Your retiring clients
need somewhere to go.
You are the person they ask first. You are not an M&A shop, and the business is too small for one. Sellvara is a confidential, Canadian marketplace built for that gap. You keep the relationship. We handle the process.
No signup. No commitment.
You stay hands-on. Start to close.
Referring a client to Sellvara is not a handoff. You keep visibility and control of your client's listing and process: you approve which buyers see the confidential package, you set the listing status, and you move the deal stage forward as it progresses. Nothing about your client goes out without your client and you seeing it first.
Approve buyer access
Every NDA request is yours to approve or decline before a single financial statement is released.
Set the listing status
Draft, live, confidential, or paused. You and your client decide what the market can see and when.
Advance the deal
Prospecting through closing, with a timestamped activity log of every action taken on the file.
The question you cannot answer well.
A client of twenty years tells you they are done in three years. They ask what happens to the business. You know their numbers better than anyone. You also know a broker will not touch a company this size, their kids do not want it, and the buyer is not in their contact list. So the conversation ends where it started. Most of these businesses simply close.
The largest transfer in our history
A generation of small business owners is retiring. Most will ask their accountant first, and their accountant will have nowhere to send them.
The advisor they trust
You know the numbers, the story, and what they want out of an exit. A referral should not cost you the relationship or add to your workload.
The marketplace, not the advisor
We qualify buyers, gate the financials, and run the process. The tax and legal questions still come back to you.
Confidential by default. Not a classified ad.
The reason advisors hesitate is exposure. A listing that leaks tells staff, customers, and competitors that the owner is leaving. Sellvara is built so that cannot happen by accident.
No name. No address.
The public listing shows an industry, a region, and a revenue range. Nothing that identifies the business. Your client decides what is visible before anything goes live.
Financials stay locked.
Exact figures, the legal name, and the documents are released only to a buyer who signs an NDA and is marked qualified. That gate is on by default.
Built for this market.
T2 and T2125. GST/HST. WSIB. Vendor take-back financing. Share sale versus asset sale, with the LCGE flagged where it matters. Not a US platform with a maple leaf on it.
You stay the trusted advisor.
A referral should not cost you the relationship or add to your workload. It does neither.
You stay named on the file
Your client tells us you are their advisor when they list. You remain part of the conversation, not a handoff.
We do not compete with you
We are not accountants and not lawyers. We do not give tax or legal advice. Those questions come back to you.
No platform to learn
Nothing to manage, no dashboard to check, no training. You make an introduction. That is the whole ask.
Your client stays in control
They set what is public, who sees what, and when. If they change their mind, the listing comes down.
Three steps, and two of them are ours.
You make an introduction
An email, or send them the link. Tell them what it is and that you know the people behind it. That is the extent of your involvement unless you want more.
They build a confidential listing
A guided flow walks them through the business, the numbers, and the deal they want. They control what is public and what stays behind the NDA. They can save and come back.
We qualify the buyers
Nothing confidential is released to anyone who has not signed an NDA. Your client is notified for every access request and approves each one. If they want a formal valuation, we connect them with an accredited Chartered Business Valuator.
Refer. Stay in control. Track to close.
- 01
Refer the client
Send your link or make an introduction. Your name is attached to the file from the first minute.
- 02
Stay in control of the listing
Approve NDA requests, set what is public versus confidential, and keep the listing on your client's terms.
- 03
Track the deal to close
Watch the stage move from prospecting to closing, with a timestamped log of every action.
An advisor referral unlocks two badges.
Buyers filter hard. These two badges appear on your client's listing and tell the market the file has been through a professional, not just typed into a form.
Referral Verified
The listing came through a named professional advisor who remains involved. Buyers read that as clean books, realistic expectations, and a seller who is genuinely ready.
Valuation Verified
Your client used a Sellvara valuation product, so the asking range is backed by work rather than a hope. Fewer tire-kickers, faster conversations with serious buyers.
The things advisors actually ask.
What happens if word gets out that my client is selling?
That is the failure we designed against first. The public listing carries no business name, no address, and no exact financials. Only a category, a region, and a range. Identifying details and documents unlock for a buyer who has signed an NDA and been approved by your client. Your client also chooses whether photos are public or held back, because a storefront photo identifies a business faster than a name does.
Am I handing my client to someone else?
No. We are a marketplace, not an advisory firm. We do not provide tax or legal advice and the product says so on the page where it matters. When your client hits a question about a share sale versus an asset sale, or the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption, the answer is to talk to you. Your name and firm are captured on the listing.
How much work is this for me?
One introduction. There is no portal for you to log into, no forms to complete, and nothing to maintain. If you want visibility into how your client's listing is progressing, we can set that up. If you would rather never think about it again after the intro, that works too.
Is there a referral fee?
That depends on your professional obligations, and it is a conversation rather than a checkbox. Referral compensation is restricted for some advisors, and the rules differ depending on your designation, your relationship to the client, and the structure of the transaction. We would rather talk it through with you than advertise a number that half our referral partners are not permitted to accept.
Who is behind this?
Sellvara is early and Canadian, based in the GTA and focused on Ontario first. We are talking to advisors before we scale, because the advisor relationship is the part we intend to get right rather than fast. If you take the call, you are shaping what this becomes.
Fifteen minutes. Tell us what this needs to be.
You know what your clients need at the end better than we do. We would like to hear it before we build the rest of this. Fifteen minutes, by video or phone. No pitch deck.
Book a conversationRefer a client in under a minute.
Introduce a retiring owner to Sellvara. We will handle the listing, the NDAs, and the qualified buyers.