the buy side and sell side of transactions, Lloyd’s expertise is unique and incredibly valuable.”
Karunn Shahani“He has a way of asking just the right direct question at the right time to unlock or shift my perspective on particular deals or entire industries.”
Ellie Price“He is deeply knowledgeable on all things SMB acquisitions… he’s just a great human.”
Houston JohnsonGet an independent read before you decide.
Get my verdictBefore you send it
Questions buyers ask
What comes up most before a buyer sends a deal in for a verdict.
- When do I pay, and what if you can’t reach a verdict?
After you submit, you’ll get a link to start your verdict and complete the $2,500: one on the confirmation page, the other in your email. Lloyd begins the review as soon as it clears.
If what you send isn’t enough for Lloyd to reach a real verdict, he’ll tell you and refund the full $2,500.
- Is $2,500 the whole cost?
Yes. Flat and all-in: the analysis, the written report, and the hour with Lloyd. Nothing contingent, no success fee, no add-ons.
- What happens if I don’t pay?
Nothing’s charged, and the review doesn’t start until you do. The link to complete the $2,500 is right there in your confirmation email whenever you’re ready — it doesn’t expire.
- How fast will I get it?
Within 48 business hours of your payment clearing, you’ll have the written report in hand.
- What do I need to send?
Send the CIM plus whatever else you’ve received — financials, the seller’s answers, anything you’re holding. Lloyd works with what you have. If something essential is missing, he won’t guess at a verdict. He’ll refund you instead.
- Is this a formal business appraisal?
No. It’s an opinion of value: an independent, professional read on what the business is worth and whether the asking price reflects it.
That’s different from a certified appraisal. This is built to inform your decision, not to serve as a formal valuation document.
- What if the verdict is to walk away?
Then it did exactly what you paid it to do. A clear no now, before you sign anything, is worth a lot more than the fee — it keeps you out of a bad deal.
- Will Lloyd do the analysis himself?
Yes. Lloyd does the analysis and the call himself — not a junior analyst, not a handoff.
- What if my deal is bigger, or I want someone with me through closing?
If your deal is roughly $2.5M or under and you’re still deciding whether to offer, this is built for you. Above that, or if you want an advisor beside you through negotiation and closing, tell us about your situation and we’ll point you to the right fit.
- Is what I send confidential?
Yes. What you send stays between you and Lloyd.
Send the deal. Start your verdict.
You already did the hard part. You found a deal worth a serious look. Upload the CIM and whatever else you’ve received, tell Lloyd about the deal, and answer a few short questions about how you’re approaching it. Submit, and you’ll get a link to start your verdict and complete the $2,500 — Lloyd begins as soon as it clears, and your written report follows within 48 business hours of your payment clearing.
What you send stays between you and Lloyd.