Try before buy experience?

January 30, 2026

by a searcher from The University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business in Vancouver, WA, USA

I'm looking at a deal where the industry multiple x SDE is significantly lower than what the seller is willing to accept. The business has a lot going for it. And, the owner likes me and we have a very good rapport - I've already met the team. Great operations manager to boot. I have been contemplating 2 different approaches if the seller isn't willing to accept the current market valuation. 1) become an employee. Straight up. I have no idea how to structure comp. Perhaps 50% of salary as cash and 50% accrues toward purchase. 2) become a minority owner. Buy in at current valuation, but perhaps $100k worth. Then, use those fund to pay for me as an employee while I grow and professionalize the business for the next year. Thoughts on those 2 approaches? Any other approaches? Or, should I just present current valuation and if it is a no deal, I should move on?

Reply by a searcher
in Traverse City, MI, USA

Chris, I’d like to offer a bit of a contrarian take here. Standard advice in the search community is often to "keep searching" or "stick to the multiple," but that lack of originality can sometimes overlook the nuance of off-market deals. In my experience, specifically with off-market deals in the Oil & Gas space, the timeline to close anything of magnitude was rarely under 12 months, and often stretched to 2 or 3 years. It takes a significant amount of time to decouple the P&L valuation from the sentimental valuation. The "Try Before You Buy" concept is an experiment worth playing with for a few reasons: Sincerity: It demonstrates a deep commitment to the relationship and the legacy of the business, which is often what off-market sellers care about most. Expectation Reset: It gives the seller a graceful way to see the reality of the operations (and the market) without you having to "lecture" them on multiples. The Long Game: If you aren't in a rush, this structure allows you to be the only person in the room when the seller finally reaches that emotional inflection point. The Reality Check: You won't be able to "paper" or contract away every bit of uncertainty in an arrangement like this. It requires a high tolerance for risk and a mindset geared toward the long game. As long as you go in eyes wide open regarding the potential for wasted time, don't let the "standard" advice run you out of the room. Sometimes the best deals are the ones everyone else said was a waste of time.

Reply by a searcher
from University of California, Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, CA, USA

I am actually in the "try before you buy" seat right now, although it wasn't in my search plan. I took on a consulting engagement to help a widow sell her deceased husband's tax and bookkeeping business and really liked the business once I got in it. It isn't really sellable at all under its current circumstances and my consulting engagement is to get it sellable whether its to me or someone else. I wrestled with the trade-off of getting paid to learn an industry vs. the opportunity cost of not working full-time on "finding the one" and so far the learning experience has been invaluable.

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