{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dataset",
  "@id": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline#dataset",
  "name": "Main Street Business Sale Timeline Benchmarks",
  "description": "Duration bands per phase of a Main Street business sale, segmented by preparation quality. Includes what eats the clock and where deals typically stall for each phase.",
  "url": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "datePublished": "2026-09-03",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-03",
  "isAccessibleForFree": true,
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "keywords": [
    "business sale timeline",
    "how long does selling a business take",
    "business closing timeline",
    "M&A phase duration",
    "days to close small business"
  ],
  "spatialCoverage": {
    "@type": "Place",
    "name": "United States. Main Street private-target M&A (roughly sub-$5M revenue). Excludes cross-border deals, distressed sales, and public-company acquisitions."
  },
  "temporalCoverage": "2025-01-01/2026-09-30",
  "creator": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your Exit Path (yourexitpath.com)",
    "url": "https://yourexitpath.com/data"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your Exit Path (yourexitpath.com)",
    "url": "https://yourexitpath.com/data"
  },
  "methodology": "Ranges represent typical P25–P75 bands aggregated across public quarterly reports (IBBA Market Pulse, BizBuySell Insight Report) for the 2025–Q3 2026 window in the Main Street sub-$5M-revenue segment. This is a synthesis of publicly-available industry data, not proprietary research. Every row declares which primary sources most directly cover its data via the `sources` field. Multiples assume clean books, three years of accrual-basis financials, and no material owner-dependency concentration.",
  "citation": "Business Sale Timeline Benchmarks (Your Exit Path, 2026). Retrieved from https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline. Licensed CC BY 4.0.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "key": "ibba",
      "name": "IBBA Market Pulse (quarterly)",
      "publisher": "International Business Brokers Association",
      "url": "https://www.ibba.org/resource-center/industry-research/",
      "description": "Quarterly practitioner survey covering deal activity, multiples, and terms across Main Street and lower-middle-market segments."
    },
    {
      "key": "bizbuysell",
      "name": "BizBuySell Insight Report (quarterly)",
      "publisher": "BizBuySell",
      "url": "https://www.bizbuysell.com/insight-report/",
      "description": "Quarterly report aggregating listing- and closing-data across BizBuySell's marketplace. Covers median sale price, revenue, SDE, cash flow, and days-on-market by industry and geography."
    },
    {
      "key": "aba-deal-point",
      "name": "ABA M&A Committee Deal Point Studies",
      "publisher": "American Bar Association",
      "url": "https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/committees/ma/",
      "description": "Empirical study of legal deal terms (cash-at-close, seller notes, earn-outs, indemnification caps) in private-target M&A transactions."
    },
    {
      "key": "sba-7a",
      "name": "SBA 7(a) Loan Program public data",
      "publisher": "U.S. Small Business Administration",
      "url": "https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/7a-loans",
      "description": "Program data + Standard Operating Procedures for SBA-guaranteed acquisition financing. Public loan-level data on 7(a) volumes by year, size, and NAICS."
    },
    {
      "key": "epi",
      "name": "Exit Planning Institute — State of Owner Readiness",
      "publisher": "Exit Planning Institute",
      "url": "https://exit-planning-institute.org/state-of-owner-readiness/",
      "description": "Longitudinal survey of owner readiness across the pre-exit population — captures prep-quality distribution, planning horizons, and post-close outcomes."
    },
    {
      "key": "axial",
      "name": "Axial Behavioral Index + LMM deal-flow reports",
      "publisher": "Axial",
      "url": "https://www.axial.net/",
      "description": "Deal-flow marketplace covering lower-middle-market processes. Publishes quarterly recap of buyer-side activity by industry."
    },
    {
      "key": "preqin",
      "name": "Preqin private-capital dry-powder data",
      "publisher": "Preqin",
      "url": "https://www.preqin.com/",
      "description": "Publicly-summarized data on private-equity fund overhangs and dry-powder totals — the supply side of the Main Street roll-up market."
    },
    {
      "key": "aicpa",
      "name": "AICPA — Quality of Earnings guidance",
      "publisher": "American Institute of CPAs",
      "url": "https://www.aicpa-cima.com/",
      "description": "Practice guidance on Quality of Earnings scope and methodology for private-target due diligence."
    },
    {
      "key": "value-builder",
      "name": "Value Builder System — 8 drivers of company value",
      "publisher": "Value Builder Software Inc.",
      "url": "https://valuebuildersystem.com/",
      "description": "Third-party framework and dataset covering the eight quantifiable drivers of exit multiple within an industry range."
    }
  ],
  "columns": [
    {
      "name": "slug",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Machine identifier for the phase row."
    },
    {
      "name": "phaseNumber",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Phase position in the standard engagement (1 through 5)."
    },
    {
      "name": "phase",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Human-readable phase name."
    },
    {
      "name": "description",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "One-sentence description of the phase's activities."
    },
    {
      "name": "durationExcellentPrepWeeksLow",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Lower bound of the phase duration in weeks under excellent-prep conditions (seller-side QoE done, accrual books, consents inventoried)."
    },
    {
      "name": "durationExcellentPrepWeeksHigh",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Upper bound of the phase duration in weeks under excellent-prep."
    },
    {
      "name": "durationAveragePrepWeeksLow",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Lower bound in weeks under average-prep conditions (books cleaned up during phase 1; standard consent flow)."
