Acquisition is one of the few things a small business can borrow for where the lender is looking at an asset that already produces cash. That makes it more fundable than most expansion, and it means you rarely need the whole price in hand. Buyers who assume they do walk away from deals they could have done.

The thing that gets funded is the diligence, not the enthusiasm. A lender wants verified numbers from the business being bought, which is exactly what the previous step produced. If you did that part properly you are most of the way through the application already.

Know your three numbers: the price, the cash you can put in, and the working capital the business needs to run once you own it. The third is the one buyers leave out and then have to find in week two.

Talk to a lender before you are in exclusivity, not after. An indicative conversation costs nothing and tells you what size of deal you can actually close, which is better found out before you have spent money on diligence.