July 28, 2023
One Size Does Not Fit All
Growth by acquisition can be a powerful strategy. Heck, I wrote a book on it. But let’s look at when it works and when it…
July 24, 2023
Growth Cures a Lot of Ills
A past client was the president of a major public company. I remember him saying, “Growth hides a lot of operational warts.” This is why…
July 6, 2023
The Bigger the Spreadsheet
One of my rules for business buyers and sellers is: The bigger the spreadsheet the less chance of a deal. This means, don’t get analysis-paralysis.…
June 29, 2023
You’re Making Things Up Again
A great chorus from the play The Book of Mormon is, "You're making things up again, Arnold" followed by, "You're stretching the truth again And…
June 22, 2023
Do You Have Five Years?
The May 6, 2023 Wall Street Journal had a large feature article on Warren Buffett and his track record of investments. What was really interesting…
June 15, 2023
Are Your Financial Statements Fact or Fiction?
On the top of the value driver list is having solid financial systems and therefore accurate financial statements. Too often we must use the term,…
June 8, 2023
It’s All About the Future
I recently wrote the following to the CFO of a client company as part of their evaluation of a strategic acquisition: It’s a different approach…
June 1, 2023
Simplicity Rules
With one of the companies we’re representing we received a handful of offers. One stood out from the pack because it was clear and to…
May 31, 2023
Diligence is an Issue at All Levels
Recently the Wall Street Journal’s Saturday “The Numbers” column was about the “M-Score.” The M-Score was created by business professors in the 1990s and the…
May 24, 2023
An Exit Plan Means a Higher Value
Note: This memo was not created with ChatGPT. I recently wrote, “exit planning really does mean planning (in advance).” It’s one of the items on…
