FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Micro-cap and lower-market buyers and sellers face systemic challenges due to high fees, staffing gaps, and data limitations. God Bless Retirement (GBR) addresses these issues with a data consortium and consultative approach, proactively reshaping the market.
Dr. Brandon Chicotsky, Managing Principal at God Bless Retirement and Marketing Professor at the TCU Neeley School of Business
God Bless Retirement (GBR), a Fort Worth–based, family-led firm, has built a data consortium, in-house software tooling, and a consultative capability that has solved a broken market. At a moment when millions of small-business owners are set to retire in the coming decade, the stakes could not be higher.
Why the Market Fails Main Street
Fee economics and staffing models explain much of the neglect. North American M&A advisors have success-fee ladders that strongly favor larger mandates (Firmex & Axial, 2022–2023). Their non-refundable retainers can total $50,000–$100,000 or more, with little recourse if no deal closes (Founders Advisors, 2024). GBR has cut that upfront expenditure by over 80% (with plans to cut more) with their tech-forward and associate broker program.
Meanwhile, supply is enormous but fragmented. More than 50,000 businesses are publicly listed for sale at any given time, with millions more never formally marketed (BizBuySell, 2025). Yet, across corporate M&A, roughly 70 percent of deals fail to create value (Harvard Business Review, 2011, 2016, 2020; KPMG Research). When failure rates are already that high at the top end, the inefficiencies in the lower market become crushing.
The demographic wave makes the issue urgent. Project Equity (2023) estimates that baby boomers own over 2.3 million employer businesses, collectively employing more than 25 million people. The U.S. Small Business Administration (2024) places the total number of small businesses in the country at 33.5 million. As these owners retire, succession will increasingly depend on smooth transactions. Yet financing pathways remain fragile. The FDIC Community Banking Study (2020) and FDIC Small Business Lending Survey (2024) show that community banks, which hold only 15 percent of total banking assets, nonetheless account for 36 percent of small-business loans. Their relationship-driven underwriting requires well-prepared files, but many owners lack the support to meet those expectations. If these transactions fail, retirement nest eggs vanish, jobs are lost, and lenders lose viable credits. This looming “silver wave” highlights how vital the lower market really is.
For sellers, the stakes are financial and emotional. Pew Research Center (2024) finds that Americans consistently trust small businesses more than any other institution. The Edelman Trust Barometer (2024) shows that business overall is the most trusted institution in society, with stakeholders demanding values in action. Yet these expectations rise at a time when civic anchors are weakening. Gallup (2024) reports a near-record-low share of Americans describe themselves as “very proud” to be American, while Pew (2024) finds that religious affiliation continues its decades-long decline.
Against this backdrop, God Bless Retirement is steadfastly patriotic and mission-oriented. The firm’s leadership believes serving Main Street is a civic imperative and a moral calling to help families and communities pass businesses to the next generation.
GBR’s Data Consortium Reshaping M&A
One of the firm’s differentiators lies in its information advantage. GBR spent a year negotiating a consortium of data partnerships where providers are compensated only after deals close, a structure designed to align incentives. Public filings, licenses, procurement records, and private databases are aggregated, cleaned, and unified through entity resolution. Machine learning tools then model indicators such as hiring velocity, supplier ties, and digital footprint to estimate both the likelihood of an owner considering a sale and the bankability of a potential transaction. These outputs are routed to trained business development representatives who adopt a consultative selling model. If there is no value alignment, they are instructed to walk away. The approach is designed to be ethical and disciplined, in sharp contrast to the transactional culture of many brokerage firms. McKinsey (2023) finds that AI-enabled commercial growth programs consistently boost productivity and conversion. GBR adapts those lessons to M&A with talent drawn from programs such as the national-leading TCU Sales Center at the TCU Neeley School of Business, where the firm’s managing principal, Dr. Brandon Chicotsky, also serves as a professor.
“We are on the cusp of decoding what has riddled brokerages for over a century in lower market M&A,” Chicotsky says.
The opportunity cost of failed transactions is vast. IBBA (2023) and other industry sources note that many small businesses listed for sale never close, with buyers abandoning searches and owners withdrawing from the market. GBR reports higher close rates than this baseline by proactively making a two-sided market instead of waiting for listings to draw counterparties. Counterintuitively, the firm welcomes more mission-led entrants. “We critically need faith-led service professionals to support the greatest liquidation era in American history,” its leadership argues. “Our country’s small business owners need more value-driven financial service providers to effectuate deals and honor these families.”
The silver wave of retiring owners may well expose a gap between what business owners need and what traditional intermediaries deliver. God Bless Retirement is meeting this moment by combining data science, consultative outbound development, and values-driven stewardship. Its leaders argue that as goes Main Street, so goes America.
Learn more about God Bless Retirement at GodBlessRetirement.com. Or contact them at info@godblessretirement.com. Ready to buy or sell a business? Book a consultation with GBR. Connect with Dr. Chicotsky on LinkedIn or follow GBR’s LinkedIn page.
Citations
Firmex & Axial. M&A Fee Guide 2022–2023. Data on engagement fees and deal-size incentives.
Founders Advisors. M&A Retainer Fee Structures (2024). Guidance on non-refundable retainers totaling $50k–$100k+.
BizBuySell. Small Business For Sale Marketplace (accessed 2025). Report of 50,000+ businesses listed at any time.
Harvard Business Review. “The Big Idea: The New M&A Playbook” (2011); “The New M&A Playbook, Revisited” (2016); and subsequent HBR features (2020). Findings that ~70% of deals fail to create value.
KPMG. Global M&A Predictor / M&A Outlook (various years). Supporting research on failure rates in dealmaking.
Project Equity. Baby Boomer Business Owner Report (2023). Estimate of 2.3M+ boomer-owned employer businesses employing 25M+ people.
U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy. Small Business Profile (2024). Total of 33.5M U.S. small businesses.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Community Banking Study (2020). Community banks’ share of industry assets and small-business lending.
FDIC. Small Business Lending Survey (2024). Finding that community banks hold ~36% of small-business loans.
Pew Research Center. Public Views of Small Business (2024). Americans’ trust in small business as the most positively viewed institution.
Edelman. Trust Barometer (2024). Business as the most trusted institution; stakeholders expect values in action.
Gallup. American Pride Survey (2024). Share of Americans “very proud” to be American near record lows.
Pew Research Center. Religious Affiliation Trends (2024). Continued rise of the religiously unaffiliated (“nones”).
McKinsey & Company. The State of AI in Sales and Commercial Growth (2023). Finding that AI-enabled commercial growth boosts sales productivity and conversion.
International Business Brokers Association (IBBA). Market Pulse Report (2023). Data on how many small businesses listed for sale never close.
Media Contact:
Brandon Chicotsky, Ph.D.
Managing Principal, God Bless Retirement
Website: GodBlessRetirement.com
Email: info@godblessretirement.com
LinkedIn – God Bless Retirement
LinkedIn – Dr. Brandon Chicotsky
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