Acquisition Companion
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The free course

From the first search to life after closing.

Twenty lessons in fourteen modules. Start at the beginning or choose the decision you are working through. There is no account, enrollment, or paid tier.

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Begin the course

Start with ownership

Understand acquisition entrepreneurship and the connected decisions in a transaction.

  1. Buying a business is a form of entrepreneurship5 min read
  2. The anatomy of an acquisition5 min read

Choose the right target

Test commercial durability, management fit and financeability.

  1. Choose a target you can understand and own5 min read

Find and qualify opportunities

Build a sourcing routine that produces useful conversations and credible offers.

  1. Build a deal pipeline that produces decisions5 min read

Understand earnings and cash

Read performance and balance-sheet evidence before building a funding plan.

  1. Earnings are the starting point; cash pays the bills5 min read
  2. Working capital must survive the acquisition5 min read

Make sense of valuation

Specify the earnings basis and examine what the price assumes.

  1. Value the earnings you expect to own5 min read

Structure the transaction

Compare payment timing, retained ownership and preferential rights.

  1. The payment schedule is part of the price5 min read
  2. Ownership percentages do not tell the whole story4 min read

Assemble the funding

Connect borrowing, seller terms and equity to the cash actually required.

  1. Build a capital stack the business can carry5 min read
  2. Finance assets on a lender’s terms5 min read
  3. Raise capital for a specific, credible proposition5 min read

Understand lenders and debt terms

Distinguish financing providers and examine repayment, permissions and exposure.

  1. Understand what private credit does—and what the evidence shows5 min read
  2. Read debt as a set of operating constraints5 min read

Agree the initial terms

Use the LOI to make economics and unresolved conditions clear.

  1. Use the LOI to expose assumptions early5 min read

Test the acquisition case

Investigate financial quality, customer dependence and operating continuity.

  1. Diligence the business you will actually own5 min read

Get to completion

Reconcile documents, usable funds and release conditions.

  1. Close the funding gap before completion day5 min read

Own and manage responsibly

Set roles, reporting, incentives and early stakeholder communication.

  1. Make ownership accountable after the deal5 min read

Build a coherent group

Evaluate integration, bolt-ons and the risks of connected financing.

  1. Build a group with a reason to belong together4 min read

Understand returns and exits

Separate headline scale from owner cash flows and realized outcomes.

  1. Measure what owners receive, and when5 min read

Optional advanced path

From buyer to capital manager

A buyer may stay with one company, repeat acquisitions, bring in equity deal by deal, or eventually manage committed capital. This is one possible path, not the expected outcome of the core course.

  1. Buy and operate a business
  2. Repeat acquisitions and build a platform
  3. Raise outside equity for a specific deal
  4. Work as an independent sponsor with repeat LPs
  5. Consider committed capital and fund obligations
  6. Understand the private-credit counterparties

This course explains acquisition decisions through practitioner examples. It does not supply a complete investment model or replace transaction-specific legal, tax, financing, and diligence work. Read the evidence policy.