A short argument for making a company less dependent on the founder. That is the question hiding inside a lot of small online listings: if the seller leaves, does the profit stay.
Written for people who want to own a company that already sells something. Read it as a way to think about deal flow and the first months as owner, then come back to our score for the price and the concentration.
A practical walk through the whole purchase: finding a company, valuing it, negotiating and closing. Good to read before your first offer, then keep beside our score when you compare a price with the earnings behind it.
A plain introduction to buying an existing company instead of starting one. Useful before you read a listing, because it walks through what to ask about earnings and what you would actually do after the close.
Negotiation notes for the call with a seller or a broker. It will not tell you whether the multiple is fair. Our rubric is for that. This is for the conversation.
Explains how people raise money to buy one company and then run it. Even if you never raise outside capital, the chapters on sourcing, diligence and the first year as owner are worth the read.
About getting the owner out of the day-to-day tasks that eat the week. Relevant if the business you are looking at depends on one person doing everything, which our score flags as a risk.
A short book on building a business that runs without constant owner attention, through clear roles and processes. A useful lens for the first months after a purchase.
A cash habit, not a valuation method. Helpful after you buy, when marketplace payouts and ad bills arrive on different days. It does not replace the multiple on our score.
A survey of the words sellers use: margin, lifetime value, working capital. Handy if this is your first acquisition and the data room is full of jargon.
An operating system for a company that has outgrown a single inbox. Relevant once a listing shows a team, a set of contractors, or a process that only the founder remembers.
The gentlest introduction to how a business gets a price. It covers earnings multiples, discounted cash flow and asset methods, which makes it a good companion when a listing quotes a multiple and you want to know what sits behind it.
A guide to choosing the few numbers that tell you whether a small business is healthy, and to spotting vanity metrics. Handy when you are asking a seller which figures they actually track.
A reminder to test a change before you rebuild the store you just bought. The score is about the business as it is. This book is about the experiments you run after closing.
How to ask customers what they do, instead of whether they like the idea. Use it when a listing's growth plan depends on a new product the seller has not sold yet.
The standard reference from McKinsey on how value is created and measured. It is heavy going and aimed at larger companies, so treat it as a book to dip into once you want to check the logic behind a number.
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