October 10, 2018
It’s Always the Little (Unseen) Things
We had a perplexing problem with one of our garage door openers, as in it wouldn’t close, which usually means the safety beam is out…
October 6, 2018
Due Diligence and The Supreme Court
We all know what’s in the headlines. Behind the headlines we see the Republicans saying how great Kavanaugh did while testifying, there’s no backup to…
October 4, 2018
Due Diligence Does Not Mean Analysis Paralysis
This post was originally written for the blog on www.ibainc.com, a Bellevue, WA business brokerage firm. The seller nicknamed the buyer “Columbo” after the TV…
September 19, 2018
Revisiting an Old Friend – The Importance of Employees
I read a short article recently where the writer was describing his frustrating experience when making a food and beverage order, which he repeated twice,…
August 27, 2018
Getting the Owner Out of the Way
I posted recently about seeing a rash of mangled financial statements. I wrote it’s my top item owners should fix to increase value, and just…
August 24, 2018
Wanted: Accurate Financial Statements
Once again I’m in the middle of a deal where the seller treats accounting like a weak little step-sister. Garbage in-garbage out syndrome, co-mingling businesses,…
August 21, 2018
Moving a Deal Along with Empathy
When working with business buyers and sellers I’ve found those who demonstrate empathy to those on the others side get things moving faster (than those…
August 6, 2018
Fool Me Once Or Fool Me All The Time
On June 2, 2018 Jason Zweig’s article in the Wall Street Journal was titled, “The Fanciful Alphabet Soup Companies Use to Fool You.” The premise…
July 25, 2018
When It’s Your Own Money….
A few months ago the Wall Street Journal’s Business section’s headline was, “China Conglomerate Gets Lifeline.” The sub-headline was, “Government is helping HNA Group right…
July 11, 2018
Opioids Aren’t The Only Addiction
This memo was co-written by Jessica and John based on Jessica’s observations at a recent event. 150 attendees, great presentations, and numerous breakout sessions made…
