Welcome back to The Legacy Brief.

Heirly's monthly dispatch on the Canadian business acquisition market. Short, data-backed, and worth your time. Here is what we are watching this month.

The Market Pulse

A new report from McKinsey published in February 2026 put a number on something most business owners quietly sense but rarely say out loud.

92% of small business exits in the United States end in closure - not in a sale. Not in a planned transition. In closure. McKinsey calls it the Great Ownership Transfer - 6 million businesses expected to change hands this decade, with $5 trillion in enterprise value at stake. Most of it disappearing quietly, not because the businesses failed, but because no buyer was ever found.

The picture in Canada is similar. Over $2 trillion in business assets are expected to change hands this decade as Baby Boomer owners retire. According to MNP's 2025 Succession Readiness Report, 64% of Canadian business owners have thought seriously about their exit but have never formalized a plan.

The buyers exist. Buyer demand for established Canadian businesses is accelerating - driven by a growing generation of serious operators and investors looking for profitable, proven businesses to acquire. The Bank of Canada's rate reductions through 2025 and into 2026 have made acquisition financing meaningfully more accessible.

The gap is not demand. The gap is the introduction.

Sources: McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, February 2026 | MNP Succession Readiness Report, 2025 | CFIB, 2023

The Question

This month we asked: what is the first thing a business owner should do when they start thinking about selling?

"Get the number."

The single most important first step is understanding what your business is actually worth today - not what you think it is worth, not what it was worth five years ago, and not what you hope to retire on. The real number, based on current market conditions, your industry, and your financials. That number shapes every decision that follows - your timeline, your options, and whether your retirement is funded the way you intended.

Heirly's free valuation tool gives established Canadian business owners exactly that. Private, instant, and backed by real financial benchmarks and industry data. No obligation. No one finds out you asked.

Get yours at Heirly.

"Tell the right person - not everyone."

The second step is choosing carefully who you bring into the conversation. Telling the wrong person too early - a supplier, an employee, a competitor - can create instability before any process has even begun. The sellers who navigate this well are the ones who move privately and deliberately, using trusted channels rather than public ones. On Heirly, sellers can require buyers to sign a legally binding NDA before any deal information is shared - embedded directly into the platform, before any conversation begins.

"Start earlier than you think you need to."

A well-run sale process for an established business typically takes six to eighteen months from initial preparation to close. Owners who start thinking about this early have more options, attract better buyers, and preserve more of what they built. The ones who start too late often make decisions under pressure they later regret.

A Note From Toyin

Something I have noticed in the conversations I have been having with business owners over the past few months.

The ones who reach out are almost never in a rush. They are thoughtful. Private. They have been turning this over in their mind for a while before they say anything to anyone.

That is exactly the kind of owner Heirly was built for.

If that sounds like you, or someone you know, I would love to connect.