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Buy-Side

A Buy-Side Playbook for Operators Hunting Acquisitions

Searchers and operators do not lack deal flow. They lack a filter. Here is how we run a buy-side mandate without drowning you in teasers.

Kevin ROCK Reiss1 min read
Kevin ROCK Reiss at a professional conference

A buy-side mandate that says “good businesses, anywhere, under $10 million” is not a mandate. It is a wish. We start with a one-page thesis: sector, customer type, geography, margin floor, owner-dependency ceiling, and the operator’s actual superpower. Then we hunt.

Most of the work is saying no

We would rather bring you four files a quarter you might buy than forty you will skim. Off-market conversations, quiet retirements, and owners who already know the HeyWhatEver desk beat scraping public listings.

Underwrite like a lender even if you are not one

  • Quality of earnings light: bank recs, add-back audit, working capital trend.
  • Customer calls only with permission, and only late.
  • Lease, license, and change-of-control landmines mapped before LOI.
  • A walk-away price written down before anyone gets charmed.

If you are an operator with capital, an independent sponsor, or a family looking for a first platform, the desk will tell you quickly whether we can help. We do not fake coverage we do not have.

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