Chef Mark Mattern, MBA, CEC

The Demographics of Buying a Business   A white paper published by BizBuySell recently covered the demographics of those buying a business.  It was fascinating reading with some of their key findings (quoted directly from page 2 of the report below). Business ownership runs in families: 55 percent of sellers have a parent or grandparent that owned a small business. 49 percent of sellers plan to exit their small businesses in the next five years, but only 29 percent are currently prepared for the sale process. Younger buyers are more ethnically diverse than their elders: 49 percent of 18 to 29 year-old buyers identify as a minority, compared to 19 percent of buyers in their 50s or older. The number one motivation for purchasing a small business is the chance to be your own boss, cited by 63 percent of all buyers. 12 percent of sellers and almost 10 percent of buyers are veterans. These are just the key findings of this report but there are many more findings we will describe and compare