Tool
Business valuation scenarios
Explore the existing Exit Desk calculator and its indicative positioning scenarios.
Explore Business valuation scenarios →The practical M&A operating library
The Deal Is Only the Beginning.
M&A frameworks, valuation models, and practical tools built from 25 years of acquiring businesses, integrating operations, and creating value.
Transaction lessons and decision frameworks from Mike Ye’s experience across media, healthcare services, retail, and technology.
25+ years across the deal lifecycle
75+Transactions
$500K–$2B+Deal range
Four sectorsMedia · Healthcare · Retail · Technology
01 / The deal lifecycle
From the acquisition thesis
to the operating reality.
Explore the deal lifecycle, then use the valuation models, diligence handbook, and integration working pack to put the analysis to work.
01
Corporate development
Acquisition strategy, strategic fit, and the discipline of deciding what not to buy.
02
Valuation
Standalone value, normalized earnings, buyer context, and price discipline.
03
Financial modeling
Translate assumptions into cash flows, returns, and decision-ready models.
04
Industry & transaction comps
Select comparable companies and transactions with an explicit basis for comparison.
05
Deal structure & negotiation
Understand control, consideration, contingent value, and allocation of risk.
06
Due diligence
Test the business and the workflows that produce its results.
07
Synergies
Separate buyer-specific upside from standalone value and the cost of delivery.
08
Integration
Preserve revenue-producing capabilities while realizing operational improvements.
09
Divestitures & carve-outs
Define the perimeter, disentangle dependencies, and plan separation.
10
Strategic finance
Capital allocation, downside resilience, and decision-making under constraint.
02 / Available now
Start with the work.
Framework
The five decision frames
Judgment, dependency, timing, signal, and scarcity: the frames behind consequential decisions.
Explore The five decision frames →Case study
BuzzAngle Music
A strategic investment in music data, viewed through competitive position and capability.
Explore BuzzAngle Music →Case study
Sourcing Journal
Founder clarity, partner alignment, and the timing of a capability acquisition.
Explore Sourcing Journal →Case study
Long Beach Outpatient Surgery
A controlling investment and the operating work behind a multi-specialty expansion.
Explore Long Beach Outpatient Surgery →Checklist
Exit readiness checklist
An existing seller-preparation checklist, organized around what buyers will examine.
Explore Exit readiness checklist →Public-media, retail, technology, and healthcare Excel models will be added after the original files and accompanying methodology are verified.
03 / A signature lens · Framework in development
The numbers are the output.
Understand the workflows.
A buyer acquires the people, decisions, systems, and relationships that repeatedly produce the financial results.
Diligence
Test transferability.
Follow one customer order from promise to payment. Ask who does the work, what happens when it goes wrong, and whether someone else can take over.
Integration
Make continuity explicit.
Protect the work that keeps customers buying. For each change, name the person responsible, test it, and agree what would make the team pause.
AI readiness
Separate knowledge from rights.
Record whose data, tools, and know-how the work depends on. Check what can be shared before treating a documented workflow as something the business can license.
04 / Building the operating library
Two pillars. One continuous process.
Due diligence · Handbook & working pack
Reconstruct how the business works.
Handbooks, request lists, issue logs, and workflow assessments that connect evidence to the acquisition decision.
Financial & commercial diligence · Operational workflows · Key-person dependence · Technology, data & rights
Integration · Handbook & working pack
Carry the thesis through the handover.
Pre-close planning, Day 1 readiness, first-100-days workstreams, and trackers that connect diligence findings to accountable actions.
Revenue continuity · Workflow ownership · Systems cutover · Synergy realization · Separation & TSAs
Tools & Models
Change an assumption. Follow the value.
Download working Excel models for Gap, Salesforce, Ziff Davis, Surgery Partners, and NVIDIA. Compare trading multiples, discounted cash flow, transaction assumptions, sum-of-the-parts, and buyer affordability.
Explore the five company models05 / Applied M&A products
The judgment, applied to your side of the table.
For sellers
Exit Desk
See the business through a buyer’s eyes before going to market. Start with the existing valuation calculator or free readiness diagnostic.
Explore Exit Desk →For buyers · Not yet launched
Acquisition Lens
Buyer-side screening, underwriting, and a structured acquisition assessment. The product remains in development and is not accepting purchases.
Built around price discipline, downside resilience, and the evidence required to proceed.