Practical insights from operators who have been inside these deals.
Pre-Exit Preparation
You spent months answering their questions. You never thought to ask your own. Here's the reverse due diligence playbook that most founders skip — and why it matters more than your financials.
Read article →People & Culture
The employee retention risk in founder-led acquisitions that never appears in any report — and costs more than anyone models. What happens to the people who built the business when PE firms apply the standard playbook.
Pre-Exit Preparation
Most founders start preparing for an exit when the buyer shows up. Here's the exit readiness checklist acquirers actually use to evaluate your business — and the 18 months of work they expect you've already done.
Integration Playbook
Most post-merger integration plans were built for institutional acquisitions, not founder-led businesses. Here's the framework that actually accounts for where the value lives.
Integration Playbook
Most lower middle market PE firms close on founder-led businesses without a dedicated operating partner — then wonder why value erodes before the first board meeting. The gap is predictable, measurable, and solvable if you stop pretending the founder can run integration and the business simultaneously.
Founder Psychology
The conversation that does not happen in any data room — and the things worth negotiating before you sign. A founder's honest account of what comes after the deal closes.
EBITDA Protection
How post-acquisition decisions made in month two show up as financial damage in month ten — and why nobody connects them. The alternative cost framework for PE operating teams.
What the best PE operators know before month two — and what most learn in month ten. The invisible assets in every founder-led business and how to protect them post-acquisition.
People & Culture
Your star employees will quit exactly when you need them most—right after the deal closes. Here's how I learned to stop the bleeding.