AI-built information memorandum in 24 hours
By Chris at Sell LtdLast updated The 24-hour SLA — what happens when
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| T+0 | Seller survey submitted (30-minute self-serve form) |
| T+15 min | Chris finishes ingesting Companies House filings for your company number |
| T+2 h | First draft of the confidential teaser ready for your review |
| T+8 h | Full first-draft IM ready for you to edit inline |
| T+18 h | Sell Ltd editorial team reviews and returns comments |
| T+24 h | IM approved; listing live; outreach queue ready for your green-light |
Full 24-hour cycle from survey to buyer-ready IM. No retainer, no marketing charge.
What goes into a Sell Ltd IM — 10 sections
One page. The elevator pitch: what the business does, who buys from it, why now. Chris writes this last so it reflects the strongest points from the full IM.
History, founding, ownership, group structure. Pre-filled from Companies House (incorporation date, officer register, PSC filings).
What you sell, to whom, at what price. Chris pulls product signals from your website and marketing copy where you provide them.
Market size (ONS/IBIS/trade body), competitive positioning, USP. Chris drafts a baseline; you add the colour that only the founder knows.
Concentration (top 5, top 10), churn, contract length, seasonality. Anonymised in the buyer-facing IM until NDA-signed buyers request depth.
Org chart, key people, dependency on the founder. Buyers price this heavily — the closer to a founder-independent business, the higher the multiple.
3 years of P&L, balance sheet snapshot, current run-rate. Pulled from filed accounts + your seller survey. Add-backs shown separately with a clear methodology note.
The single most-read section by serious buyers. Honesty matters — Chris drafts a neutral version and you edit in your own words.
Not a price tag — a framing: comparable UK SME multiples in your sector and size band, sourced from the Sell Ltd multiples database [Source: Sell Ltd deal multiples, refreshed Q1 2026].
How buyers submit indicative offers, what's in the full data room, who to contact. Contact routes through Sell Ltd or your named human deal lead.
IM checklist — download and prep
Have these ready before you open the survey — you'll get a stronger IM.
- Companies House number (Chris looks up filings automatically)
- Current-year P&L (if not filed yet)
- Top 5 customers as % of revenue
- Any current-year contract wins/losses
- Owner add-backs (car, family salary, one-offs) with amounts
- Reason for sale in your own words (one paragraph)
- Sale timing preference (ASAP, 6 months, 12+ months)
- Any confidentiality constraints (e.g. staff not to be told)
Related product pages
- How the Sell Ltd AI deal adviser worksOne product — Chris, IM builder, buyer matching, deal room, marketplace
- Meet Chris — your AI deal adviserWhat Chris does, what he won't do, the data he reads
- Buyer matching — how Chris finds qualified acquirersCompanies House SIC → strategic-buyer shortlist, sample matches
- The Sell Ltd deal room — private, secure, buyer-readyNDA gating, encrypted docs, audit log, per-buyer permissions
- Sell Ltd pricing — every line item publishedFree to list · 1.5% success · optional managed sale — full teardown
- Managed sale — hybrid AI + human deal teamWhen to pick managed vs self-serve, SLA table, who does what
- How Sell Ltd works — end-to-end seller journeyResearch → Listing → IM → Outreach → Pitch → Qualify, stage by stage
- Confidentiality on Sell Ltd — how buyer NDA worksTeaser gate, click-to-sign NDA, revoke access, sample clauses
- From onboarding to deal in 90 days — the Sell Ltd sprintWeek-by-week playbook, deliverables, common blockers
Frequently asked questions
What is an information memorandum (IM)?
An information memorandum is the confidential sale document a business owner (or their adviser) sends to serious buyers under NDA. It summarises the business, its financials, its market, its team and the reason for sale — enough for a buyer to make an offer-in-principle without seeing the full data room. Traditional brokers charge £3,000–£8,000 embedded in their retainer to produce one.
How long does the Sell Ltd IM builder take?
24 hours from seller survey completion to a first-draft IM ready for your review. Compare to 4–8 weeks at a traditional broker like KBS Corporate, and 8–16 weeks at a boutique. The AI does the heavy lifting; you edit, not draft.
What goes into a Sell Ltd IM?
Executive summary, business overview, product/service, market and competitors, customers and revenue mix, team and org chart, financials (3-year history + current run-rate), reason for sale, valuation framing and next steps. Every section is pre-drafted by Chris from your Companies House filings and seller survey — you edit inline.
Is the AI IM as good as a broker IM?
Structurally, yes — same sections, same buyer-facing polish. Better on data grounding: every number in the IM links back to your filed accounts. Weaker on subjective market colour, which is where you edit in your own knowledge. Our editorial team reviews every IM before it goes live to buyers.
Can I edit the AI-drafted IM?
Yes — every section is editable inline. Ask Chris to rewrite a section, tone it down, expand a paragraph or add a chart. Version history is preserved so you can roll back. When you approve the final version, it becomes the file that gets released to NDA-signed buyers.
Is my IM confidential?
Yes. The public marketplace shows only a confidential teaser (sector, region, turnover band, EBITDA band). The full IM sits in an NDA-gated deal room. Buyers click-to-sign a Sell Ltd standard NDA before they see identifying details, financials or the IM PDF. You can revoke any buyer's access at any time.
How many pages should the IM be?
12–30 pages is the sweet spot for UK SME sales. Under 12 and buyers feel there's nothing to look at; over 30 and buyers stop reading. Chris targets 18–24 pages depending on business complexity. The template auto-adjusts based on your survey answers.
Can I download the IM as a PDF?
Yes. The IM exports as a branded, watermarked PDF with each buyer's name and NDA reference embedded. If a copy leaks, we know who received it. Buyers can also view it inline in the deal room without downloading, if you prefer.
What if I don't have current management accounts?
Chris works from filed accounts (Companies House) as the baseline and asks a small number of targeted questions to bridge from last filed year-end to current trading. If you can supply a current-year P&L, the IM is stronger — but it's not required to publish.
Do buyers get the same IM or a personalised version?
The same base IM. Personalisation happens in the follow-up pitch email (Chris tailors that per buyer) and in Q&A inside the deal room. The IM itself is the same document for every NDA-signed buyer to keep versioning sane and prevent selective disclosure risks.
How much does the IM builder cost?
£0. The IM builder is included in the free listing. You pay the 1.5% success fee only if you complete a sale. If you never publish or never sell, you owe nothing.
Can I use the Sell Ltd IM on other marketplaces?
Yes — the IM PDF is yours to use. You can send it to buyers you sourced yourself, list on BusinessesForSale as a paid ad, or pass it to a lawyer for feedback. There's no exclusivity clause and no lock-in.
Start selling with Chris
Free to list. 1.5% on completion. No retainer, no exclusivity, no six-week wait.