What I Learned Last Week 1.17.2025
Curating the best M&A, SMB, and EtA-related content since 2020.
Hello Friends!
Join me and the Search Fund Coalition for Deal Team Day in Miami on January 23rd.
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In this week’s issue of What I Learned Last Week:
📰 Articles
🧵 Online Highlights
🗓️ Events
⚒️ Tools & Resources
💡 How I Can Help
This issue of The Business Inquirer is brought to you by:
Connecting Deal Sponsors with Investors
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📰 Articles
I summarize, so you capitalize.
The Ultimate Post-Acquisition Playbook: Pre-Close Moves That Matter
The guide outlines essential pre-close strategies to set up new business owners for success after acquisition. It emphasizes that operational preparation before closing is vital to avoiding chaos and establishing a strong foundation for growth.
Key insights include:
Liquidity: Ensure a financial cushion to handle unexpected costs and stabilize operations post-close.
Incentive alignment: Collaborate with sellers to maintain mutual goals for success.
Mindset shift: Transition from a deal-maker to an operational leader with personal and professional readiness.
Team building: Delegate effectively to manage responsibilities.
Contingency planning: Prepare for potential setbacks with detailed risk management.
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The SMB M&A Pipeline: Q4 2024
The Axial Q4 2024 SMB M&A report highlights significant growth in deal activity on Axial's platform, with 2,549 deals representing a 17.2% year-over-year increase. Healthcare saw the most substantial growth (+42.86%), followed by Business Services and Consumer Goods. Overall, 2024 marked a record-breaking year, with a 7.8% annual increase in deal volume.
Key insights include:
Healthcare sector: Largest growth in deal flow, reflecting heightened market interest.
Industrials: Ranked first in both deal volume and pursuit rates.
Consumer Goods vs. Food & Hospitality: High deal volumes but contrasting pursuit rates, indicating varied buyer interest.
Platform growth: Axial facilitated 10,744 deals in 2024, the highest annual total to date.
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A.J. Wasserstein - Yale Search Fund Studies
I want to highlight several new studies that published by A.J. Wasserstein at Yale University:
Exploring an Integration Framework in a Programmatic Acquisition Strategy
Exploring and Understanding the Various Legal Documents in a Search Fund Project
🧵 Online Highlights
I scroll, so you don’t have to.
Deals can stall if sellers aren’t emotionally ready to let go. Understand why they’re selling—want, need, or have to—it’s crucial for closing!
Buying in Main Street vs. Lower Middle Market (LMM) is worlds apart. From deal structures to due diligence, understanding these nuances is key…
Want high-margin business ideas? Explore digital products, SaaS reselling, niche job boards, and more—each with real-world examples, earnings, and multiples…
Great starting point for your due diligence checklist…
Trump’s 2025 tax plan could supercharge small business benefits—QBI deduction, bonus depreciation, lower corporate rates, and more...
Many sub-$2M businesses could be built for a fraction of their price—buyers often pay for convenience or a job…
From banking to HR, Alex shares his go-to tools for running a business…
🗓️ Events
UM Ross EtA Conference (Jan 23-24) - Ann Arbor, MI
Babson College EtA Conference (Feb 7) - Boston, MA
SBIA Southeast PE Conference (Feb 13-14) - Nashville, TN
MIT EtA Conference (Feb 28) - Cambridge, MA
iGlobal Independent Sponsors (Mar 4-5) - Miami, FL
SBIA West Coast Capital Summit (Mar 25-27) - Los Angeles, CA
HoldCo Conference (Mar 31-Apr 3) - Sundance, UT
SMBash (Apr 2-4) - Dallas, TX
🎵 Listening: “Think I’m In Love With You“ by Chris Stapleton, Dua Lipa 🎵
How did you like this issue of the newsletter?
⚒️Tools & Resources
I want to share some tools & resources that I have found helpful. Please note that some of these are paid sponsors or affiliates of the newsletter.
PrivSource - PrivSource helps you source deals and connect with transaction partners without ever paying a success fee.
X5 Deals - Proprietary deal sourcing for a great price. They do the tedious and time-consuming job of deal sourcing so you can spend more time on DD and closing.
Rejigg - Platform that connects searchers/investors directly with owners of off-market small businesses ($200k - $3M EBITDA) considering exits. All deals are sourced by the Rejigg team. Their team adds 15 to 20 new deals each week.
Kumo - 100,000+ deals sourced from thousands of brokers and marketplaces. Plus, AI-powered listings, robust data & analytics, and more.
DealFlowXchange - The premier private capital funding community for raising and deploying capital. Use discount code DUEDILIO for 20% off your lifetime membership.
BizNexus - Marketplace + off-market origination in one platform. The marketplace averages about 10k active listings & pre-CIM opportunities, and the off-market origination focuses on data & multi-channel.
Secret - Say goodbye to overspending on SaaS. With Secret, you get access to up to $1,000,000+ in savings on the best software to run your search, operate, and scale your business.
Deal Sourcing Guide - a comprehensive list of business marketplaces, brokers, deal origination firms, and more.
💡 How I Can Help
Whenever you’re ready, here are a few ways for us to work together…
Schedule 1:1 consulting on deal sourcing, due diligence, M&A ecosystem, newsletters, entrepreneurship, or anything else you’d like to discuss
Promote your brand to business buyers, investors, SMB owners, and other M&A participants by sponsoring this newsletter
Assemble your M&A deal team with DueDilio
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