What Advisory Firm Owners Get Wrong About M&A | The Exchange (Ep. 31)

About this episode

This episode discusses common misconceptions advisory firm owners have about M&A processes and strategies.

Most advisory firm owners think they're 80% done with a deal once they've found a buyer and shaken hands on a number. In reality, they may not even be in the first inning. In this episode of The SRG Exchange, SRG's consulting team and General Counsel pull back the curtain on what firm owners consistently get wrong about M&A, from timing and valuation methodology to entity structure and equity sharing strategy. The group covers when to bring in an outside team and what happens when you wait too long, why a business's appraised value and its sale price are not the same thing, where market multiples landed in 2025, why internal succession deals rarely match the economics of an external sale, and how entity planning and equity sharing have shifted from tools reserved for the industry's biggest firms to essentials at nearly every size.

People in this episode

Host: David Grau Jr.

Topics covered

• M&A
• advisory firms
• valuation methodology
• entity structure
• equity sharing strategy
• internal succession
• market multiples

Keywords

• M&A
• advisory firms
• valuation
• entity planning
• equity sharing
• succession deals
• market multiples

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SRG

More episodes of The Fine Print

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• What to Expect from M&A in 2026 (Ep. 32) · April 30, 2026 · 40 min
• The SEC’s Marketing Rule in Advisor M&A: Endorsements and Client Transitions (Ep. 30) · March 4, 2026 · 32 min
• Your Employment Agreement Won’t Protect You Like You Think (Ep. 29) · February 5, 2026 · 1h 3m
• The Exchange: Entity Structure and Why It's The Backbone of Your Advisory Firm (Ep. 28) · January 7, 2026 · 55 min
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