About John Mittelstet

John Mittelstet is the Managing Partner of the San Jose office of M&A Business Advisors in Campbell, CA, a full-service Business Brokerage and M&A Advisory Firm in the Western US. John has over 25 years of experience representing Sellers and Buyers in the CONFIDENTIAL sale of privately owned Businesses in a wide range of industries including Manufacturing (machine shops, printing companies, niche market products, etc.), Service, Technology, Software, Distribution, Construction (ready-mix and lumber yards), Automotive (repair and dealerships), Food & Beverage related businesses as well as other industries.  In his Business Brokerage career, John has sold businesses of all sizes, but for the last five years has focused on companies with sales ranging from $2MM to $30MM. Though John’s hallmark strength is getting transactions to a Closing with satisfied Buyers and Sellers on each side of the table, John is known for his ability to quickly come up to speed on what makes a business click, and highlighting a business’s strengths for maximum anticipated benefit by the Buyer.   John has closed hundreds of businesses during his career, and almost all have gotten to the Closing table without employees knowing the business was for sale.  No small feat.  But to maximize what a seller can realize at the Closing, John believes in opening the sale to other trusted business brokers, trained in the necessity of confidentiality, and their buyers to effect price competition amongst as many confidentially disclosed buyers as possible.

John has been licensed with the California BRE since 1992 and his credentials include a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics from Texas Tech University. Additionally, John has earned the designation of Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) from the International Business Brokers Association. The CBI designation is granted to a select group of individuals who are seasoned in the industry, have completed over 68 hours of course work including financial analysis, pricing/valuation, legal and tax implications related to the sale or purchase of a business and have passed a comprehensive exam. With this designation comes the assurance that you will be working with an individual who is specifically trained, and has met all the requirements to be a professional and knowledgeable intermediary on your behalf.

John is also a Certified Business Broker (CBB) through the California Association of Business Brokers (CABB) and has been elected to the CABB Board of Director from 1995 – 2013. He was also elected the 2000-2001 President of CABB by his peers. John helped design and teach the 2-Day CABB Introduction to Business Brokerage class in Northern California from its inception in 2008 through 2012. John also helped design and teach the CABB’s Certified Business Broker re-certification class.

During his business brokerage career, John has managed from 6-13 agents at any given time with oversight responsibility for their transactions over a period of 21 years, adding another 500+ transactions to his experience.  During his 21 years as Senior Vice-President and as a Team-Leader with another firm, his team was, in most years, the top producing sales team for the company.

Prior to Business Brokerage, John spent two years out of college being a computer programmer, was hired by IBM as an applications engineer, and soon thereafter was selling mainframe computers for IBM, where each year he earned membership in the 100% Club,  and was a member of the Golden Circle his last year in sales.  His career at IBM spanned 13 years and included other stints as 1) Los Angeles Western Region Marketing Support conducting Data Base/ Data Communications seminars from Hawaii to Carbondale, Illinois, (and all Data Processing Sales Branch Offices in-between) to Branch Office sales staff and their customers, and 2) a Product Planner in IBM’s Austin manufacturing plant.

John left IBM to co-found, with three other IBMers in Silicon Valley, a then state-of-the-art thin-film recording head (for disk drives) manufacturing company called Dastek.  After its successful sale to Dysan, and over the next ten years, John worked with, or cofounded three other not-as-successful Silicon Valley startups.  All this business ownership experience has helped John step into each of his Sellers’ and Buyers’ shoes to comfortably advise them on the successful acquisition and/or sale of their business.

Regardless of size, selling or buying a business can be a complex and time-consuming process. John makes this process a smooth and fair experience for all parties involved. References are available upon request. John can be reached at or (408) 460-5446.

Call for a complimentary consultation or opinion of value.

Background:

• Licensed with the California BRE since 1992
• Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics from Texas Tech University
• Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) from IBBA (International Business Broker Association)
• Certified Business Broker (CBB) from CABB (California Business Broker Association)
• 2000-2001 – Served as President of the CABB and was an active Board of Director Member from 1995 through 2012. Taught CABB’s two-day Introduction to Business Brokerage for five years throughout Northern California and at statewide conferences. John helped architect and has also taught CABB’s Certified Business Broker re-certification class.

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