Market Pulse Surveys and the Buyers You Will Compete Against

By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · Updated September 2026 · 699 words

If you are shopping for a business, you are competing with other individual buyers, with owners who have bought and sold before, and, for larger companies, with private equity groups, family offices and corporations. Quarterly surveys of business brokers, the Market Pulse among them, have described this mix for years. Knowing who sits across the table helps you decide where to look and how to make an offer that wins.

This page once summarized a 2022 edition of that survey. Its figures have aged. The picture of who buys, and why, has held up.

Who buys privately held businesses

Each group below looks at value in its own way. Our answer on how strategic buyers and private equity value the same business explains why their offers for one company can differ so much.

• First-time individual buyers. Often corporate managers or professionals who want to work for themselves. Many are buying a job along with an investment, and most rely on bank or government-backed financing.
• Repeat owners. People who have owned, and often sold, a business before. They know what to check, move quickly and are comfortable with risk, which makes them strong competitors.
• Private equity groups. Investment firms that buy companies with pooled capital, grow them and eventually resell them. They usually want established management and earnings above a minimum size.
• Family offices. Investment arms of wealthy families. They often take a longer view than private equity and may hold a company for many years.
• Strategic buyers. Companies in the same or a related industry that buy to add customers, capability or territory. They can sometimes pay more because they expect savings or new sales from combining the businesses.

Size decides how far buyers travel

Smaller businesses, especially those the owner runs personally, tend to attract buyers from the surrounding area who want to live near the company they own. As companies grow larger and less dependent on one person, buyers come from farther away, including other states, because a management team can run the business without the owner on site.

For you as a buyer, that means competition for a small local company is mostly local, while a larger company with good managers may draw bidders from across the country. If you are aiming at the larger end, expect investors with deep pockets and experienced advisors to be looking at the same opportunity.

What makes buyers cautious

Broker surveys have repeatedly pointed to two concerns: finding and keeping workers, and dependable supply. Both are lasting concerns rather than passing ones. A company with a stable, trained workforce and more than one reliable source for its key materials is easier to finance and easier to own. Ask about employee turnover, open positions and what happened the last time a major supplier fell short, and weigh the answers as heavily as the profit figures.

How an individual buyer competes

You may not outbid a well-funded investor, but price is not the only thing sellers weigh. Owners care about certainty that the deal will close, about what happens to their employees and customers, and about how much of the price arrives at closing. An individual buyer can compete on every one of those points.

• Line up financing before you make an offer, so the seller sees you can close. Our page on business financing explains the usual structures.
• Keep a clear, written description of what you are looking for, so advisors can match you quickly.
• Show that you understand the business and have a plan for its people.
• Move promptly through the confidentiality and screening steps. Our answer on how buyers are screened explains what a seller's advisor asks for.
• Keep your terms simple, and ask only for conditions you really need.

Where MDR & Associates fits

We represent owners. When we sell a company we go first to our own database of qualified individual buyers, capital groups and private equity groups, and only then, if needed, to blind advertising on the major business-for-sale marketplaces. Buyers who want to be in that database register, sign a confidentiality agreement and complete a financial profile through our buyer page. That is usually where competing buyers first hear about a company we are selling.

Where this fitsBuy a business in Texas →

Questions owners ask next

Do private equity firms buy small businesses?

Some do, especially as add-ons to a company they already own in the same industry. For a first platform company, most private equity groups want an established management team and earnings above a minimum size. Smaller owner-run businesses are usually bought by individuals or by larger companies in the same field.

Can an individual buyer beat a strategic buyer?

Sometimes. A strategic buyer may pay more because it expects savings from combining operations, but some owners do not want their company absorbed or their staff cut. An individual buyer who offers certainty of closing, fair terms and a credible plan to keep the business intact can win the deal.