Insights from inside the deals.
How businesses are grown, valued, sold, and bought, written by the team running the mandates. No filler, no recycled theory.
How to make your business run without you.
Owner dependence costs 15-25% of enterprise value at exit. The four-layer fix, management, decision rights, runbooks, reporting, and the six-month plan.
GrowthHow to increase EBITDA margin: the six levers that actually move it.
The six levers that actually raise EBITDA margin, pricing, mix, COGS, OPEX, channels, labour, ranked by speed, with realistic ranges and exit maths.
GrowthCustomer concentration risk: how much is too much, and what it costs you at exit.
How much customer concentration is too much, what it costs your multiple, and three ways to diversify a dominant customer or channel without stalling growth.
GrowthHow to add recurring revenue to a transactional business.
Recurring revenue is the durability signal buyers pay for. The models that fit each business type, what counts in diligence, and what gets discounted.
GrowthWhy your business has plateaued, and how to find the one constraint holding it there.
Revenue flat for two years? Plateaus have one binding constraint, demand, conversion, capacity, offer or founder time. How to find it and fix it in 90 days.
GrowthThe KPIs every business owner should track.
The 8 KPIs that matter in a lower-mid-market business, the weekly and monthly review cadence, and how buyers price your reporting discipline.
ValuationWhat your business is worth, and how buyers price it.
Your business is worth adjusted EBITDA times a market multiple, typically 3.5x–9x in the lower mid-market. How buyers set both numbers, with a worked example.
SellingHow long it really takes to sell a business.
How long it takes to sell a business: 6-9 months for a run process, what speeds it up or stalls it, and why 12-24 months of prep sets the price.
SellingM&A advisor vs business broker: who should run your sale.
Brokers list and match; M&A advisors run competitive processes. Size bands, fee benchmarks and the questions to ask before signing a sale mandate.
SellingEarnout agreements: how they work and where sellers get hurt.
How earnout agreements work in a business sale: typical size (10-40% of price), 1-3 year terms, revenue vs EBITDA targets, and the clauses that protect sellers.
Exit preparationThe due diligence checklist for selling your business.
The due diligence checklist buyers actually use when you sell: financial, legal, operational and commercial documents, plus the red flags that kill deals late.
Buy-sideOff-market deal sourcing: how to build proprietary deal flow.
Why off-market sourcing beats auctions on price, the five channels that work in the lower mid-market, and how to build a repeatable origination engine.
Market dataBusiness valuation multiples by industry in 2026.
Current EBITDA multiple bands by industry for the lower mid-market in 2026, what pushes a business to the top of its band, and how size shifts the base.
Buy-sideHow to value an acquisition target.
A buy-side method for valuing an acquisition target: rebuild adjusted EBITDA yourself, price the quality factors, check comparables, structure the rest.
Buy-sideThe red flags that matter when buying a business, ranked.
The seven red flags that matter most when buying a business, ranked, how to detect each one early, and which are price adjustments versus walk-aways.
Buy-sidePlatform vs bolt-on acquisitions: the economics of buy-and-build.
Platforms are priced on management depth and scale headroom; bolt-ons on synergy. How 4-5x to 8-10x multiple arbitrage works and what erases it.
Buy-sideHow to finance a business acquisition: the real capital stack.
How buyers finance lower-mid-market acquisitions: senior debt bands, seller notes, earnouts, equity cheque sizing and a worked $5m EBITDA example.
Buy-sideBuy-and-build strategy: how roll-ups actually create value.
How buy-and-build creates real value beyond multiple arbitrage: shared services, procurement scale, cross-sell, sector selection and where roll-ups die.
ValuationHow to value a consumer business.
How consumer businesses are valued in practice: the EBITDA multiple method, the realistic 2x to 8x range, what moves your multiple, and a worked example.
Market dataConsumer business EBITDA multiples in 2026.
Current EBITDA multiple ranges for consumer businesses by category: food and beverage, beauty, health and wellness, services, apps, content, and agencies.
Exit preparationPreparing your business for sale: the 12-24 month playbook.
A practical 12-24 month plan to prepare a consumer business for sale: financial hygiene, add-back documentation, concentration, owner dependence, and timing.
ValuationAdjusted EBITDA: add-backs buyers accept, and the ones they reject.
What counts as a legitimate EBITDA add-back when selling a business: owner compensation, one-offs, personal expenses, and the claims buyers push back on.
SellingHow to sell an e-commerce business for the highest price.
How e-commerce and DTC businesses are valued and sold: SDE vs EBITDA, revenue cross-checks, what buyers diligence, and the process that maximises price.
Reading is the start. The number is the point.
Run your business through the valuation tool the guides are built on, then talk it through with the team.