M&A insights for business owners thinking about selling — written from 25 years on the buy side of the table
Most business owners enter the biggest transaction of their life without knowing what the other side sees. These articles and case studies are built to close that gap — drawing directly from institutional M&A experience across media, healthcare, technology, and professional services.
The case studies are drawn from real transactions. The editorial articles address the questions buyers ask in every diligence process. All of it is written for one reader: the business owner who wants to understand what a serious buyer would think before walking into any conversation.
How a single investment — the kind that wouldn't move the needle in a large corporate budget — became the competitive wedge that contributed to one of the most significant acquisitions in music media history. A case study in what buyers see that sellers don't.
Read the full breakdown →A founder-built trade publication, eight years of organic growth, sold from strength. The hardest part of the deal had nothing to do with the buyer — and everything to do with the seller's own partners. The most transferable case study for any founder with co-owners.
Read the full breakdown →The GI doctors thought their center was worth what it currently earned. The buyer saw a rate gap, an untapped facility, and a multi-specialty expansion thesis. Eight years later the value had tripled and the center was affiliated with MemorialCare and SCA Health.
Read the full breakdown →Not what brokers tell you. What institutional and strategic buyers actually evaluate when they look at a business your size — and what makes them walk away before the first offer.
Read the full article →The single most common reason deals fall apart or reprice in the $1M–$20M range — and the specific steps that fix it before you walk into any process.
Read the full article →Selling too early costs you. Waiting too long costs you more. The framework for knowing which side of the line you're on — and what changes the calculus.
Read the full article →The five dimensions every serious buyer evaluates — and the specific actions that move each one before you engage any process.
Read the full article →Two businesses with identical revenue can have dramatically different valuations. Here is exactly how a buyer reads your revenue structure — and what the difference means for your multiple.
Read the full article →Buyers are already pricing AI exposure into every acquisition in every industry. Here is what that means for your business specifically — and whether it is working for you or against you.
Read the full article →Your CPA is optimizing for tax efficiency. Buyers are optimizing for something else entirely. The gap between those two frameworks is where most small business exits go wrong.
Read the full article →What multiples actually mean, how they are calculated, why the same business trades at different multiples with different buyers — and what you can do to move yours before going to market.
Read the full article →Ready to know what a buyer would see if they looked at your business today?
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