Articles

Many M&A advisors come from operating backgrounds. On the surface, that experience looks like a clear advantage. You’ve built businesses, managed teams, navigated growth, and dealt with real pressure. You may have even sold a business or two yourself. You understand what it takes to run a company, and the emotional weight that can come […]

There has never been a more advantageous time to be the owner of a lower middle market business and, by extension, a lower middle market M&A advisor. Across the M&A landscape, buyers of varying types – but especially financial buyers, and private equity firms in particular – are actively seeking opportunities to deploy capital. The […]

As an M&A advisor, one of the worst things that can happen to you is to do an excellent job for a seller on an assignment and produce a great offer on great terms from a high-quality buyer, and then, for some reason, the seller decides to back out at the last minute. They may […]

It was only a few years ago that many “Baby Boomer” business owners were beginning to strategically position their businesses for eventual sale. Unfortunately for many of these owners, the economic upheaval postponed their retirement schedules as caution pushed potential buyers to the sidelines. Navigating recent difficulties has left these business owners a bit older, […]

An earnout represents just one of many contractual provisions structuring the sale of a business. That sounds pedestrian enough at first but, because this provision states that the seller can secure additional compensation in the future if the business achieves certain financial goals once sold, there’s a lot at stake. And the significance can run […]

The Theory and Practice of Negotiation from Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation You’ve heard it many times: to get the most out of an agreement and a new business relationship, you have to collaborate to find new sources of value in addition to claiming value for yourself. Yet coming up with original, value-creating ideas […]

As the saying goes, “you show me 100 deals and…..I’ll show you 100 deals.” That is, all deals are different, and busted deals die any number of ways. That said, in our experience here at Lead, here are some of the most common deals killers. 1. Time. When Mic Jagger said that “Time is on […]

In an effort to maximize your ROI at the conference in San Diego, here are the key points mentioned in a recent webinar.  You can view the webinar here. EDUCATION Take as many classes and workshops as possible.  This is your opportunity to learn and interact with the experts in M&A, Law, Financing, etc.  Additional classes […]

Nothing hurts more than a transaction that’s just days away from closing, falling apart. Today I go through the most popular reasons we see deals die closer to the closing. Remember losing sleep over that one deal last year that you knew should have closed but didn’t? Our office tracks every transaction that does not […]

Selling ownership in a privately held middle market business is hard; and without the owner’s 100% commitment, transactions rarely make it across the finish line. The selling process is time-consuming. It is disruptive. Confidentiality is at risk. Owners’ emotions often swing wildly in many directions – from fearful, to joyful, to angry, to hopeful, to […]