Four Differentiators that make Catchfire the informed choice

Anyone who is faced with a critical business decision knows the first step is the most important step – and that step is “do your homework!”   Of course, business owners, especially truly successful business owners, may scoff at that statement because doing their homework is what got them to where they are today, helping them make informed decisions while minimizing risk.  What else is there to know? 

When it comes to selling your business choosing the right broker can have a material impact on have a material impact on getting the maximum value for your business or less than full value.

Catchfire’s Four Guiding Principles for Success 

Anonymous Representation 

Selling a business is a big deal.  We’re not just talking about the ultimate transaction in your business’s lifecycle.  It’s a big deal to your business and your people. Our team goes to the greatest lengths to protect our clients’ anonymity throughout the selling process.

Why is this important? Imagine senior management trying to come to grips with the fact the company might have a new owner soon, or employees hearing that a change is coming without understanding what this might mean for their future.  Rumors and whispers could affect the customer base. As they catch wind that the business is going to change hands, they may start looking for other suppliers. Many deals come close, then fall through.  Why disrupt your operation if nothing will come from it?  Our commitment to anonymous representation mitigates this risk.  Your name will only be known when three conditions are met:  We have pre-qualified the prospect; they have executed a Nondisclosure Agreement; and our Client has given us express permission to share their name. Anonymous representation applies whether we are doing buyer representation or seller representation.    Keeping buyers anonymous can help prevent sellers from raising their prices or possibly choosing to refuse to work with a buyer due to reputation or other prejudices. It also prevents our Clients from getting called by many businesses who don’t come close to fitting their search criteria – the time wasters.

Alignment of Interests 

Another principle we adhere to has us align our interests with those of our Clients.     Our fees always have a large success-based component – we do better when our Clients do better, and we get paid when our Clients execute a transaction.  For sellers that means we get paid most of our fees when they get paid, and for buyers it means we get paid most of our fees when they have successfully acquired a company.  We are willing to bet on our ability to deliver what we promise to, and have structured our fees to reflect our confidence in getting deals done.

Success in our History 

Walk in to our office and shake our hands. Who are you really meeting? You’re meeting a brokerage team that has done the work, walked the walk, and been in your shoes. We can guide buyers and sellers through the process because we have gone through it ourselves, each of us having bought, sold, restructured, financed, owned, and operated our own businesses. This is the real world – our world – and our real-life experience is second to none in the industry, and why we have the multi-million-dollar track record of business acquisitions mergers and financing projects we do.  We have successfully bought and sold businesses in manufacturing, business services, foodservice and hospitality, agriculture, food processing, technology, life sciences and more. 

As you are the expert in business operations – because it’s what you have perfected over the years, we are experts in navigating the murky waters of buying or selling a business.  These are complicated and often emotional processes, with hundreds of details and high levels of nuance and negotiation.  Because of our direct experience we can smooth the journey for you, mitigate risk, save you time, and improve your likelihood of success. 

Staying On Target  

Our systems and processes reflect our sense of urgency in getting transactions done.  While some brokers fish, we prefer to hunt.  Rather than hoping that the right buyers and sellers “meet up” through us, we conduct active, targeted and researched searches to find appropriate matches.  Our research team has developed proprietary processes and expertise in researching, finding, communicating with and pre-qualifying prospects across Canada, the United States, and around the world.  Our outreach generates more interest, higher offers, and faster sales times, than an advertise-and-wait strategy. 

Once we find an interested party we stay engaged, implement, and facilitate the process, and guide the transactions through to a successful transaction. 

 Our results speak for themselves.