Central Texas · Texas
Austin business brokers and M&A advisors
MDR & Associates helps owners of profitable Austin companies with $3 million to $100 million in revenue sell to the right buyer at the right price. Our corporate office is in Frisco, so when an Austin owner calls, an advisor comes down I-35 and meets you at your office or somewhere discreet. Owners looking for Austin business brokers or M&A advisors usually want two things from us: a realistic value and a sale nobody hears about too early.
A capital city that became Silicon Hills, and what that means for buyers
Austin spreads across Travis, Hays and Williamson counties on the Colorado River, along the I-35 corridor. For most of its history the economy leaned on state government and the University of Texas at Austin, one of the largest universities in the country. That began to change in the 1960s: Tracor opened in 1962, IBM followed in 1967, Texas Instruments in 1969 and Motorola in 1974. By the 1990s the city had picked up the nickname Silicon Hills, and semiconductors and software now sit at the center of its economy, with Dell, AMD, Apple, Intel, Oracle, Tesla, NXP Semiconductors and many other large companies holding headquarters or major offices here.
Austin has been one of the fastest-growing large cities in the United States since 2010, and the 2020 census counted 961,855 residents. Beyond technology, it bills itself as the Live Music Capital of the World and hosts South by Southwest, the yearly run of film, interactive media and music festivals. For a company owner, that growth matters less as a headline than as a signal about who is paying attention. Large employers need suppliers, contractors, service firms and distributors, and those are the privately held companies that private equity groups and strategic acquirers look for when they want a foothold in a Texas market.
Austin at a glance
- CountyTravis, Hays and Williamson counties
- Metro areaGreater Austin
- Companies we sell$3M–$100M
- Typical transaction3–9 months
- Fee if we do not closeNone
Selling a company in Austin when buyers already know the market
Profitable companies in a market like this tend to draw unsolicited letters and calls from buyers. An unsolicited offer is a starting point, not a price. The only reliable way to learn what a company is worth is to put it in front of many qualified buyers at once, under confidentiality, and let them compete on price and terms.
That competition is the core of our method. Before a buyer learns your company's name, they see only a blind profile, sign a confidentiality agreement and complete a financial profile that shows they can fund the deal. We go first to our own database of qualified individual buyers, capital groups and private equity groups, and we negotiate multiple letters of intent at the same time. Keeping the process quiet protects your employees, your customers and your standing with suppliers until a deal is signed.
The firm has sold companies in the kinds of industries that serve Austin's employers and households: manufacturing, home services such as HVAC and landscaping, distribution and business services. Buyers of a machine shop that supplies a chip plant and buyers of a residential HVAC company ask very different questions, and we prepare the answers for the buyer you are most likely to sell to.
How we work with Austin owners from our Frisco office
MDR & Associates has closed more than 250 transactions since 2008 and represents owners only. A principal of the firm sits in every negotiation, and a VP of Client Engagement is your day-to-day contact while the company is on the market. We come to you: a first meeting can happen at your office after hours, at your CPA's office, or anywhere else you prefer.
The first step is a free, confidential discovery meeting. We review three years of financials and give you an opinion of value as a low-to-high range. If you want a quick number before that conversation, the online valuation snapshot takes a few minutes. From there, our ten-step process runs from the engagement letter and a professionally produced HD marketing video through buyer meetings, due diligence and closing, typically in three to nine months. Our fee is a success fee only: if the company does not sell, you owe nothing. To set up a meeting, use the Austin contact page.
What we sell in and around Austin
Industry decides the buyer, the multiple and the diligence. These are the four sectors we work in most.
Manufacturing
Equipment, real estate, backlog and customer concentration decide what a manufacturer is worth.
How buyers value itHome Services
Plumbing, HVAC, roofing, landscaping and other home service companies — where repeat customers, crews and technicians decide the price.
How buyers value itDistribution & Wholesale
Inventory, working capital and supplier agreements decide what a distributor is worth.
How buyers value itBusiness Services
Recurring revenue and owner dependence separate a two-times business from a six-times business.
How buyers value itStraight answers
Questions Austin owners ask before they sell
Answered in full by the advisors who run the sales. Every Austin answer.
The process
How an Austin sale runs
Ten steps in four stages, typically three to nine months. Click any step to see it in full.
- Prepare
- Go to market
- Negotiate
- Close
We also work with owners near Austin
Questions owners in Austin ask
Do buyers pay more for an Austin company because the city has grown so fast?
Growth helps, but buyers pay for your earnings, not the city's headlines. They look at adjusted EBITDA, how steady it is, how concentrated your customers are and whether the business runs without you. A growing market can bring more buyers to the table, and more competing offers is what moves the price. Most companies in our range sell for three to seven times adjusted EBITDA.
Do I have to travel to Frisco to work with you if my company is in Austin?
No. Frisco is our corporate office, but our advisors come to Austin owners for the discovery meeting, buyer meetings and the review of each offer. We can meet at your office outside business hours, at your attorney's or CPA's office, or somewhere discreet. Every letter of intent is presented to you in person, not by email.
How do you keep a sale confidential when my competitors are across town in Austin?
Buyers first see a blind profile with no company name. Only after they register, sign a confidentiality agreement and prove they can fund the purchase do they learn who you are, and you can ask us to hold back details from a direct competitor. We start with our own database of qualified buyers and add blind marketplace ads only if needed.
Talk to an advisor about your Austin company
Four fields, a reply the same business day, and nothing shared with anyone. If you would rather talk, call (855) 637-2776.