What We’ve Learned in 3 Years, Hundreds of Closings, and Billions in ETA Legal Support

After three years working almost exclusively on ETA and lower-middle-market acquisitions, a few things have become very clear. At SMB Law Group (https://smblaw.group/) we’ve supported 330+ closed acquisitions since 2022, representing over $1.5B in aggregate purchase price, across 39 states and dozens of industries. Nearly 90% of our work is buyer-side, often SBA-backed, and typically involves first-time or early repeat operators acquiring businesses in the $1–10M range. Here’s what stands out in hindsight. First: industry concentration is real, but not in the way people think. Trades and home services (HVAC, roofing, electrical, cleaning) consistently show up near the top. Manufacturing, accounting, professional services, and distribution aren’t far behind. But a huge portion of ETA deals live in a long tail of niche service businesses that don’t fit clean labels. The ETA acquisition market is fragmented. Second: deal problems repeat, regardless of industry. Customer concentration, key employee risk, working capital fights, seller fatigue, lender disorganizations, once you’ve seen these issues enough times, you stop being surprised by them. Industry matters, but patterns matter more. Third: most deals don’t fail because of price. They stall or die because of process, misaligned expectations, slow decision-making, or advisors treating a $2–5M deal like a $50M one. The smaller the deal, the less room there is for friction. Fourth: volume changes how you practice. After enough closings, legal work shifts from “negotiating everything” to “explaining how things work.” The value isn’t clever drafting, it’s judgment, sequencing, and knowing where not to spend time. Finally: ETA rewards discipline more than brilliance. The buyers who close consistently aren’t the smartest in the room. They’re the most prepared, the most decisive, and the least emotional once the process starts. Three years in, the biggest takeaway is simple: ETA isn’t about finding a perfect business. It’s about navigating an imperfect process repeatedly, and getting a little better each time. Curious what others have seen repeat across deals.