For advisors

For Boise CPAs, attorneys, bankers and wealth advisors

Swabian Acquisition is a Boise buyer for a business in Boise or the wider Treasure Valley: $1 million or more in revenue, five or more years operating, B2B and commercial services preferred. Start with a no-names call. We sign confidentiality agreements before seeing financials and pay no finder's fees to licensed advisors unless their client agrees in writing.

You are the person your client trusts. This page is written so you can decide, on your client's behalf, whether I am a buyer worth an introduction, and so you can make that introduction without exposure.

What does Swabian buy?

One business. Not a portfolio. Full detail is on the what we buy page.

What can you check about the buyer?

Every claim on this site is meant to be checkable.

• Entity: Swabian Acquisition, Boise, Idaho.
• Owner: Jeff Richardson, Owner. No other principals.
• Background: MBA, Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University). Financial analytics at ServiceLink, a Fidelity National Financial company. Strategy consulting at EY.
• Local work: several years studying Boise and Treasure Valley businesses, including medical equipment service, industrial calibration, commercial irrigation, fleet compliance, cemetery management, and architectural and drafting services.
• After close: owner, not operator. Daily operations stay with a management team, and who that is gets decided with the seller.

If you want more before you introduce anyone, ask. I will answer diligence questions directly and would rather you ask than guess.

Which clients are worth mentioning?

You probably already know who they are: the owner in their sixties with a good business and no successor, the one whose company depends too much on them personally, the one who has been asking you about taxes on a sale. If a client like that runs a Boise area B2B or commercial services company with $1 million or more in revenue, I would like to hear about it, in general terms, whenever you think the timing is right for them.

How do you refer a client without creating problems for yourself?

• Ask the client first. Do not send me a name until your client says yes. Until then, a blind description is plenty: what the business does, roughly how big, roughly where. I will tell you on the spot whether it is worth a second conversation.
• A one-line introduction is enough. "Jeff, my client owns a commercial services business in Nampa, is thinking about the next few years, and would take a call."
• You keep the relationship. No engagement letter, no exclusivity, no obligation for you or your client. Stay in the loop or step out; your client decides, and I will copy you on everything or nothing.
• Sit in on any call you like. Many owners want their CPA or attorney on the first call, and that is welcome.
• Do not send financials. I do not want them until your client has agreed and a confidentiality agreement is signed.
• If a broker is engaged, tell me. I work through the broker and do not interfere with that arrangement.
• If you are unsure whether an introduction is appropriate under your own professional rules, ask us before making it, and check with your own governing body.
• Or simply point the client to this site and let them contact me directly.

If it is easier to forward something, there is a one page summary written to be sent on unchanged: what I buy, what I will discuss, what I cannot promise before seeing the business, and what contacting me does not commit anyone to. It prints on one sheet.

What will we do with an introduction, and what won't we?

How do we handle confidentiality?

Nothing identifying is needed for a first conversation. Once your client wants to go further, we sign a confidentiality agreement before any financials change hands. Information stays with me and the accountant and attorney I engage for confirmatory review, all bound by the same agreement. There is no outside deal team and no data room shared with parties your client has not approved. Meetings can happen off-site, after hours, or in your office. Employees learn about a sale on the owner's timeline. If talks end, we return or destroy what we received.

Do we pay finder's fees?

We do not pay finder's fees to licensed advisors (CPAs, attorneys, bankers, wealth advisors) unless their client agrees in writing. The reason is simple: your client should never wonder whether your advice was paid for by the buyer, and many professional standards restrict referral fees or require disclosure. If you are unsure whether that applies to your situation, ask us. We would rather answer the question up front than have it come up at closing.

Business brokers are a separate case. I am not a broker and I mostly buy directly from owners, but if you represent a business that fits, send it. Your arrangement with your client is yours, and I respect it.

Why might your client prefer a local buyer?

Between 2021 and 2026, at least eight long-time Boise area HVAC and plumbing firms were sold to out-of-state private equity buyers [BoiseDev, Aug 2025; Arthur Berry & Co., May 2026]. That path suits some owners. Others care about who runs the company, whether the name stays, what happens to key people, and how their own exit is paced. Those are decisions we make with the seller, not terms handed to them.

Structure is part of that. Timing, transition length, the seller's ongoing role, and how and when the seller is paid can be arranged in ways private equity and industry buyers usually cannot match. Those choices have tax and estate consequences, which is exactly why we want you in the room.

On price: I work from the numbers. For reference, the IBBA Market Pulse for the first quarter of 2026 reports median multiples of 2.8 to 3.0 times seller's discretionary earnings for transactions of $500,000 to $2 million, and 4.0 times EBITDA for $2 million to $50 million [IBBA Market Pulse Q1 2026]. I price against the business as it is, and I show my work to the client and to you.

What should you send?

• Business type and city
• Approximate revenue
• What the owner wants: rough timeline, and whether they want out or want a role

No documents are needed for a first conversation. Email jeffrey.richardson@swabian.co or call (208) 890-4649.