Mike Jerman

Adhering to only sending relevant firm experience as it comes through over time (and funny family moments). In Boston for first Board meeting with new and big (and great) PE firm. Yep we did it again. Public comms will be coming but as our prior PE firm is already hi fiving at conferences seems okay to tell everyone the last nine months were brutal. Diligence is just brutal. Told our CFO recently it always hits different when it's your deal. And this coming from a group that does diligence on 120+ deals annually. There's no real advice in the humble brag above. If you're still reading- the advice is to wait to fall in love with your deal. Don't fall in love before you close and diligence has shown you the flags to worry about. Don't fall in love at close and the modest champagne the day of turns into the realization you'll be living with the skeletons and unknowns of the new baby now. Don't fall in love the first six months as you fight to get ahead of working capital and build up cash reserves. Don't fall in love when the j curve on revenue finally starts to show itself (Big note here not to forget the first year after close expect on average a 10% drop in EBITDA from prior twelve months). Fall in love when and if you hit the professional and personal goals this journey gives you. As a founder, builder organically and inorganically, now 2x seller of a very nerdy accounting and diligence firm, enjoy and approach the journey with caution and purpose. Whether it's ETA, search, traditional PE, suppose what am saying is the early, beginning, and days after buy and sell and rinse and repeat are all journeys the bulk of your peers won't join you on as the risks are high for good reason. Cheers to those going after the journey.

Kind of get the clapping after a good aircraft landing in wind. Clapping after a cruise ship emergency training session seems a bit much.

I would like to thank @Sam_Rosati  and the incredible professionals and business owners involved with this year’s @SMBootcamp_. It was an honor to be part of such an amazing lineup, including: @sbabmarks, @SMB_Attorney, @JermanMichael, @bseeling, Jim Tormey, @rosaticorp, and  @drew_eckman. Even as a speaker, I walk away each time with new ideas, insights, and connections. Events like SMB Bootcamp and @SMB_ash  are game‑changers for operators and dealmakers—between the playbooks shared on stage, the off‑the‑record conversations, and the relationships you build, you leave with practical tools you can use on Monday morning. x.com/JackieHirsch_/… Can't wait to see everyone on the Linelineup up this year including:@girdley, @CTW_SMB, Jacob Hall, Eric Pacifici, @JaredJohnsonSBA, @SBA_Matthias, @MatznerJon, @pinpulleddrmf, @JermanMichael, Paul Henderson, @guessworkinvest, @StrongpointRich,  Matthew Dolsky, @Sam_Rosati , Peter Lehrman, Joseph Cabrera, Danny Payne, @SuccessWithJake, @TwoTeesSMB, @KHendersonCo, John Hannum, and so many more.

@Lawyer4Deals Just schedule end of April. They take the first week off after the filing deadline anyway.

Reminder to email all tax accountants you know and ask them to catch up over a happy hour “sometime in the next five weeks”.

We recently wrapped up SMBootcamp LIVE in Tampa. 34 searchers. 17 states + Canada. Some even braved a blizzard to get there. One of the deals we reviewed during the program led to an LOI being submitted. Our goal at LIVE is to give serious acquisition entrepreneurs the framework, deal team access, and real-world context they need to buy a great business fast and mitigate the risk. A big THANK YOU goes out to the speakers who shared their experience with the group: • @JackieHirsch_ (Crowne Atlantic) • @sbabmarks (First Bank of the Lake) • @SMB_Attorney (SMB Law Group) • @JermanMichael & Adam Webster (Hollywell Partners) • @bseeling (PGM Service) • Jim Tormey (Sentry Road) • @rosaticorp (Dock Builders Supply) • @drew_eckman (SMB Loan Support, our loan brokerage and advisory service) Some feedback from attendees: "SMBootcamp is the ultimate reality check. It exposed blind spots I didn’t know I had." "The books and podcasts pale in comparison to the value of the live three-day Bootcamp." "No fluff. Just actionable advice." Next LIVE Bootcamp is May 13-15, and you can apply through the link below 👇

