Insights
Insights
Articles for owners and PE buyers, added regularly.
Growth isn't the goal. A sellable business is.
Chasing growth on shaky foundations makes a bigger problem, not a bigger payday. Rebuild the business to be investable first. Then grow.
Read →Buy & BuildThe first 100 days after you acquire
The deal is done and the clock starts. What you do in the first hundred days decides whether you built value or bought a headache. Here's the plan.
Read →OperationsRecurring revenue: turning one-off sales into an asset
A business that starts every month from zero is exhausting to run and cheap to buy. Turning one-off sales into recurring revenue changes both.
Read →The ModelWhy buy-and-build wins a higher multiple than organic growth
Organic growth is honest work that gets paid a poor rate. Buy-and-build is how you turn the same earnings into a far bigger cheque. Here's the maths.
Read →OperationsCash cycle: the lever owners ignore
You can be profitable on paper and still run out of money. The gap between doing the work and getting paid for it is a lever most owners never pull.
Read →Buy & BuildEarn-outs explained, and how not to get burned
An earn-out shares the risk on a deal, or blows it up. Here's how they work, where they go wrong, and how to structure one that pays out cleanly.
Read →Value & ExitWhat due diligence really tests
Due diligence looks like a paperwork exercise. It isn't. It's a stress test of whether your business is what you said it was. Most deals wobble here.
Read →Getting InvestableThe three things private equity actually buys
PE doesn't buy your vision or your potential. It buys visibility, control and predictability. Here's what that means for the price you'll get.
Read →The ModelBuild, Scale, Exit: the full model
The three phases that turn a small business into a group private equity wants to own. Build the platform, scale by acquisition, exit for a real number.
Read →OperationsHiring the layer above you
If the business stops when you stop, you don't own a company, you own a job. Building the management layer above you is what turns it into an asset a buyer wants.
Read →Buy & BuildHow to fund a roll-up: debt, equity and seller finance
You don't need to be rich to buy companies. You need a fundable platform and a stack that shares the risk. Here's how roll-ups actually get paid for.
Read →Value & ExitChoosing the right acquirer: trade, PE or search fund
The highest offer isn't always the best deal. Trade buyers, private equity and search funds each want different things and treat you differently.
Read →Getting InvestableStructure beats hustle: you're selling how it runs, not what it does
Hustle built your business. It won't sell it. A buyer pays for how the place runs, not how hard you run it. Here's why structure wins the exit.
Read →OperationsWhen is the right moment for ERP?
Put a proper system in too early and you waste money on a straitjacket. Too late and you scale the chaos. Here's how to spot the moment that's actually right.
Read →Buy & BuildHow to integrate an acquisition without breaking it
Most value is destroyed after the deal, not before it. Here's how to fold a business into your group without killing the thing you paid for.
Read →Value & ExitAre you ready to sell? The readiness checklist
Wanting to sell and being ready to sell are different things. Here's the honest checklist a buyer runs before they'll pay you a real number.
Read →Getting InvestableOne version of the truth: why disconnected data discounts your deal
When your numbers come from four systems and three spreadsheets, a buyer can't trust any of them. Disconnected data quietly discounts your exit.
Read →OperationsThe reporting problem strangling your group
When every company in your group counts money differently, nobody trusts the numbers. That doubt costs you control now and a chunk of the multiple later.
Read →Buy & BuildWhere to find off-market acquisitions
The best bolt-ons never hit a broker's desk. Here's where off-market targets actually come from and how to build a pipeline that fills itself.
Read →Value & ExitThe value gap: the number most owners never see
There's a gap between what your business is worth today and what it could be worth at exit. Most owners never measure it. That gap is your retirement.
Read →Getting InvestableOwner-dependence: the silent value killer, and how to kill it
The thing that makes your business run today is the thing that guts its price tomorrow. Here's how owner-dependence works, and how to remove yourself.
Read →OperationsSystemise before you scale
Scaling a messy business just makes a bigger mess. Fix how the work runs before you pour on growth, or you multiply the problems and shrink the exit.
Read →Buy & BuildHow to buy your first bolt-on
The first acquisition sets the pattern every future deal copies. Get it right and buy-and-build becomes repeatable. Get it wrong and you buy a problem.
Read →Value & ExitWhat actually drives your exit multiple
Your exit multiple isn't set by how hard you work or how big you grew. It's set by how little the buyer has to worry after you're gone.
Read →Getting InvestableWhy most £1m businesses are just high-stress jobs
A £1m profit business sounds like wealth. For most owners it's a well-paid job they can't quit. Here's the difference, and how to cross it.
Read →The ModelThe HoldCo playbook for £1m–£10m owners
You don't need to be a fund to build a group. Here's the practical playbook for turning one good business into a portfolio worth selling.
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