When Nick Akers set out to buy a business in late 2021, his search process had a 24-month timeline attached to it. He figured he wouldn’t need that much time, hearing that those in a similar situation typically are successful around the year and a half mark.

“That’s exactly how mine panned out,” Akers said.

Akers in May wrapped up his acquisition search, closing on a purchase of Chesterfield-based IT managed services provider STL Communications Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.