GROW SMARTER.
EXIT STRONGER.
Discover the practical guide that shows small and medium business owners how to strategically grow, improve valuation, and maximize exit price through mergers and acquisitions.
WHY Acquire before you exit?
When it's time to sell your business, will you be ready?
Most small and medium business owners work for years to build their companies — only to find, too late, that small businesses are undervalued and hard to sell.
Acquire Before You Exit gives you a proven, practical roadmap to grow smartly, build real enterprise value, and exit successfully — even in today's highly competitive market.
Whether you're planning to sell soon or just preparing for your future, this book will change the way you think about growth and exit planning forever.
What You'll Gain From Acquire Before You Exit
Build Immediate Acquisition Skills
Learn a step-by-step process to find, evaluate, and buy businesses that grow your company’s value — without wasting time, money, or getting buried in bad deals.
Grow Revenue and Profits Faster
Use smart acquisitions to expand product lines, customer bases, and geographic reach — accelerating top-line growth while boosting margins and operational efficiency.
Command a Higher Exit Price
Position your company to sell at the higher multiples buyers reserve for larger, professionally scaled businesses — not the lower multiples most SMBs settle for.
Craft Smarter Deal Structures
Unlock creative deal financing strategies that minimize cash outlay, reduce risk, and dramatically expand your growth potential — even if you think you can't afford acquisitions.
Strengthen Your Operations
Identify and fix operational gaps that hurt valuations — from management depth to systems automation — and build a resilient company that's ready for growth and integration.
Master Real World M&A Tools
Use ready-to-go templates, checklists, scripts, and examples included in the book to immediately improve your acquisition targeting, diligence, negotiation, and integration processes.
Confidently Navigate Valuations
Understand how buyers value companies — and how to engineer your own business's valuation drivers so you can exit on your timeline, not theirs.
Build a Powerful Deal Team
Know when to bring in attorneys, accountants, brokers, and advisors — and how to keep control of your deals without overspending or losing strategic focus.
Adopt the Acquisition Entrepreneur Mindset
Shift from running a small business to building a sellable enterprise — thinking like a true owner-operator who designs their future instead of leaving it to chance.
TESTIMONIALS
What others are saying
"Wonderful resource for business owners and M&A professionals alike."
"Love Ed’s insight on this strategy and the practical tips on execution. I would highly recommend this to any business owner, M&A professional, Investment Bankers, RIA’s etc. This book models the exact process of business acquisition."
- Nick Jenkins
"Maximizing Exit Value"
"While numerous publications address exit planning, strategy, and business sales, this offering focuses specifically on maximizing exit value through acquisitions. Going beyond competitor consolidation, it explores acquiring various companies, businesses, and enterprises that demonstrably enhance your firm's worth."
- Selim Yoruk
"An Entrepreneur's Must Read"
"This book is it! Acquire Before You Exit is both an incredibly helpful guide and tool kit for understanding how to grow your business through acquisition, giving you a timeline and a framework for your exit. Will be a book I continue to go back to for both reference and encouragement."
- Phil Rice
"The Practical Guide to Acquiring Businesses"
"Anyone considering an acquisition, whether as a seller or buyer needs to read this book. It will help anyone avoid the common pitfalls and allow for successful acquisitions."
- Samuel Baird
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meet Ed Gehres, Jr.
Ed Gehres, Jr. is a seasoned C-level executive and M&A attorney with over three decades of experience leading and advising businesses across a wide range of industries. Throughout his career, he has been involved in mergers and acquisitions deals totaling more than $3 billion in combined transaction value.
Beyond his transactional work, Ed has built successful educational and training programs for multiple organizations, with a focus on
systems, methodologies, practical applications, and organizational leadership. His insights are grounded in experience ranging from advising Fortune 10 corporations to helping early-stage startups and family-owned businesses.
Today, Ed specializes in assisting small and medium-sized businesses — the backbone of the economy — by bringing Fortune-level strategies down to a practical, accessible level for SMB owners.
His book, Acquire Before You Exit, was written specifically to help small and medium business owners who are struggling to find the right way to grow and sell their businesses. It combines easy-to-read narrative, real-world examples, and over 100 pages of practical tools and templates.
Acquire Before You Exit has even been adopted by an Am Law 100 M&A partner as part of the training curriculum for new associates learning how to conduct real-world mergers and acquisitions work — a testament to its clarity, practicality, and power.
Own the Blueprint for Your Maximum Exit
Today at a Special Price
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"Great resource!"
"This book presents a comprehensive roadmap for small and medium-sized businesses seeking to leverage mergers and acquisitions to achieve strategic growth and enhance their valuation! This also delivers its promise, providing readers with a treasure trove of practical wisdom and actionable insights. Great resource! -- Van V.
Take Your Knowledge Further
Live and On-Demand
Want even more practical training based on Acquire Before You Exit?
Explore upcoming webinars and workshops designed to help you implement these strategies in your own business.
Upcoming Webinars and Workshops
For Business Owners
The Golden Goose Workshop
MAY 16, 2025 - 9 AM PACIFIC TIME
Your business won't sell. At least that is what the statistics say. Join Ed Gehres, author of Acquire Before You Exit, to understand the problem and how it affects you.
In this workshop, you'll learn how to diagnose your company, understand who the buyers are and what they want, and learn how to put together an action plan to sell your business successfully!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER - SEATS ARE LIMITED - EARLY REGISTRATION IS RECOMMENDED.
Business Lipstick Workshop
DATE NOT YET SET
Your business may not be sellable for reasons that can be quickly and easily fixed. You may not need a huge overhaul or expensive consultants, you might just need some "business lipstick".
Join the author of Acquire Before You Exit for a fun workshop to review the various buyer criteria and learn how you might be able to apply the right kind of lipstick to make your business attractive to the right buyer.
The "Buy Me Now" Cooking Class
DATE NOT YET SET
Do you know how the deal for your business will be structured? Do you understand third party financing, possible down payment structures, seller notes, earn outs, consulting or services agreements?
In this workshop with Ed Gehres, author of Acquire Before You Exit, we'll cover some of the most common payment terms in buyouts of small and medium businesses so you are prepared to cook up the right recipe for the right buyer to "Buy Me Now".
For Educators
Teaching the $84 Trillion Dollar Opportunity Law Student Workshop
MAY 9, 2025 - 9 AM PACIFIC TIME
There is an $84 trillion dollar generational wealth transfer underway right now. Over $14T of that will be transferred in the form of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). Lawyers are critical players in these deals, but many of them are unprepared to handle it.
In this workshop with author and M&A business attorney Ed Gehres, law school educators will get a done-for-you course curriculum to teach law students how to handle M&A work for SMBs.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER - SEATS ARE LIMITED - EARLY REGISTRATION IS RECOMMENDED.
Teaching the $84 Trillion Dollar Opportunity Business School Student Workshop
DATE NOT SET YET
There is an $84 trillion dollar generational wealth transfer underway right now. Over $14T of that will be transferred in the form of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). Business advisors, consultants, accountants, and brokers are critical players in these deals, but many of them are unprepared to handle it.
In this workshop with author and M&A business attorney Ed Gehres, business school educators will get a done-for-you course curriculum to teach MBA students how to handle M&A work for SMBs.
For Professionals
M&A Certification Programs Coming Soon!
DATES NOT YET SET
Stay tuned for more information on a certification program for SMB M&A professionals to get certified on the various aspects of the M&A process for SMBs.
Want to know more? Send us a note...
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