Acquisitions

What you cannot see is the real risk.

Ask where the work actually lives.

Map flow before you map the org chart.

Diligence starts where the presentation ends.

Follow a transaction from promise to payment.

Recurring workarounds belong in the valuation.

Look for the spreadsheet that keeps the system alive.

The gap between policy and practice is part of the deal.

Close on how it runs, not how it is described.

If ownership is unclear in diligence, it will be unclear after close.

Price the second-order effects.

Integration begins before the documents are signed.

Preserve what works before imposing what is familiar.

Day one needs owners, not just announcements.

Transition risk grows wherever knowledge has one owner.

Protect continuity before chasing synergy.