Contact a manufacturing business broker

How do you start a confidential conversation with the broker?

How to reach the firm

If a directory lists a number or a suite, treat it as unverified unless Jason confirms it on a call. Inventing a phone number to look “complete” would violate the identity rules of this site.

What the call is for

Sellers should be ready to talk sub-sector, trailing earnings, real estate, concentration, and certificates. Buyers should be ready with a buybox and a capital path — including whether the file must fit the $5 million SBA 7(a) cap (Source: SBA). Valuation questions are fine; certified appraisal requests are referred.

How it works is the sequence after the call. Nothing about booking a slot lists the company.

What not to put in the first email

Do not send the customer list, the OASIS login, the union contract, or a Phase I that names the site if you have not spoken and have no NDA. Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 manufacturing establishments (Source: Census). Most of them can be identified from too much teaser detail. Blind is the default.

If environmental reports already exist, say that a Phase I exists. ASTM E1527-21 is the current Phase I practice standard for All Appropriate Inquiries (Source: ASTM / EPA AAI). Attachments can wait.

State and licensing notes (not a license opinion)

The practice is nationwide. Some states treat business brokerage as real-estate brokerage; Illinois additionally registers business brokers with the Secretary of State Securities Division under the Business Brokers Act of 1995 (Source: Illinois SOS). If real estate is the dominant piece of a deal, a real-estate license is in play in every state. Counsel confirms the file. This page does not.

After you book

Expect a short confirmation and a request for the minimum documents that make a recast possible: financials and tax returns, a machine list, and a concentration schedule without names. If the file is a tire-kicker with no numbers, the call will be short.

Sellers: what a useful first sentence looks like

“Precision machine shop, Midwest, about $900k SDE, one customer at 28%, building leased, ISO 9001 current” is a useful first sentence. “We are the best shop in the state and want top dollar” is not. The call will still happen. It will go faster if the first sentence has a size band and a sub-sector.

If you already have a CIM from another advisor, say so. Do not assume this firm will take a public listing live without rebuilding confidentiality.

Buyers: what a useful first sentence looks like

“Searcher, $1.5–3.5M EBITDA plastics, no automotive, will buy the building, equity is committed” is a buybox. “Send me anything in manufacturing” is not. Off-market outreach costs seller goodwill. It gets spent on a written target, not a mood.

If you already have an LOI on a plant, book the call and say you need a second read on the peg, the machine list, or the SBA math. Bring the document. Do not paste the seller’s customer appendix into email.

Documents after the call — not before

After a conversation, the usual ask is three years of financials and tax returns, YTD, a machine list with serials, and a nameless concentration schedule. Phase I reports, quality audits, and CBAs come when an NDA exists. Government contract lists and ITAR registrations are not first-touch attachments.

If you are not ready to share numbers, you can still book the call and talk process. You cannot get a broker opinion of value from adjectives.

Response expectations

This is not a chat widget. Calendar time is the queue. Email is for documents and scheduling, not for a free written valuation. If the file is outside manufacturing, say so; this site is the manufacturing door, not a generic inbox.

What happens if you are not ready to share financials

You can still book the call and talk process: confidentiality sequence, whether the file is SDE or EBITDA, whether real estate should be in or leased back, whether SBA math even fits. You will not get a written range from adjectives. A broker opinion that is not tied to tax returns is a guess, and this site does not sell guesses.

If the blocker is that the books are a mess, say that. The work may be a 90-day clean-up before a teaser, not a teaser tomorrow. That is still a useful call.

What happens if you already have a broker or a listing

Say so. This firm will not raid a live exclusive. If the exclusive is ending, or if you want a second opinion on a peg or a multiple, that is a different conversation. Do not send another advisor’s CIM that is marked confidential without knowing whether you have the right to share it.

Public listings are a tactic. If the shop is already on a marketplace, the confidentiality problem is already partly spent. The call can still be about who else should see it and whether the asking number is in the wrong size band.

Security and what we will not do with your files

There is no upload widget. Documents move by email after a conversation, or by a data room the firm opens. Do not post financials in a comment field that does not exist. Do not text customer names to a number that is not published.

If you receive an email that claims to be Jason Taken and asks for a wire, stop. Confirm using the address on this page. This site will never ask for a wire in a first message.

Calendar logistics

The intro call is twenty minutes. Be on time. If you need a longer working session on a live LOI, say that when you book so the slot is not a teaser conversation. Time zones are nationwide; the calendar is the source of truth.

If you are an attorney, CPA, or lender referring a client, email first with the role and the size band. Do not put the client’s customer list in the referral note.

Referring professionals

Attorneys, CPAs, lenders, and other brokers are welcome to refer. The useful referral names the role, the sub-sector, the size band, and whether real estate is in the deal. It does not forward a CIM marked confidential unless the client authorized the share. If you are a lender looking for a borrower who can operate a plant, say what you will finance: 7(a), 504, ABL, equipment. If you are counsel mid-LOI, say which issue — peg, allocation, novation, ISRA — so the call is not a teaser conversation.

HedgeStone will not become your back-office. The calendar is still the queue. A referral does not skip confidentiality.

International and out-of-state logistics

Nationwide includes owners who live in one state and operate in another, and buyers who will relocate. Time zones are handled by the calendar. Cross-border buyers should assume CFIUS and, if applicable, ITAR clocks before they ask for a plant tour. This page will not collect passport scans. Counsel will.

If you need a signed NDA before you speak, say so in email. A standard mutual NDA can precede the call. A twenty-page paper that tries to rewrite brokerage law is a delay tactic; we will say so.

After hours and what not to expect

This is not a 24-hour desk. Book the slot. If a live LOI is exploding, email the address on this page and say it is time-sensitive. Do not send a 40-megabyte CIM to that first message. Do not expect a written valuation overnight. Do not expect a listing to appear on this website. The site is intake and education. The transaction lives in a data room and in counsel’s paper.

If you are trying to sell, buy, or pressure-test a valuation, start with the calendar. If you only needed the email address, you already have it. Do not wait for a form that will not be built.

If you reached this page from a search for a phone number, the absence is intentional. Email and the calendar are the published channels. That keeps the identity rules honest and keeps random directories from becoming the firm.

Channel table (so directories do not invent one)

If a listing site printed a number or a suite, treat it as unverified unless Jason confirms it on a call. Inventing a phone to look complete would break the identity rules of this site. Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 manufacturing establishments (Source: Census CBP, 2023). None of them need a fake receptionist line on this domain.

Illinois owners should know the Business Brokers Act registration regime is not the same as a real-estate license. Other states differ. That is a counsel question, not a slogan on a contact page.

Educational information only. Not legal, tax, or environmental advice.

What to send after the intro call — and what never to email first

After a booked intro call, email jason.taken@hedgestone.com with the documents that were requested on the call: tax returns, a process list, a nameless concentration schedule, and, if it already exists, the last quality-system audit or Phase I. Do not email a customer list, a full employee roster, or a CIM that names the town and the product in the first attachment. Those files belong behind an NDA.

There is no web form and no published phone. That is intentional. Illinois owners who want the registration fact can read the Secretary of State Business Brokers Act page. Other states differ. Broker licensing by state is the briefing. This page is the channel.

Directories that invent a suite or a number are unverified. Census CBP 2023’s 284,452 establishments do not need a fake receptionist line on this domain (Source: Census CBP). Use the calendar. Then use the email.

What a directory listing is worth

If a scrape printed a suite or a phone, treat it as unverified until Jason confirms it on a call. The authorized channels remain the calendar and jason.taken@hedgestone.com.