How to Create a CIM Without a Broker
What Is a CIM?
A CIM (Confidential Information Memorandum) is the document you give serious buyers so they can evaluate your business. You might also hear it called an "offering memorandum" or "info memo." They all mean the same thing: a full overview of your business, its financials, how it operates, and why someone should buy it.
Think of it as your business's resume for buyers. Just like you wouldn't send a blank resume to a job interview, you wouldn't invite a buyer to the table without a CIM. It takes everything a buyer needs to know and puts it in one organized document.
Brokers typically charge $5,000 to $15,000 to create a CIM, on top of their commission. But there's nothing magic about the document itself. If you know your business well enough to run it, you know it well enough to write a CIM.
Why Does a CIM Matter?
The CIM is what separates casual interest from real intent. Before the CIM, a buyer is browsing. After the CIM, they're evaluating. Every serious acquisition follows this same arc: the buyer sees the listing, signs an NDA, reviews the CIM, and then decides whether to move forward with an offer.
A strong CIM saves you time. It answers the questions buyers would otherwise ask in five separate phone calls.
It also signals that you're a prepared, organized seller. Buyers notice that. A sloppy or incomplete CIM makes buyers wonder what else you're not on top of.
What Buyers Read First
Financials. Always financials.
You can write the most compelling business narrative in the world, and buyers will still flip straight to the P&L and the revenue trends. We've seen this pattern across hundreds of deals on Rejigg. Buyers want to understand the money before they care about anything else.
This means your financial section needs to be airtight. Clean numbers, clearly presented, with add-backs explained. If a buyer finds a discrepancy in your financials, they'll question everything else in the document. If the financials are clean and easy to follow, they'll give you the benefit of the doubt on the softer sections.
What Goes in a CIM
A typical CIM runs 15 to 25 pages. That's the sweet spot.
Under 15 pages and buyers feel like something's missing. Over 25 and they start skimming. Here's what each section should cover.
Executive Summary
This is the one-page pitch for your business. Write it last, after you've completed every other section. It should cover what your business does, where it operates, key financial highlights (revenue, EBITDA or SDE, growth trajectory), and why you're selling.
Keep it tight. A buyer should be able to read this page and know whether they want to keep reading. Lead with your strongest numbers.
Business Overview
Cover the basics: when you founded the company, what you sell or what services you provide, who your customers are, and where you operate. If you have multiple locations or service areas, list them.
This section should also explain your business model. How do you make money? Recurring contracts, project-based work, retail sales?
Be specific. A buyer evaluating a landscaping company cares whether revenue comes from one-time installs or monthly maintenance agreements. That distinction changes how they value the business.
Financial Performance
This is the most important section. Include at minimum three years of historical financials: revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, and net income or EBITDA. Five years is even better if you have it.
Present your financials in a simple table format. Don't bury the numbers in paragraph form.
Show year-over-year trends clearly. If revenue dipped in 2023, explain why. Buyers are going to ask anyway.
Include your add-backs, which are personal expenses or one-time costs you've run through the business. The owner's luxury vehicle lease, a family member on payroll who doesn't really work there, that one-time legal fee from a settled dispute. These get added back to show what the business actually earns for an owner-operator. This is how you arrive at SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings) or adjusted EBITDA.
If you use QuickBooks, Rejigg's integration can pull your financial data automatically and populate your listing profile. That saves you from building spreadsheets from scratch and reduces the chance of manual errors.
Operations
Explain how the business actually runs day to day. How many employees do you have?
What does the org chart look like? What software and systems do you use? What does a typical week look like?
The question buyers are really asking here is: "Can this business run without the current owner?" If you're the one taking every customer call, managing every job, and making every decision, that's a risk. Show buyers what you've already systematized. If you have an operations manager who handles daily execution, say so. That's a massive selling point.
Include any key vendor relationships, equipment that's critical to operations, and real estate arrangements (owned vs. leased, lease terms, transferability). If you have SOPs documented, mention that. Buyers love seeing that processes live somewhere other than the owner's head.
