Fundless Sponsor
+4
Oct 22, 2026
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5 min read
On a nuclear submarine, nobody takes the watch until he understands the state of the plant, and responsibility never sits with 2 people at once. Most founder sales in the lower middle market transfer the shares in an afternoon and skip the turnover entirely.
Oct 20, 2026
6 min read
A bundle size change on a paper products line went from 95 minutes to 13. The method was textbook SMED. The piece that made it stick came from an operator, and it was strapped to his forearm.
Oct 15, 2026
4 min read
A CEO raised price 30% and told his customer that leaving would cost more than staying. It worked as a negotiating line because it was an honest description of the cost to serve.
Oct 13, 2026
Roughly 200 businesses crossed my desk between 2023 and 2026. Two lines in the financials decided more of those looks than any management presentation: gross margin, and whether the revenue has to be won again every year.
Oct 8, 2026
A pharmaceutical packaging plant in crisis had a wall of charts, a daily standup in the aisle, and schedule attainment at the top of the board. The number that got it back into service had been stripped out of its own OEE as uncontrollable.
Oct 6, 2026
My father was a machinist. When the line went down, a kid rode along to drop off the part. The plant is gone now, 675 jobs with it, but the question I learned in that truck is still on the list every time I walk a plant.
Sep 30, 2026
The first week in my first plant as GM taught me where the real authority sits in an operation. I have used the same read on every plant since.
Sep 24, 2026
I interviewed the author of the book on speed in March 2025. His data says 95% of companies stall and two thirds of those never get back to growth. The stall is a decision, and somebody is always making it. Inside a hold, that somebody had better be the sponsor.
Sep 18, 2026
Between the LOI and the closing table sit 90 days that belong to nobody. Almost half the deals that fail there never officially die. They just stop moving.
Sep 15, 2026
Tom Brady played the 28-3 comeback off one laminated page, about 120 calls sorted by situation with the Falcons' tendencies printed beside them. I still get told a customer service desk has too many variables for standard work.
Sep 10, 2026
She never attended a meeting. She never sent an email. She read every draft, and the deal was never going to close until she was ready to sign.
Sep 8, 2026
The GM had run the company for 9 years while the owner fished. Both of them knew it. Only one of them had thought about what that meant for a sale.
Sep 3, 2026
EBITDA has no line for the 22-year-old press that makes 40% of the parts. Owner earnings do. The gap between those two numbers has ended more deals than fraud ever will.
Sep 1, 2026
The Supreme Court erased the biggest tariff regime in modern history, $142B may flow back to the companies that paid it, and most small manufacturers still cannot tell you what their landed costs will be next quarter. Buyers and sellers are both underwriting the fog of war
Aug 26, 2026
Rollover equity is the most misunderstood line in a term sheet. Done right, the smaller check can outgrow the bigger one. Done wrong, it is a donation.
Aug 24, 2026
Every private company P&L tells two stories. One is about the business. The other is about the life the business paid for. My COO once found $2M of fishing poles.
Aug 20, 2026
Every founder deal has two investment committees. One meets in a conference room. The other meets over dinner, and it holds the veto.
Aug 18, 2026
Two weeks before close, the trailing twelve comes back softer than the one everybody signed against. The cause is almost never the market, and owners rarely see it coming because it looks like a full week's work.
Aug 13, 2026
The seller swore nobody knew. Then a banker hit forward, the GM read every word, and by Wednesday I was pricing a company that had stopped believing its owner.
Aug 11, 2026
LOI on the table, agreement in principle, a seller ready to retire. His CPA of 25 years unwound all of it in one Tuesday meeting, and from his chair the advice was sound.
Aug 6, 2026
Eight figures, capital at the table, clean earnings. The seller walked over a valuation somebody said out loud in 2019, and I understand why he did.
Aug 4, 2026
Stanford counted 190 new funds, a $16M median price, and a close rate that fell from 86% to 48%. The reasons apply to everyone in the pond.
Private Equity
+2
Jul 28, 2026
The QoE confirms the revenue was real. Whether it shows up again after you own the company lives in a file some buyers never open.
