Wchicken Andrew Kurzlock’s wife Michelle became pregnant with their first son in 2023. He decided it was time to end his career as a mid-level executive at Amphenol Sensors, spending more than 200 days a year on the road. He wanted a career that would leverage his manufacturing experience while staying close to his home in the Washington, DC suburbs. And, with his experience in mergers and acquisitions, he considered an acquisition. So the Krusrocks evaluated hundreds of local businesses for sale. Finally, last September, he completed the acquisition of Hopewell Sheet Metal Manufacturing, a 45-year-old family-owned business operating out of a 30,000-square-foot facility in Hagerstown, Maryland.
“This is a typical baby boomer-run business, and it was in a period of transition,” said Kurzrock, who holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, noting there were no third-generation members in the family ready to run it. But it suited his goals perfectly. “I’m home with my family every night and I’m proud to say I no longer have airline frequent flyer status,” he laughs. “It’s been great. I’m 30 pounds lighter because I haven’t eaten food all day at the airport. My blood pressure has gone down as well. That doesn’t mean running a business is easy, which is stressful in its own way, but I’m really happy with the tradeoffs I made.”
Mr. Kruzrock, 37, is part of what small business experts have long predicted would be a “silver tsunami” in which millions of retired small business owners sell out to younger entrepreneurs. It turns out that the number of baby boomer-run businesses that are actually available for sale may have been significantly overestimated. Small business consultant Alan Pentz explains that many baby boomer companies “don’t really sell” because they are one-man bands with no real assets or an ongoing book of business that outlives their founders.
But the companies that are worth buying have a growing number of young entrepreneurs who want to buy them at the right price. Business brokers say Hopewell is a good example of the type of companies that millennials like Kruzrock are now eager to join. It’s a small company with recurring revenue, a strong customer base, niche market expertise, and a solid book. They say companies in blue-collar industries such as plumbing, electrical work, pest control, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) are most in demand. These aren’t sexy, but they generate revenue and, importantly, will continue to do well in the age of artificial intelligence.
Last year, Andrew Kurzlock (right) acquired Hopewell Sheet Metal from David Horn (left). Mr. Horn’s family founded the business and has operated it for 45 years.
andrew carzrock
“There are a lot of buyers, young buyers, who want to buy these dormant older businesses,” says Chelsea Mandel, founder and managing director of Ascension Advisory, which specializes in both M&A and sale-leaseback transactions. “They want to buy a business, which is a machine that runs itself. They don’t want to buy a job,” Mandel says of young entrepreneurs. She points out that if manufacturing is operating like a “well-oiled machine,” it’s especially under the spotlight right now.
“It’s like niche market wealth,” quipped Eric Pacifici, a partner at SMB Law Group, which has helped numerous boomer acquisitions. What he means is that Millennials, Gen Z, and even Gen X are looking to acquire niche companies that serve specific needs, often in construction or other industrial-type jobs. “We’re seeing an acceleration of people interested in acquiring these businesses.”
Hopewell Manufacturing is a great example. The company custom manufactures ductwork for new building HVAC systems. “It’s one of those little things that people don’t think about, but little things in and of themselves make the world go around,” Kurzrock said of Hopewell, adding that business has been steady since he took over last year. Although he plans to make a small investment, he says, “The previous owners invested in the right equipment for the job. That was one of the things that attracted me to the business.”
Patrick O’Connell, founder of O’Connell Advisory Group, said small and medium-sized government contracting firms, blue-collar recruitment agencies, construction companies, HVAC businesses and all the other businesses that seemed insulated from the rise of artificial intelligence are becoming more attractive to aspiring young executives.
“There’s a general consensus that AI is not going to eliminate them, at least not yet,” says O’Connell, who worked with CarsRock to complete the Hopewell acquisition. “Some home services may require licensing, similar to plumbing and electrical work,” he added.
Demand for things like HVAC businesses isn’t just being driven by individual millennial buyers, said Chris Ward, head of small business banking at TD Bank US. Private equity firms are firmly grasping the value of such basic services. “My brother is the general manager of a large HVAC company, and private equity firms are buying up HVAC equipment because that’s what we all need technologically. We need them in good times and in bad times,” Ward says.
Part of what’s driving demand for companies founded by boomers is the so-called “searcher” movement, said Pentz, the small business consultant. Over the past decade, young business students and MBA holders have become increasingly attracted to finding and acquiring small businesses rather than starting them from scratch. This is also known as acquisition entrepreneurship (ETA). “The joke became that they were going to Harvard Business School to run a plumbing company in Sandusky, Ohio. That was their dream,” Pentz said. “What’s going on here? Shouldn’t I just be a plumber?…I don’t think so. need Go to Harvard Business School. ”
Investigators were able to use SBA 7(a) loans of up to $5 million as a tool to acquire boomer companies. But in some cases, it means the buyer is actually taking out a loan for a business they are not qualified to run. Some of these long-term loans (up to 25 years for real estate, up to 10 years for equipment) have variable interest rates, and when interest rates spiked in 2021, the criteria for getting a loan began to tighten, causing some loans to fail and new loans to decline.