Going to @SMB_ash for the first time was life-changing. I was in a room with people just like me: scrappy, tenacious, resourceful business owners from all different backgrounds and ages across the USA. I landed in a room with my people, where we could exchange ideas, stories, share problems, and offer solutions... it was total magic for me. I didn’t even know a conference could be fun and energizing. It will be my 3rd SMBash, and this one will be better than ever. I can’t wait to see the friends I have made and make new friends. I hope to see you there (and I’m easy to spot at the conference, please come up and say hi!) ‌ Can't Wait to see everyone on the Line up this year including: @girdley, @CTW_SMB, Jacob Hall, @SMB_Attorney, @JaredJohnsonSBA, @SBA_Matthias, @MatznerJon, @pinpulleddrmf, @JermanMichael , Paul Henderson, @guessworkinvest, @StrongpointRich, Matthew Dolsky, @Sam_Rosati, Peter Lehrman, Joseph Cabrera, Danny Payne, @SuccessWithJake, @TwoTeesSMB , @KHendersonCo, John Hannum, and so many more. Get your tickets today: smbash.com

Deal diligence for the week: If your intentions are to get as much accelerated depreciation remember that goodwill gets 15 years for tax purposes. Assessing and allocating value to anything with slower depreciation, without justification or for material amounts paid to valuation experts, even @Hollywellteam, normally just is not worth the pain. Purchase price allocations and opening balance sheets are already hard enough to get right. Let us help.

So excited to start announcing our speaker lineup! Here is your first glance at SMBash 2026, hosted in Dallas, TX, April 22-24! Get your tickets before they run out.

@ConnorAbene We call it being the weather man. No one is fussed when humming along but all like to point fingers at finance and accounting as soon as there is a hiccup ; )

The best finance teams are invisible when things work and impossible to ignore when they don’t.

Always look forward to @SMB_ash . To anyone in search and ETA, this is hands down the best way to start and learn and kick deal information asymmetry's tail. See you then.

You cannot "diligence away" integrity. Showed my students a video on the ins and out of the WorldCom fraud today and the picture below is of Scott Sullivan, the CFO who got five years as a result of quite a simple set of accounting journal entries leading to the ~$3.8B in fraud and lost pension values and jobs and all else that happened with one of the nation's largest bankruptcies to date. If @Hollywellteam shows you red flags in diligence and you ignore them, it's just going to hurt worse later. Get on-site, get to know the team, put hands on assets of the target, and know when to walk away.

Deal diligence tip of the week: Recurring bonuses, regardless of whether they're contractual, are not typically good EBITDA add backs. Imagine you're buying a home services co and the seller says you don't have to pay bonuses post-close. Do you think the target's best people getting these bonuses are going to stick around?

@patrickdichter Bite the bullet and buy on StubHub. Come join us in Atlanta on 21 June if want company.

No luck on World Cup ticket lottery. 0/3 attempts.

Yep, Botkeeper is down for the count. AI certainly has a role in finance & accounting going forward, seems they over extended on R&D without revenue meeting forecast. Our platform, Numera, is using accretive AI tools written in-house to aid our bookkeepers, which in turn aid our Controllers/CFOs. Just wished we wouldn't have named the accounting guidance and memo writing tool we put together after a high school girlfriend dammit.

@guessworkinvest Better $40K than the $m to buy the co.

Did you know that I blew $40K on a small business deal that died on the 1-yard-line? This was back before I bought Blooma. Here's my write-up of what happened: bigdealsmallbusiness.substack.com/p/autopsy-of-a…

@guessworkinvest Agreed. Owner operators need a team to vent to / ask for real feedback / go back to venting.

Most successful business operators I know have a stable of 3-5 thought partners -- other \operators, mentors, investors, etc. Having someone follow your journey and offer frank, unadulterated advice is invaluable. Doesn't have to be someone with a financial stake.

@CTW_SMB Walking them to school 3x weekly is a non negotiable. Best 30 min each day and will miss it when they get past elementary school.

EBITDA growth is great and all But truly nothing beats picking up your kiddos / walking in the front door after work and seeing that smile and energy from them Grateful to have kiddos, hopeful for those who don't you will experience this joy routinely one day

@AGPamBondi You are a stooge. Just a gross human. Please resign and let someone qualified and unbiased with a backbone do real work for the DoJ.

Deal diligence tip for the week: Don't buy a business on an extrapolated metric. If last year's EBITDA was $400k, and the business has done $100k for the first month of the current year, don't buy based on EBITDA of $1.2m (12 x $100k), no matter how much pressure from the seller nor how much you love the deal. Yes this does happen. Yes it did happen to one of our clients (numbers changed and industry not shared on purpose) who fell in love with their deal, gave credit to a seller for forward, extrapolated EBITDA, and against the advice of counsel and investors that walked away before close, they closed on the deal anyway. Was not a surprise when we heard the business didn't achieve that forward number. Not even close.

@ConnorAbene Not perfect is right, materiality matters.

Finance isn’t about precision. It’s about direction. You don’t need perfect numbers to stop making avoidable mistakes.