Deals that died

Deals that died, and the one that didn't.

Eight deals, told plainly. Most died. A few closed, one of them at a premium. Every story is a composite: real patterns, details changed, no one identifiable. Each one ends at the chapter that explains what really happened.

The buyer offered $24 million. Eleven weeks later, he walked.

A flattering letter and a good lunch. Then a stranger opened the books and found what nobody had cleaned up.
The price that looked solid until diligence.

He could explain his number down to the year. The buyer was working backward from a return he had never seen.
Closed at the offer price, with nothing to argue.

Eighteen months of quiet cleanup before market meant the buyer’s team found nothing. The $40M number held.
The price got cut in week nine.

One customer was 38% of revenue and could leave on 60 days’ notice. The buyer priced exactly that.
Closed at 9.2x, well above the going rate.

Recurring revenue, long-tenured clients, and a succession plan written 24 months early. The premium was baked in.
The buyer walked in week five.

The numbers were fine. The team interviews showed every thread ran back to one person: the owner.
The headline held. The structure took 18%.

A clean $42M on paper, with $7.6M of it parked on a two-year earnout the founder no longer controlled.
A cold letter became a sale 14% richer.

He did not throw the unsolicited offer away, and he did not negotiate alone. He let competition set the price.