Buying a Small Craft Business: Inside the Stitchcraft Marketing Transition

The first real conversation about buying this agency didn’t happen in a formal setting. It started the way many things in the craft industry do—between two women, built on a long-standing relationship and a shared language of craft. In subsequent conversations, serendipity met opportunity for both buyer and seller and resulted in a successful business sale. Too often, these deals are negotiated privately and as a result, the steps, struggles and nuance of the deal-making never benefits other aspiring business buyers and sellers. This article attempts to bring transparency to a process in an effort to inspire others.

Individual perspectives: Why This Deal Made Sense

For Leanne, the Seller

A few years ago, I started feeling the shift. I’m in my late 50’s and had been planning for early retirement throughout my career–and I was starting to think about what that really looked like. I knew if I wanted to exit strategically, I had to extract myself from daily operations.

Continuity mattered. Shutting down or selling to a generalist agency owner risked losing the industry focus that clients valued. The goal was to find a buyer who understood the craft ecosystem, could lead the team and clients, and embrace tech changes in marketing. Lisa Shroyer had always been in my ecosystem; we worked together at Interweave Press nearly 25 years ago. She was a longtime media operator with deep craft roots and a clear vision for Stitchcraft’s next phase.

Most importantly, she was at a pivotal point in her career where owning a business was something she was open to considering.

For Lisa, the Buyer

Lisa Shroyer, new owner of Stitchcraft Marketing, saw a rare opportunity to combine deep craft roots with strategic growth potential.

“I’m a lifelong crafter, but my professional experience is in audience-driven media and monetization. I knew there wouldn’t be a lot of companies that fit my niche. I love yarn, but I’m not the one to buy a yarn company. I am the one to scale a marketing program for a yarn company.”

The Heavy Lifting:  Due Diligence

Due diligence is the process in which a potential buyer evaluates the assets and liabilities of a company. For Lisa, her  core questions were straightforward and practical. Was there enough margin in the business to comfortably service acquisition debt and still support a reasonable owner salary? Was the revenue base stable and predictable, or was it more fragile? And critically, how much runway would there be to realistically step in, get fully onboarded, and implement improvements at a thoughtful pace?

“I was not looking for perfection. I was looking for durability,” Lisa said.

On the financial side, one  key exercise of due diligence is  often referred to as “recasting” the P&L in an effort to understand true Seller’s Discretionary Earnings and what cash flow would look like under new ownership. For this deal, the numbers needed to support three things simultaneously: ongoing operating expenses, debt service, and owner compensation. This is where many small business deals either work—or quietly don’t.

The seller’s job during due diligence is to present a stable, operationally competent business with existing sales that justify the proposed valuation. Culture alignment and a healthy team are also often considered when the new buyer plans to continue operations.

“I needed confidence that I would not have to aggressively grow revenue on day one simply to make the model viable,” Lisa said. For both parties, that distinction—between a business that requires instant heroics and one that allows for disciplined improvement—was one of the most important insights to come out of diligence.

Due Diligence Takes Time

For many sellers, due diligence is a process that starts several years in advance of offering a business for sale–especially when there are deficits to correct.

“We prepared a repository of documents that my exit strategist advised a seller would request. When Lisa approached me, I had financial templates in place that just needed updating. Many deals are lost when the buyer becomes impatient, so it was critical to be responsive in that regard,” Leanne said

Tip for Future Sellers

If you’re a business owner thinking about selling someday, start viewing your company through a buyer’s lens. They’re not just evaluating revenue—they’re testing margin strength, revenue predictability, and how much the business depends on you personally. The clearer and more durable those fundamentals look, the easier your eventual sale will be.

Other Considerations

Your financial statements are not the only area a potential buyer is evaluating during the due diligence process. In the case of Stitchcraft’s sale, these other valuation points became important to the buyer:

• Workflow documentation
• Reporting consistency and data visibility
• Client onboarding processes
• Tool stack maturity and performance infrastructure
• Team structure and founder dependency risk
• Brand credibility within the craft sector
• Client goodwill and retention patterns
• Realistic growth ceiling of the current service model

After weeks of evaluation, Lisa determined that there were no major red flags, and the books showed a clear opportunity to strengthen systems, strategy, and services.

Deal Structure (The Part Everyone Wants to Know About)

The transaction was structured as an asset purchase, which is common for businesses of this size. The structure included seller financing paired with a defined transition support period to ensure continuity.

Lisa and Leanne ultimately chose seller financing (with a down payment) largely out of necessity and alignment. At the time, the federal government shutdown had indefinitely backlogged SBA loans, and private lending options for a deal of this size were unattractive—high interest rates and insufficient coverage for the amount needed. Seller financing allowed them  to move forward quickly on terms that worked for both sides. It required significant trust on Leanne’s part, but it also offered flexibility to structure a deal that supported a clean, timely transition.

In the weeks between Leanne receiving the letter of intent and the projected closing date, there were direct negotiations around the “levers” of the deal including the asking price, terms of the loan as well as intangibles such as expectations for culture and stewardship, cash flow projections and growth opportunities. The throughline was always risk management for both parties.

Closing and Early Days

The sale successfully closed on January 2, 2026, and Lisa has been operating Stitchcraft as Owner and CEO. Leanne’s role for the next year will be training and transition support as needed. 

“So far, things are going well. The early days have been full and fast-paced—as any new ownership transition is–but that is a story for another day!” Lisa said.

“I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve NOT been needed since closing,” Leanne said. She reports retiring from fulltime ownership has opened up free time, but also forced some self-reflection about ego and life purpose.

Lessons for Craft Industry Sellers

For founders considering an eventual exit, here are some of the factors Leanne found herself weighing along the way:

• Prepare the business early. 3-5 years is a recommended runway from interest in selling to close.
• Reduce founder dependency wherever possible
• Keep revenue trendlines stable into the sale window
• Document core systems and workflows
• Understand true profitability after recasting
• Start conversations before urgency and burnout forces your hand. The strongest exits happen when the business is still healthy—not when the owner is already exhausted.

Lessons for Prospective Buyers

For buyers exploring niche craft businesses, here are a few of the things Lisa found herself paying close attention to:

• High-level trends, year-over-year discrepancies, and major swings in revenue lines
• Hidden operational complexity
• Predictability when it comes to revenue after closing
• Personal runway–Lisa knew she wouldn’t be able to do much outside work through closing and 3 months post sale. This included not depending on immediate income from the business.
• Cash-flow assumptions: Lisa built pro forma’s based on the financials in Due Diligence. She built down case, base case, and growth case scenarios.
• Opportunity: She asked, “Where can I add value to this business? What hasn’t the seller been doing that I can start doing?”

The Bigger Industry Context

Stitchcraft’s transition is part of a broader shift happening across the craft sector. Many founder-led businesses launched in the early digital era are reaching an inflection point as owners evaluate succession, scale, or exit.

Leanne said, “My hope is that more owners in our industry begin having transparent conversations about succession earlier, and more openly, so we can retain as many businesses in the industry as possible.”

In a relationship-driven industry like ours, thoughtful transitions don’t just preserve businesses—they give them room to grow.

Keep an eye out for an exit strategy mastermind coming in the summer of 2026 hosted by Leanne and Lisa. Sign up for the Stitchcraft Marketing newsletter to be notified.

Catch the full conversation on the Craft Industry Alliance Podcast (recording March 12), where Leanne and Lisa will dive deeper into this topic.