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You Can Sell It Yourself

The case that a prepared owner can run their own sale, keep the broker's fee, and lose nothing essential by doing so.

The Argument: Brokers Are Optional, Even on Big Deals​

The unusual thing about this stance is who makes it. McDannell runs a brokerage firm and still tells owners they do not need one. That is the whole pitch of the book, stated plainly in the introduction.

"This might be one of the only books out there from a brokerage firm that is transparently telling you brokers aren't necessary, not even for the larger deals."

McDannell, Get Acquired, Introduction

Her motivating belief is access. The M&A process is treated as a trade secret precisely because gatekeeping it sends owners to hire someone. McDannell wants it ungated, especially for the sub-$1M businesses that no broker will even take on.

"Whoever has the grit to grow a business of their own should have access to useful resources to sell it."

McDannell, Get Acquired, Introduction

The book is structured to make that possible: a seven-step, self-serve walkthrough that mirrors the real order a deal unfolds, from cleaning the books through LOIs to close and transfer.

Why the Broker Title Earns Distrust​

Part of McDannell's case is that the intermediary industry is weakly regulated and uneven in quality. In some states a broker needs only a real estate license, or nothing at all. She argues the title itself has earned its reputation.

"This is mile 23 of a marathon and you're about to sprint the last three miles."

McDannell, Get Acquired, ch. 2

She refuses to call herself a broker, preferring "intermediary," and goes further: anyone advising on a sale should have built and exited a company themselves, because the work is too experience-dependent to fake. The implication for the owner is direct. You already have the rarest qualification, having built the thing. The mechanics of a sale are learnable, and much of the gatekeeping (demanding IDs, credit scores, and proof of funds just to enter the data room) she calls "absolutely overkill" and often just lazy work dressed up as diligence.

What the Owner Has to Do Instead​

Self-serve is not no-work. McDannell's condition is that you start from the end and prepare before you are desperate. Listing impulsively to "test the waters" is, in her words, the worst move an owner can make.

"Most exits are destined for a below average sale the second they hit the market."

McDannell, Get Acquired, ch. 2

The owner running their own sale takes on the discipline a broker would otherwise sell them: clean books, a real data room, a vet-then-disclose flow (email, phone, NDA, then financials), and the resolve to evaluate offers on likelihood of closing rather than headline price. McDannell still keeps a small bench of advisors, an accountant and a lawyer, and treats an intermediary as optional rather than mandatory. The fee saved is the prize, but only if you do the homework yourself.

The Steelman: Why Others Say Don't​

The opposing camp is strong and worth stating fairly. Warrillow and Burlingham argue the CEO should never run their own sale, because running the company and negotiating its sale at once is how both get done badly, and because an intermediary manufactures the competitive tension that actually moves price. A broker who can run a real bidding war may earn their commission several times over, especially on larger or strategic deals where a single naive seller faces a sophisticated buyer. McDannell does not fully deny this. Her cautions about deal fatigue, retrading, and the grind "from LOI to the date that money is wired" are exactly the moments where a tired solo seller is most exposed. Her counter is that a prepared owner can hold that line by declaring up front that retrading will not be tolerated, and that the fee is rarely worth what it costs. See Broker vs DIY: The Core Tension and Selling Is Not a DIY Project for the other side in full.

Further Reading​

Sources: McDannell, Get Acquired, Introduction; McDannell, Get Acquired ch.2; McDannell, Get Acquired ch.6.