The TRIPLE Wave of Business Exits Starting in 2025

When most people think about the "silver tsunami" of retiring baby boomers, they picture a single wave of business transitions hitting the market...

But according to Scott Snider - president of the Exit Planning Institute - we're actually facing something far more significant: a triple wave that could fundamentally reshape how businesses change hands over the next decade.

We recently interviewed Scott about the trends he's seeing across his network of 9,000 certified Exit Planning advisors.

What he shared challenges the conventional wisdom about who's selling, when they're selling, and why they're selling:

The Baby Boomers: Finally Ready to Exit

The baby boomer story is well-documented. This generation owns 51% of privately held companies in America, and they're hitting the age where exit conversations become unavoidable. The youngest boomers are now 61, with the average at 67 years old.

But here's what's interesting: these aren't the same entrepreneurs who once declared they'd work until they were 76. As Scott explained, using his own father as an example:

"Dad's 66 years old. You could just tell Dad's thinking differently. He's got grandkids, and he's been working 50 years. He just wants to slow down and have less stress."

The generation that invented the 60-hour work week is discovering what many of us learn as we age - our priorities shift in ways we can't predict when we're younger.

Having grandchildren, dealing with health changes, or simply recognizing that 50 years of building businesses might be enough can trigger exit conversations that weren't on the radar just a few years earlier.

Generation X: The Accelerated Exit Timeline

The more surprising trend is what's happening with Generation X business owners (ages 43-60). According to Exit Planning Institute's 2023 survey, 38% of Gen X owners want to transition within the next 5 years - a remarkably fast timeline for people who theoretically have decades of earning potential ahead of them.

This generation values something their boomer predecessors often didn't prioritize: time. They're the "work smarter, not harder" cohort, constantly trying to balance business ownership with being present parents, staying fit, volunteering in their communities, and maintaining marriages.

The revealing difference shows up when you ask what they want to do after selling. Baby boomers, even at advanced ages, typically want to stay involved in business somehow - buying another company, joining boards, or starting consulting practices.

Generation X business owners? They just want to retire and focus on family, travel, and personal interests.

This creates a fascinating dynamic: you have people in their 40s and 50s looking to exit at the same time as people in their 60s and 70s.

Millennials: The Boomerang Exit Strategy

The third wave comes from millennial entrepreneurs who are building what Scott calls "boomerang exits" into their business strategy from day one. These owners expect to buy or build, grow, and sell multiple businesses throughout their careers.

"By the time I'm 66 years old, I'll probably be on my third or fourth exit," Scott explained.

This generation understands exit strategy as a feature, not a bug, of business ownership. They're not emotionally attached to running the same company for 30 years. Instead, they see business ownership as a tool for wealth-building and personal freedom.

What This Means for Acquisition Entrepreneurs

This triple wave creates unprecedented opportunities for buyers, but it also changes the competitive landscape in important ways:

More sophisticated sellers: Millennial business owners who plan for exit from the beginning will likely have cleaner books, better systems, and more realistic valuations than owners who never planned to sell.

Different motivations: Gen X sellers prioritizing time and family over maximum valuation might be more open to creative deal structures that provide certainty and smooth transitions rather than top-dollar offers.

New buyer categories: The boomerang exit trend means you're not just competing with traditional strategic and financial buyers. You're also competing with experienced entrepreneurs who've already bought and sold businesses before.

Geographic dispersion: Unlike previous generations who often stayed in one location, these waves of sellers and buyers are more geographically mobile, potentially opening up opportunities outside traditional business centers.

The Exit Planning Advantage

Scott's perspective comes from working with thousands of business owners through their transition planning. He emphasized that successful exits require aligning three elements: business readiness, financial planning, and personal planning.

The personal planning piece is where most owners struggle. As Scott learned from his own exit at 24: "I had totally let my business define who I was." 

He fell into the statistic that 75% of owners profoundly regret selling their business within a year - not because of financial terms, but because they hadn't prepared for life after the sale.

For acquisition entrepreneurs, this creates an opportunity. Some sellers who work with the likes of Certified Exit Planning Advisors have typically thought through both the personal transition as well as the financial one. These tend to be more committed sellers who are less likely to get cold feet at the finish line.

The triple wave is about both demographics and the fundamentally different attitudes toward business ownership, work-life balance, and wealth-building.

Understanding these motivations can help you position yourself as the right buyer for the right seller at the right time.

The next 5 years will be unlike anything we've seen in the business acquisition market. The question is: are you prepared to ride the wave?

Thanks for reading Acquiring & Exiting. Catch the full video interview with Scott below:

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