INFORMATION ASYMMETRY IN SMB M&A: WHY BUYERS AND SELLERS PRICE THE SAME BUSINESS DIFFERENTLY

Why buyers and sellers price the same business differently—and how disciplined acquirers close the gap before signing an LOI

Owner-Dependency: The Operational Risk Buyers Consistently Misprice

The Hidden Cost Drivers Behind Small Business Valuations: A Framework Buyers Overlook

Why two businesses with the same $800K Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) can be worth 2.5× vs. 4.0×—and what most buyers miss.

Breaking the SBA Ceiling: How Pari Passu Lending Expands the Capital Stack for SMB Buyers

SBA 7(a) loans cap at $5 million per borrower. For acquisitions above that threshold, a small but specialized group of "pari passu" lenders is redefining how sub-$10M deals get financed—and unlocking new growth potential for SMB buyers.

The Bimodal Returns Problem: What the Stanford Search Fund Dataset Reveals About the Extremes of Operator Performance

Analysis of 296 realized exits from 681 search funds tracked in the Stanford Graduate School of Business Search Fund Study (2024) shows a persistent pattern: most deals either stall or compound — few perform "average.”

Lost Value: Why Some Owners Retire and Close Instead of Selling

Every year, hundreds of thousands of viable businesses disappear without ever hitting the market. This represents the largest untapped opportunity in SMB acquisition—and the biggest blind spot in traditional deal sourcing.

THE MARKETPLACE PARADOX: Why More Listings Are Creating Less Deal Flow

Business acquisition platforms are overflowing with listings. Yet the numbers reveal an uncomfortable truth: at scale, most marketplaces are becoming less efficient. Here's what buyers—and the broader SMB M&A market—should understand.

Search Funds vs. Private Equity: Where First-Time Buyers Win in 2025

The Credibility Question Sellers Are Really Asking