August 20, 2025
AI and Operating Businesses
“We’re looking for operating businesses that AI can’t take over.” Business buyer Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2025, “CEOs Say It Loudly: AI Will Wipe…
July 18, 2025
Culture is a Moving Target
Business buyers want to know about a company’s culture and it’s not easy to figure out from the outside. And different companies have different culture…
July 11, 2025
Don’t Fall in Love
We had a short training session for the team. We covered dealing with clients, generating business, market conditions (the Business Journal recently had an article…
June 6, 2025
Above All – It’s the Fit
I’m a regular reader of the Wall Street Journal and one thing in common with WSJ articles and lower middle market buy-sell is the “fit.”…
April 25, 2025
Tariffs and M&A
There’s a lot of overreaction without thought. Assuming the tariffs stay at proclaimed levels (and there’s no guarantee they stay, go away, up, or down)…
April 11, 2025
The Need for Adult Supervision Never Ends
Preface – while in Antigua on our service project a local Rotarian recommended some restaurants to us (her firm grows hydroponic greens, so she knows…
January 3, 2025
How to Get the Deal Done
We recently held the Getting the Deal Done Breakfast Conference, which started 15 years ago. Some things never change, as in, ~200 RSVPs, 20-25% no-shows,…
July 14, 2024
Large or Small – Deals Have Similar Attributes
The May 15 Seattle ACG meeting had interesting insights into buy-sell deals. It was a discussion with one of the sellers of a company ($70…
June 28, 2024
Boring is Best
Recently the Wall Street Journal had a front-page headline of, “Boring Utility Stocks Wow Market.” My first reaction was boring businesses are the best type…
March 13, 2024
Buyer Mistakes that Transcend Time
I was perusing some files and found a couple of our weekly memos from a dozen years ago. This one is advice to business buyers…