Market and Industry
Give buyers context for where your business sits. How big is the market? Is it growing? Who are your main competitors, and what sets you apart?
You don't need a 20-page market research report. Two to three pages that cover the relevant trends is enough.
If you're selling an HVAC company in Phoenix, talk about population growth in the metro area and the age of the housing stock. If you're selling a SaaS company, talk about the TAM (Total Addressable Market) and where you fit. Make the data specific to your geography and your niche.
Growth Opportunities
This section is where you show buyers the upside. What could a new owner do that you haven't done?
Maybe you've never invested in digital marketing and there's clear opportunity there. Maybe you've turned down work in an adjacent service area. Maybe there's a product line you've been meaning to launch.
Be honest and realistic. Buyers are skeptical of growth projections from sellers. Concrete opportunities with some supporting evidence ("We get 10 inbound calls a month for commercial work that we currently turn down") are far more convincing than vague assertions about untapped markets.
Asking Price and Valuation Rationale
State your asking price and show how you arrived at it. What multiple are you applying, and to what earnings figure? How does that compare to similar businesses that have sold recently?
If you haven't figured out your valuation yet, Rejigg's free valuation calculator uses real transaction multiples adjusted for your add-backs. It gives you a defensible starting point.
Buyers respect sellers who can explain their number. "I'm asking $2.4 million based on a 4x multiple of $600K adjusted EBITDA, which is in line with recent transactions for businesses of this size in my industry." That's a sentence that builds credibility. Understanding how to value your business before you write the CIM makes this section much easier.
Transition Plan
Outline how you'd support the buyer through the transition. How long are you willing to stay? What does training look like? Who are the key relationships (customers, vendors, employees) that need to be personally introduced?
Most buyers want 60 to 90 days of transition support, sometimes longer for complex businesses. Being upfront about your willingness to help signals that you care about the business surviving after you leave. That matters to buyers.
Include specifics about what the transition covers. Will you introduce the buyer to every major client personally?
Will you train them on the software systems? Will you stay on the phone for a few months to handle questions as they come up? The more concrete you are, the more confident a buyer feels about stepping in.
The Blind Profile: What to Share Before the NDA
Before a buyer signs an NDA, you'll want to share a "blind profile" or "teaser." This is a one to two page summary that describes your business without revealing its identity. It typically includes the industry, general geographic region, revenue range, earnings range, and asking price range.
The goal is to give buyers enough information to decide whether they're interested, without exposing who you are. You don't want your employees, customers, or competitors finding out you're selling before you're ready.
On Rejigg, this is built into the platform. Your listing profile shows enough to attract serious buyers, and NDAs are managed digitally. Buyers can't access your detailed financials or identify your business until they've signed. No need to create a separate teaser document.
Common CIM Mistakes
Making it too long. A 50-page CIM doesn't make your business look more valuable. It makes buyers wonder if you're burying something in the noise. Be thorough but concise.
Being too vague. "We have a strong customer base" means nothing. "We have 340 active accounts, 85% retention rate year over year, with our top customer representing 8% of revenue" means everything. Specifics build trust.
Hiding weaknesses. Every business has them. If your revenue dipped last year, if you lost a major customer, if your equipment needs replacing, say so.
Buyers will find out during due diligence anyway. Being upfront about weaknesses actually builds credibility. Frame them honestly and, when possible, explain what you've done to address them.
Using jargon your buyer won't understand. The person reading your CIM might come from a completely different industry. They might be a first-time buyer. Write so that a smart person who doesn't know your business can follow along.
Skipping the add-backs. If you don't show adjusted earnings, buyers will look at your tax returns and see a much smaller number than what the business actually earns. SDE and adjusted EBITDA exist for a reason. Document every add-back with an explanation.
How to Actually Write It
Here's the practical process for getting your CIM done.
