About Post-Merger Inefficiencies

Most of what gets written about M&A is written before the deal closes.

This publication exists for what comes after.

We are founders and operators who have been inside these transitions — not as advisors observing from the outside, but as the people in the room when the spreadsheet with the unrealistic targets gets handed across the table. The ones who watched the team they built start to quietly drift. The ones who learned, sometimes expensively, what the standard playbook gets wrong about founder-led businesses specifically.

Everything published here comes from that experience. Anonymous, because candor requires it. Constructive, because blame is not the point. Specific, because vague lessons help nobody.

If you are a founder approaching a sale, navigating one, or trying to make sense of what happened after — this is written for you. If you are a PE operator who wants to understand what these businesses actually look like from the inside — this is written for you too.

We are building this into a community of founders and operators who have something honest to say about what happens after the deal closes. If that is you — we want to hear from you.