Case studies

Deal breakdowns built around the ways acquisitions most often go wrong: what surfaced, what it did to the numbers, and what the buyer did next. Each ends with a sector checklist and a practice deal in the simulator.

Illustrative composite. This breakdown combines patterns that come up again and again in small-business acquisitions into one fictional deal. The business, the people, the location and every figure are invented. It is not a real transaction, and any resemblance to a specific deal is coincidental.

Landscaping and grounds maintenance · Unverified add-backs

The add-backs that didn’t survive quality of earnings

A landscaping company priced on $450k of SDE. An independent review found $100k of it wasn’t there, and the loan stopped working at the asking price.

$1M–$1.5M asking · Closed at a renegotiated price

Light manufacturing · Customer concentration found late

One customer, 41% of revenue: the deal a buyer walked away from

A profitable machine shop with one dominant customer. The buyer learned that customer was moving work in-house five weeks into diligence, after most of the money was spent.

$2M–$2.5M asking · Buyer walked away

Automotive repair · Lease term and owner dependence

A lease shorter than the loan, and an owner who was the shop

An auto repair shop with four years left on a lease and a seller who did all the diagnostic work. The deal closed, about five weeks later than planned.

$750k–$1M asking · Closed, weeks late

Sign manufacturing and printing · Pricing off a one-time peak

Priced off a peak year: when the lender’s math and the seller’s didn’t match

A sign and graphics company asked a multiple of its best year ever. The lender underwrote the normal years, and the deal only worked once price and structure followed.

$1.5M–$2M asking · Closed at a renegotiated price

Want to make the calls yourself? The deal simulator lets you work fictional sample deals and compare your judgment with an experienced buyer’s. For the order things happen in, see the stage playbooks.