The library
Research on deal origination and target screening.
Explore how acquisition processes work, where company data comes from, and how to evaluate research for your mandate. Each guide links to its sources and explains the limits of the evidence.
- 01Origination3,345 words · updated 2026-09-17
Proprietary deal flow and the evidence on auctions
How negotiated sales and auctions differ, what the research says about pricing, and how an origination programme can help a buyer build relationships before a sale process.
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- 02Ownership2,967 words · updated 2026-09-17
Ownership and succession in the lower middle market
Public data on business ownership and owner age, the limits of succession forecasts, and how to assess ownership at an individual company.
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- 03Data2,921 words · updated 2026-09-17
Sources of acquisition target data and their limits
A field guide to registries, filings, company websites, and commercial databases: what each source can establish, where coverage is limited, and how to handle conflicting information.
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- 04Method2,478 words · updated 2026-09-17
Evidence standards for acquisition research
How principles from auditing, authentication, and archival practice can help teams retain and review the evidence behind company research.
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- 05Technology2,530 words · updated 2026-09-17
Evaluating AI research agents
How to assess research agents using structured answers, source attribution, separate review, and comparison with human-reviewed examples.
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- 06Judgement2,737 words · updated 2026-09-17
Building consistent acquisition screening criteria
Turn an acquisition thesis into a written screening rubric. Define disqualifying conditions, scoring rules, and the treatment of missing information, then evaluate the results.
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- 07Coverage2,877 words · updated 2026-09-17
Mapping a fragmented industry from public data
Define the market for your acquisition thesis, assemble a target universe from public sources, and assess how much of that universe your research covers.
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- 08Contact3,092 words · updated 2026-09-17
Acquisition outreach: compliance, deliverability, and approvals
An overview of the legal, technical, and operational considerations involved in contacting business owners, including sender identification, email delivery, and client approvals.
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- 09Reference3,035 words · updated 2026-09-17
A glossary of deal origination
Definitions of origination, research, and evidence terms, with references to relevant standards and sources.
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