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What I am learning as I build and buy

Notes from building, buying, and running businesses, written as I go.

All Acquisitions Finance Operations Growth Holding

Radical decentralisation, and where it stops

The evidence says a corporate centre subtracts value. So the burden of proof sits on centralising, and the short list of exceptions is the whole doctrine.

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What I am learning as I build and buy

Articles

Radical decentralisation, and where it stops

Radical decentralisation, and where it stops

One central bench, many companies

How to replace a job without firing anyone

The five things every offline business still does by hand

Where AI belongs in a business that answers the phone

The automation numbers people quote are not real

Asset deal or share deal

Paying a seller for the rest of their life

How to price a business you never intend to sell

What a small business actually sells for

What a service business should look at every week

The customer list nobody is using

Reviews are a distribution channel

The offer is the funnel

Pricing is the fastest lever and the last one anyone pulls

How to find out how a business actually runs

A boring business does not need more leads

A family's first direct deal

The governance almost nobody builds

What a family office actually costs

The two ways to raise revenue per person

No money down, and other things that do not happen

Where the cash goes after a good year

The first ninety days after you own it

Private equity is becoming a family business

What actually happens when people buy small businesses

Normalised earnings are a range, not a number

Missed calls are the cheapest money in the business

What I look at before I look at the numbers

Good company, bad ops

The seven things that end a deal on the first call

The product cannot be disrupted, the operations can

AI-native operations, without the hype

Operate first, then buy

What makes a business worth buying

How to sell your business without a broker

Seller financing, explained by a buyer

The business that runs without its owner

Why roll-ups fail

Permanent capital versus the fund clock

The four-layer growth engine

Buy a business, or build one

How PE firms actually use AI

Due diligence for operators

Read over my shoulder