Insights
Straight talk for owners and dealmakers.
Operator-grade thinking on the deals big firms won't touch: what actually moves the price of a business, how a buyer reads your earnings, and how to be ready before you go to market. Written by the people doing the work. No pitch, and we add to it over time.
Start here
If you read three things.
Field Guide
Bought, Not Sold
The owner's guide to the five things a buyer scores before they pay, with an honest self-assessment. If you only have twenty minutes, spend them here.
Article
Same Profit. Very Different Price.
Why two businesses with identical earnings sell for wildly different prices, and the three levers that decide which side you land on.
Selected Work
The Clean-Looking Deal With a 22% Problem
An illustrative buy-side QoE walk-through: the earnings held up, but a hidden concentration reshaped the deal. This is the kind of read we deliver.
Field Guides & Whitepapers
Institutional guides, free to read.
Downloadable, plain-spoken guides for owners and deal teams. Built to the standard of the ones the big firms hand their clients.
Field Guide No. 1 · Owner Edition
Bought, Not Sold
Why ready businesses get bought on the owner's terms, and the five things a buyer prices before they pay. Walks financial hygiene, owner-independence, leadership bench, market position, and transaction readiness, with a Quarry-to-Capstone self-assessment.
Field Guide No. 1 · Owner Edition
Bought, Not Sold
Why ready businesses get bought on the owner's terms, and the five things a buyer prices before they pay. Walks financial hygiene, owner-independence, leadership bench, market position, and transaction readiness, with a Quarry-to-Capstone self-assessment.
Field Guide
Getting to Yes on Capital
Why the answer is usually the package, not the business, and what a lender or investor opens first. The owner's guide to being fundable.
More guides are on the way. Want one we have not published yet? Ask us.
Articles
Field notes on value, earnings, and getting ready.
Article
Same Profit. Very Different Price.
Why two businesses with identical earnings sell for wildly different prices, and the three levers that decide which side you land on.
Article
Same Profit. Very Different Price.
Why two businesses with identical earnings sell for wildly different prices, and the three levers that decide which side you land on.
Article
Same Profit. Very Different Price.
Why two businesses with identical earnings sell for wildly different prices, and the three levers that decide which side you land on.
Selected Work
What the work looks like.
Named, client-approved case studies go here as engagements close. Until then, an illustrative walk-through shows the format and the kind of read we deliver. We never manufacture proof.
Illustrative · Buy-side QoE
The Clean-Looking Deal With a 22% Problem
A searcher under LOI on a $10.4M distribution business. The earnings held up (+83% reported to adjusted, all documented), but a 22% customer concentration the book did not lead with reshaped the deal, into an earnout, a working-capital peg, and reps that protected the buyer. A composite built to show the format.
How we work
See how a QoE runs
The eight stages, the timeline, and what you get.
A Quick Self-Check
Twelve questions a buyer will ask before you sell.
If you can answer these cleanly, you are closer to ready than most. If a few make you wince, that is your punch list, and better to find it now than at the closing table.
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
If you, or your key person, were gone for a month, what would break?
get started
Reading is a start. A conversation is faster.
Book a straight call with both partners, no pitch.