    },
    {
      "name": "durationAveragePrepWeeksHigh",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Upper bound in weeks under average-prep."
    },
    {
      "name": "durationPoorPrepWeeksLow",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Lower bound in weeks under poor-prep conditions (cash-basis books, undocumented add-backs, no consent inventory)."
    },
    {
      "name": "durationPoorPrepWeeksHigh",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Upper bound in weeks under poor-prep."
    },
    {
      "name": "primaryClockEaters",
      "type": "string[]",
      "description": "Top activities that consume most of the phase's clock time."
    },
    {
      "name": "primaryStallCauses",
      "type": "string[]",
      "description": "Common causes of deals stalling in this phase."
    },
    {
      "name": "sources",
      "type": "string[]",
      "description": "Primary source keys most directly covering this row. Cross-reference `sources` at the top of the payload."
    }
  ],
  "distribution": [
    {
      "@type": "DataDownload",
      "encodingFormat": "text/csv",
      "contentUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline/data.csv"
    },
    {
      "@type": "DataDownload",
      "encodingFormat": "application/json",
      "contentUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline/data.json"
    },
    {
      "@type": "DataDownload",
      "encodingFormat": "image/svg+xml",
      "contentUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline/infographic.svg"
    }
  ],
  "recordCount": 5,
  "totals": {
    "excellentPrep": {
      "weeksLow": 18,
      "weeksHigh": 32,
      "monthsLow": 4.1,
      "monthsHigh": 7.4
    },
    "averagePrep": {
      "weeksLow": 25,
      "weeksHigh": 47,
      "monthsLow": 5.8,
      "monthsHigh": 10.8
    },
    "poorPrep": {
      "weeksLow": 48,
      "weeksHigh": 96,
      "monthsLow": 11,
      "monthsHigh": 22.1
    }
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "slug": "pre-market-prep",
      "phaseNumber": 1,
      "phase": "Pre-market preparation",
      "description": "Financials to accrual basis + documented add-back schedule + broker engagement + CIM drafted.",
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksLow": 2,
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksHigh": 4,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksLow": 4,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksHigh": 8,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksLow": 12,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksHigh": 24,
      "primaryClockEaters": [
        "Cash-basis to accrual conversion",
        "Broker interview + selection cycle",
        "CIM drafting + review"
      ],
      "primaryStallCauses": [
        "Books materially messier than the seller believed",
        "Owner disagreements over add-back schedule"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "ibba",
        "aicpa",
        "value-builder"
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "confidential-marketing",
      "phaseNumber": 2,
      "phase": "Confidential marketing",
      "description": "Blind teaser distribution to buyer channels + NDA execution + qualified-buyer screening calls.",
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksLow": 4,
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksHigh": 8,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksLow": 6,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksHigh": 12,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksLow": 10,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksHigh": 20,
      "primaryClockEaters": [
        "Buyer outreach + response window",
        "NDA execution round-trips",
        "Initial screening calls"
      ],
      "primaryStallCauses": [
        "Under-qualified buyer pool wastes multiple weeks",
        "Confidentiality leak forces a pause"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "ibba",
        "bizbuysell",
        "axial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "meetings-loi",
      "phaseNumber": 3,
      "phase": "Management meetings + LOI negotiation",
      "description": "Management presentations + site visits + LOI solicitation + exclusivity negotiation.",
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksLow": 3,
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksHigh": 6,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksLow": 4,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksHigh": 8,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksLow": 8,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksHigh": 16,
      "primaryClockEaters": [
        "Management presentations across 3-5 buyers",
        "LOI round-trip cycles",
        "Exclusivity term negotiation"
      ],
      "primaryStallCauses": [
        "Buyer discovers deal-killing issue in management presentation",
        "Seller cold feet before LOI signature"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "ibba",
        "aba-deal-point"
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "diligence-definitive-agreement",
      "phaseNumber": 4,
      "phase": "Diligence + definitive agreement",
      "description": "Quality of Earnings + legal diligence + assignment consents + purchase-agreement negotiation.",
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksLow": 8,
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksHigh": 12,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksLow": 10,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksHigh": 16,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksLow": 16,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksHigh": 32,
      "primaryClockEaters": [
        "Quality of Earnings review",
        "Legal diligence + purchase-agreement drafting",
        "Consent collection on assignment-restricted contracts"
      ],
      "primaryStallCauses": [
        "QoE surfaces undocumented add-backs",
        "Landlord or franchisor consent held up",
        "Buyer financing hiccup"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "ibba",
        "aba-deal-point",
        "aicpa",
        "sba-7a"
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "close-funding",
      "phaseNumber": 5,
      "phase": "Close + funding",
      "description": "Final signatures + purchase-price wire + escrow funding + closing-binder delivery.",
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksLow": 1,
      "durationExcellentPrepWeeksHigh": 2,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksLow": 1,
      "durationAveragePrepWeeksHigh": 3,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksLow": 2,
      "durationPoorPrepWeeksHigh": 4,
      "primaryClockEaters": [
        "Closing-document coordination across seller / buyer / lender / attorneys",
        "SBA funding (adds 1-3 business days)"
      ],
      "primaryStallCauses": [
        "Last-minute consent failures",
        "Working-capital true-up disputes"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "ibba",
        "aba-deal-point",
        "sba-7a"
      ]
    }
  ]
}