M&A advisor in Chicago, or a CPA-led broker? What each does, what each costs, and which one fits you.
Past about $5 million in revenue, your buyer is a roll-up, a PE-backed platform, or a competitor, and they buy on evidence. A boutique runs a structured process for a retainer plus a success fee. We run the same steps with the books fixed first, at 10 percent and no retainer.
Know what you're selling before you pick who sells it.
Revenue, industry, and where to send it. Within two business days you'll have a CPA-prepared value range and the two or three items a buyer's accountants would raise first. Free, confidential, nothing to sign.
What does an M&A advisor in Chicago do, and what does one cost?
An M&A advisor in Chicago sells a company doing more than about $5 million in revenue through a structured, confidential process, for a monthly retainer while the work runs plus a success fee at closing, often on a sliding scale netting 4 to 8 percent on larger deals. A CPA-led broker runs the same steps at 10 percent, no retainer, with the books rebuilt first.
The process itself is the same at every good firm: a confidential information memorandum, a long list of strategic and private-equity buyers, often national, then indications of interest, management presentations, a data room, LOI, diligence and closing.
It's real work, and at the right size it earns the fee. But if the earnings don't hold when the buyer's accountants rebuild them, the price gets cut after the LOI, when your position is weakest.
We start earlier. Before a buyer sees anything, we rebuild the earnings from the returns and bank statements, document the add-backs, and score the company on the five things buyers examine. Then we run the same steps, for 10 percent in writing and no retainer.
M&A boutique and Lakeshore, on the points that decide it.
General descriptions, not quotes from any firm.
| Point | M&A advisory boutique | Lakeshore |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | Monthly retainer plus a success fee, often on a sliding scale netting 4 to 8 percent on larger deals. | 10 percent, in writing before market. No retainer. On a $10 million sale that is more than a sliding scale; better you see it here than at the LOI. |
| Preparation | Starts at the memorandum, with the books as found. | Starts with the books. The $4,500 Exit-Readiness Review, credited against the fee, or the Sale-Ready Program from $2,500 a month. |
| Buyers | A long national list of strategics and private-equity buyers, run as an auction. | Roll-ups, PE-backed platforms, strategic and competitor buyers, from a list you approve. |
| Direct acquisition | Not offered. | An option. If we want to buy, we say so in writing up front, with no commission, and you stay free to go to market. |
When the other firm is the right call.
Above about $15 million in revenue, hire a full investment bank. The buyer universe is national, the process needs a staffed deal team, and a bank's sliding scale costs less than our 10 percent at that size. We'll say so on the first call.
The same goes for a complicated cap table: outside investors, more than one class of shares, a partner who wants out on different terms. That sale needs a bank's structuring bench.
Between $5 million and $15 million, it depends on where the value problem lives. If the company is clean, a good boutique earns its fee. If the earnings won't survive a rebuild or the company still runs through you, the price is decided before the auction starts. That's the work we do first. Sometimes the right answer is wait two years.
The books first. Then the same structured sale.
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Value range, then a consult. Free.
A CPA-prepared range within two business days, then thirty minutes by phone with a CPA on your numbers, your timeline, and which firm fits.
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Exit-Readiness Review. $4,500 flat, two weeks.
A scorecard across the five things buyers examine, a defended range on EBITDA (the 2026 multiples by size are in how much is my business worth), a 90-day fix list, credited against the success fee if we later list. A longer list runs through the Sale-Ready Program, from $2,500 a month.
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Pricing memo, blind profile, buyer list. The 10% fee goes in writing here.
Normalized EBITDA, documented add-backs, working capital defined. You approve the roll-ups, platforms and strategics we'll approach.
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NDAs, the CIM, management meetings, LOI.
Buyers sign before they see your name. Price, structure, the working-capital peg and any earn-out are settled in the LOI, with Alex Nejad, CPA, on the tax questions.
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Diligence and closing.
The buyer's accountants work from a data room built before they asked. Purchase agreement, your attorney's review, funds flow, handover.
No retainer, no monthly fee, no success fee if it doesn't sell. The full process is on sell a business; fees clause by clause in business broker fees in Chicago.
Buyers at this size negotiate the price their accountants can prove, not the price you ask. The work is making those two numbers the same.
Lakeshore Exit Partners · Chicago
M&A advisory questions, answered.
What is the difference between an M&A advisor and a business broker?
A business broker markets a business, usually under about $2 million in value, to a wide pool of buyers for a commission of roughly 8 to 12 percent. An M&A advisor runs a structured, confidential process for larger companies, with a curated list of strategic and private-equity buyers, for a retainer plus a success fee. The full comparison, with the fee arithmetic, is in business broker vs. M&A advisor.
How are M&A advisors paid?
M&A advisors commonly charge a monthly retainer while the engagement runs, plus a success fee at closing, often on a sliding scale such as the Lehman or Double Lehman formula. Lakeshore charges no retainer and a 10 percent success fee agreed in writing before going to market.
What size company needs an M&A advisor instead of a business broker?
From about $5 million in revenue, or roughly $1 million or more in EBITDA, the buyer changes from an individual to a roll-up, a PE-backed platform or a strategic, and a structured process pays for itself. Below that, a broker's wider marketing usually gets the better price. Between $5 million and $15 million, what decides it is whether the earnings survive a buyer's rebuild. Whether to hire anyone at all is answered in should I hire a business broker to sell my company.
Do I need an investment bank to sell my company?
Above about $15 million in revenue, or with a complex cap table such as outside investors or multiple share classes, usually yes. A bank's staffed deal team and national buyer reach are what that sale needs, and a bank's sliding-scale fee costs less than Lakeshore's 10 percent at that size. Lakeshore says so on the first call.
How long does a structured sale process take?
Six to nine months from first conversation to closing is typical for a prepared company, with about 90 to 120 days on the market. If the Exit-Readiness Review turns up a fix list, preparation runs first.
Can an M&A advisor also buy my company?
Most cannot; Lakeshore can. If we want to acquire the business, we say so in writing up front, with no commission and no listing period, and you stay free to go to market. The terms are on sell to Lakeshore.
Choosing a Chicago broker Broker vs. M&A advisor, in full Should I hire a broker at all? How we sell a business Owner FAQ
Find out what it would sell for. Free.
A CPA-prepared value range and the gaps a buyer's accountants would find first, within two business days.
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