By Tipp Spradlin
Fighter pilot John Boyd developed a decision-making framework called the OODA Loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The idea is that the faster you can cycle through these four steps, the faster you can move. But if you get stuck in any one of them, you’re paralyzed.
I’ve been watching this play out with FSBO buyers lately (that’s For Sale By Owner; pronounced ‘fizz-bo’). And they’re all stuck in the same place of knowing they don’t know how to buy a business. Many of them turn to AI for help.
Starting in Observe mode, they ask AI how to value a business. How to structure a deal. What to watch out for. What financials to request. What legal documents matter. How to find out if the price is fair. And AI gives them answers. Lots of them. Frameworks. Checklists. Rabbit holes. AI can be a useful resource, but it’s designed to give the user a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ experience that has no ending until they run out of usage credits. Or hopefully a loved one pulls them away from the brink before their brain glitches and face melts.
Then they try to Orient themselves with all that information. Here’s where AI becomes a liability: it only has access to open-source information and whatever the user feeds it. It doesn’t have access to the confidential data that actually matters, like recent business sales, actual multiples paid, what healthy cash flow looks like for a specific market, or buyer trends. That data lives safely offline, in the broker’s experiences, files and closed deals. It’s intentionally private.
That doesn’t stop AI from confidently giving answers based on incomplete information presented as facts. It generates checklists and structures offers that feel comprehensive but miss the context that would actually help them Decide. They end up with a mountain of information and a sea of confusion.
Now they’re stuck. They know what to ask, but not why it matters. They don’t know which questions move the needle and which ones are academic. They can’t Decide because there’s not enough context to evaluate the mountain of information.
They’re no longer in a productive decision-making loop; instead, they find themselves in Observe, Overwhelm, Brick Wall, Stuck. Getting smarter without getting wiser. So they don’t Act.
A broker doesn’t remove the work. We don’t skip any steps in your OODA Loop. But we compress the timeline and clarify the context. We’ve Observed lots of transactions and understand what it takes to close the deal. We know how to Orient you to what matters like a well-written purchase agreement that protects all parties. We can help you Decide faster because we’ve seen what happens with an inflated valuation during due diligence. This knowledge empowers you to Act on solid ground.
That’s not handholding. That’s the difference between Information and Knowledge.
If you’re looking at a FSBO business and you’re feeling paralyzed and drowning in questions and data but unable to move, it’s time to talk to a human. Specifically, a human business broker who can help complete your OODA loop.
Reach out. Let’s get you Oriented.
Tipp Spradlin is a Human Business Sales Advisor with First Choice Business Brokers, NW Florida, helping buyers navigate business transactions with clarity and confidence. Reach her at tipp.spradlin@fcbb.com or 850-532-8882.
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