About
A free reference for people in the middle of a deal
M&A is one of the few markets where one side of every transaction is a professional and the other is doing it for the first time. Almost everything written to fix that sits behind a paywall, a signup, or a pitch. This does not.
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- Analysis pieces
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- Acquirer profiles
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- Calculators
The asymmetry is the problem. A reference library is a reasonable way to attack it.
A corporate acquirer or a sponsor runs a process several times a year. They have seen forty data rooms, they know what a quality-of-earnings report is designed to do, and they have a standing view on what a working capital peg should look like. A founder selling a company has none of that.
Advisers see the same failure modes repeat across dozens of deals — the earn-out that was never going to pay, the carve-out that under-scoped separation, the integration that consumed the thing it was meant to improve — and rarely have a forum in which to write it down plainly.
All M&A is that forum: sourced analysis of how deals actually work, a database of the serial acquirers who buy companies, and calculators for the arithmetic. Everything free, nothing gated, no account to create.
It is being built in public. Where a section exists but the writing does not, you will see a slot rather than an empty page — so you can tell the difference between “not written yet” and “not planned”.
Editorial standards
We say when we do not know
Where market practice varies or the data is thin, the entry says so rather than picking a confident answer. Ranges are given as ranges.
Corrections are published, not quietly patched
Material corrections carry a note and a date at the foot of the page. Typos are just fixed.
Nobody pays to appear
Directory listings, event listings and adviser entries are editorial. There is no paid placement and no affiliate arrangement.
No advice, and we say so
This is reference material. It is not legal, financial or tax advice, and anything that could be read as advice carries a line saying as much.
Sources named where it matters
Figures drawn from filings or public transactions cite them. Figures drawn from practitioner conversations are labelled as such.
Written by people who have done it
Contributors have run processes, sat on the buy side, or advised on them. Contributions are credited unless the contributor asks otherwise.
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Who writes this
Contributor profiles with the deals behind the writing, added as the contributor list grows.
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How it is funded
A plain statement of funding once there is something to state. No advertising or paid placement is planned.