Start with the financials. Pull three to five years of P&Ls, balance sheets, and tax returns. Calculate your SDE or adjusted EBITDA. This is the foundation that everything else supports.
Write the operations section next. Walk through a typical week.
Describe each role. Document your systems. This is usually the easiest section because you're just describing what you already do.
Then do the business overview and market sections. These require some research (comparable sales, industry data), but they're mostly about providing context for the numbers you've already laid out.
Write the growth opportunities and transition plan. These are forward-looking sections. Be specific and honest.
Write the executive summary last. Once you've completed everything else, you'll know which highlights deserve to lead the document.
Get a second set of eyes. Have your accountant review the financials section. Have someone outside your industry read the whole thing and flag anything confusing. Fresh eyes catch what yours can't.
The whole process typically takes two to three weeks if you dedicate a few hours per week to it. Most of the time goes into gathering and organizing financials.
If your books are already clean, you can move faster. If they're messy, cleaning them up before you write the CIM is time well spent. Buyers will ask for the source documents anyway.
How Rejigg Replaces Most of the CIM
If you're selling without a broker, you might be wondering whether you even need a formal CIM. For many deals on Rejigg, the listing profile and data room together cover what a traditional CIM does.
Your Rejigg listing profile captures the business overview, financial highlights, operations summary, and growth opportunities in a structured format. The built-in data room lets you upload detailed financials, tax returns, contracts, and supporting documents. You control who sees what and when, and everything is behind an NDA.
The QuickBooks integration can auto-populate your financial data, so you're not manually building spreadsheets. Buyers on Rejigg care about the same things whether they see it in a CIM or a listing profile.
For straightforward deals (service businesses, small to mid-size companies, clean financials), the listing profile and data room are usually enough. Buyers get everything they need, organized and secured, without you spending weeks formatting a PDF.
When You Might Still Want a Formal CIM
Larger and more complex deals sometimes benefit from a standalone CIM document. If your business has multiple divisions, complex revenue streams, or you're targeting institutional buyers or private equity firms, a polished CIM can be worth the effort. These buyers are used to reviewing formal CIMs, and presenting one signals that you're running a professional process.
Even then, you can write it yourself following the structure above. You don't need to pay a broker or advisor $10,000 for document preparation. The content is the same whether it's in a PDF or on your listing profile. What matters is that the information is accurate, complete, and clearly presented.
If you're ready to start, create your free listing on Rejigg and begin building your business profile. You'll be surprised how much of the CIM work gets done in the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should a CIM be?
A CIM should be 15 to 25 pages. That's long enough to cover financials, operations, and growth opportunities in meaningful detail, but short enough that buyers will actually read it. Anything over 30 pages signals disorganization. Focus on the information buyers need to decide whether to make an offer.
Can I write a CIM myself or do I need a broker?
You can absolutely write a CIM yourself. The document is a structured summary of your business, financials, and operations. You know your business better than any broker will after a few meetings. Follow the standard sections (executive summary, financials, operations, market, growth, transition plan), get your accountant to review the numbers, and you'll have a professional result.
What is the difference between a CIM and a blind profile?
A blind profile is a one to two page teaser that describes your business without revealing its identity. It includes industry, region, and financial ranges.
A CIM is the full document shared after a buyer signs an NDA, containing detailed financials, operations, and everything else. The blind profile gets buyers interested. The CIM gets them to make an offer.
What financials should I include in a CIM?
Include three to five years of revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, and net income or EBITDA. Show add-backs clearly so buyers can see adjusted earnings (SDE or adjusted EBITDA). Present the data in tables with year-over-year comparisons. Tax returns and detailed P&Ls should also be available in your data room for buyers who want to dig deeper.
Do buyers actually read the whole CIM?
Most buyers skip straight to the financials first. If the numbers look good, they'll read the operations and growth sections next.
The executive summary gets read if it's on the first page. The market analysis section is usually skimmed. Knowing this, put your strongest content in the financials and executive summary, and keep the rest clear and scannable.
