Buyer Lens
The five things buyers do in the first ten minutes of a meeting.
A diligence partner walks through what they are actually scanning for before the founder even finishes their introduction.
Issue 04 · May 2026
The Misalignment Tax
Pieces in this issue
Field Notes
The HVAC roll-up that almost happened, and the four months the founder will not get back.
A reconstruction of an LOI that died in week eleven of diligence, told from inside the seller's kitchen.
Feature
How buyers actually price your business, and the work that closes the gap before the room.
Most founders walk into the room expecting one price and hear another. The gap between expectation and what buyers will actually pay is the Misalignment Tax, and most of it is built in the years before the room. Here is how it forms, and the work that closes it 36 months out.
The Operator
Hiring the second-in-command you have been avoiding for nine years.
Why the COO you keep almost-hiring is the single decision that moves your enterprise value more than any other.