Imagine this message arriving on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday:
“We’re interested in acquiring businesses like yours. Could you send us some financial information before a call next week?”
This is a fictional example, but it gives you something concrete to work with. Someone has expressed interest and requested information. You have not yet established who would be buying, why they chose your business, what information they want or what they expect the call to accomplish.
Start there. Put the approach into a short record that separates what the sender says, what you can verify and what you still need to ask. You can be curious without deciding today whether to pursue a sale.
Capture the approach before interpreting it
Save the original message and record its date, sender, stated organization and requested next step. If the approach came through an introduction or a phone call, write down who introduced whom and what was actually said. Mark your own recollection as such.
Be precise about the material received. Did the sender provide an introductory message, a presentation or a document containing proposed terms? Use its actual title and keep the original. Ask your lawyer about any legal significance instead of deciding that from a label such as “offer” or “expression of interest.”
Record any requested deadline beside the request itself. “Please send this by Friday” belongs in the sender’s request section; whether you agree to it belongs in your decision section. This guide does not prescribe a standard response time.
BDC describes a one-to-one purchase approach to an owner who had not planned a sale; a CIM is not used in every such discussion. That is context about how discussions can vary, rather than permission to disclose information or a required sequence. A CIM is a confidential information memorandum. BDC’s explanation provides the background.
Give each unanswered question a place
Make a first-conversation record with an entry for each material point. Leave the verified section blank until you have something to put in it. An unanswered question is useful information for your preparation.
The records below continue the fictional example. They contain no assessment of a real buyer.
What the contact says or requests: “We acquire businesses like yours.”
What the owner has established: The message does not name the purchasing entity.
Question to prepare: Which organization would be evaluating or making an acquisition, and what is your role?
What the contact says or requests: “Your business interests us.”
What the owner has established: No specific reason was supplied.
Question to prepare: What prompted your interest in this business?
What the contact says or requests: “Send financial information.”
What the owner has established: The requested documents and recipients are unspecified.
Question to prepare: What information are you requesting, for what purpose, and who would receive it?
What the contact says or requests: “A call next week.”
What the owner has established: No agenda or participants were provided.
Question to prepare: Who would join, and what would you want us to resolve?
What the contact says or requests: “Please reply by Friday.”
What the owner has established: This is the sender’s requested date.
Question to prepare: What is driving that timing, and what next step am I prepared to consider?
Keep the source beside each answer: the original email, a dated conversation note, an independently checked public record or a document to discuss with an adviser. Attribute statements to the person who made them. Public claims about an organization remain leads to verify; they do not establish the sender’s authority, funding or suitability.
Add the next person or document needed for each question to your own record. You do not need to complete a company investigation before making a useful record.
Write down what you want from the next conversation
Give yourself one sentence: “For now, I want to understand ______.”
Your answer might be why this particular buyer approached, whether the discussion concerns the whole business or a different arrangement, or what the sender expects from you. You may simply want enough information to decide whether another conversation would be worthwhile.
Keep that immediate question separate from a future sale decision. If you already have an adviser, add what you want to discuss with them. If you do not want to continue, record that decision too. Use the attached worksheet at the end of this article, even if your current decision is to stop there.
Turn the information request into specific questions
In the fictional message, “financial information” is too imprecise to complete the record. Ask what documents or level of detail the sender means, who would receive them and what those people would use them to assess.
Use those answers to prepare questions for your own adviser about the actual request. For example: which material is particularly sensitive; which recipients and uses need to be addressed; and what needs review before anything is shared? These are preparation prompts, not a confidentiality agreement or a legal checklist.
For the particular process of sharing a full CIM, BDC recommends a teaser and NDA first, with particular attention to competitor confidentiality risk. BDC also advises limiting sensitive detail even with an NDA, including using generic customer or employee labels in a CIM. It recommends independent legal counsel for NDAs, transaction documents and negotiations. These are BDC’s CIM-sharing recommendations, not a universal legal rule or a guarantee against misuse.
If the approach comes from a competitor, make that fact explicit in the record and in the questions you take to counsel. Do not fill an unknown information boundary with an assumption that an NDA resolves everything.
Finish with one next decision
Before the next conversation, circle the question you most want answered. Add the person or document needed, and write down what you would consider doing once you have that answer.
Afterwards, update the record with the date and the answers actually received. Keep unresolved points visible. A request that changes during the call deserves a new entry, so your later notes do not blur the original approach and the subsequent discussion.
This record will not tell you what your business is worth or whether to accept an offer. It gives you a more useful starting point: the approach as received, the facts you have established, the remaining questions and your chosen next step.
Download the worksheet
Use this printable first-conversation record to keep the approach, verified facts and open questions in one place. Keep completed copies private; no submission to Deal Flow Canada is required.
If an unexpected approach has raised a question, email Deal Flow Canada with a short, non-confidential description. Say whether you would like DFC to reply about that question.