So how many companies are changing hands right now? Heather Endresen, founder and owner of Viso Business Capital, obtained SBA loan data from 2019 through the first quarter of 2026 using a Freedom of Information Act request. It shows that a record 6,915 SBA-backed business acquisition loans worth $8.17 billion were closed in 2025, up significantly from just over $5 billion in 2023 and well above the previous peak in 2021. “It’s a tsunami,” Endresen said, but baby boomer sellers are “slowly learning what it takes to run a successful business, being taught by buyers and banks.”
Endresen estimates that 85% of boomer companies that go to market never end up selling. (See tips below for both sellers and buyers.)
Pacifici stressed that the unsold business does not reflect a lack of demand. They just don’t pass the call-up. “I’ll refer you to a broker friend of mine who sells businesses. They list good businesses and have 60 non-disclosure agreements.” [from prospective buyers] Please sign within 24 hours. ” In addition to blue-collar business, Pacific also sees demand for bookkeeping and accounting services. “The reality is that if you have a decent business, you can sell it,” he concludes.
Kruzrock was specifically looking for a manufacturing company that matched his experience. He advises other prospective buyers not to think too narrowly. “It has to be a business that interests me, but I don’t want to limit people by saying, ‘I used to be a connector, so I can only do the connector business,’” Kruzrock says. “What’s more important is what skills and activities you do every day. But fundamentally, if you don’t love dogs, you probably shouldn’t run a dog grooming business.”
“We need to consider anywhere from 100 to 1,000 companies to close one deal,” Kruzrock says. “Is this a business that’s not only historically good, but will continue to be good and stable under you? …The most important thing I was looking for was revenue transferability. If I could actually step into that role, could the business continue?”
So far, Kruzrock’s answer has proven to be a resounding “yes.”
4 Tips for Baby Boomer Sellers
- Take a good look at what you have to sell. Is your business a one-man operation and your biggest assets are knowledge and relationships? “The problem is that many of these companies don’t have salable assets. They have nothing to sell,” says Eric Pacifici, partner at SMB Law Group. “Most lower-middle market businesses are made up of founders who are doing glorious jobs.”
- Consider taking care of alternative products. If your business’ most valuable asset is you, consider developing your replacement from within your family or within your company. Hiring a replacement can actually increase sales for your business. This is because the buyer can make arrangements to retain the person and maintain an important customer relationship with them.
- Sort out your tax laws if necessary. Heather Endresen of Viso Business Capital says she’s also seeing a surprising number of baby boomers put up for sale companies that had sloppy accounting or actually cheated on their taxes. “It’s a dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about. They also cheat on taxes, but the amounts are very high. That’s why they don’t clear the money before they go to sell,” Endresen said. “They just think they can keep cheating forever and you’ll buy it at these crazy extra charges.” Her advice is, “You better stop doing that for a few years so someone can buy it.”
- Take the time to make sure your books are in order so that your debts are kept to a minimum. Even if you’re not a tax fraud, your book or business may not be ready for prime time yet. multiple experts spoke forbes It usually takes several years of work to properly prepare a small business for sale, so start the sales planning process early. “Ideally, three to five years before exit is a good time to start,” said Eric Daniels, head of SBA lending at U.S. Bank. “The earlier you start, the more options you have.”
4 tips for Millennial, Gen Z, and Gen X buyers
- Don’t move too quickly. There are tons of companies for sale by retired baby boomers, and most of them aren’t worth buying. Potential buyers should take the time to do proper due diligence before signing a letter of intent. After all, you can’t buy a home without researching its value and getting it inspected, right?
- Look for predictable recurring revenue. Buyers should “look for predictability, strong cash flow, recurring revenue, diversified customers, and documented processes. In other words, they need to know how this business operates,” said Eric Daniels, head of SBA lending at U.S. Bank. “The most valuable businesses can grow even if their owners take a month off.”
- If a red flag appears, move quickly. Heather Endresen, founder of Viso Business Capital, estimates that 85% of boomer companies are truly unsellable, and suggests moving forward with buyers as soon as you spot major red flags, such as high debt levels, “key people” such as founders or CEOs who cannot be replaced after an acquisition, or obvious weaknesses such as messy bookkeeping or signs of tax fraud.
- Don’t underestimate what it takes to run a small business. Andrew Kurzlock, the new owner of Hopewell Sheet Metal Manufacturing Co., says there’s a misleading metaphor that buying small businesses is a shortcut to being less busy. You may no longer have a demanding boss, but running a small business is a tough job, with its own set of challenges and demands. What you see on social media “masks a lot of the realities” of corporate ownership, Kruzrock said.
