Cody Agee

🚨 *KEVIN HASSETT SEEN AS FRONTRUNNER IN TRUMP FED CHAIR SEARCH

There’s a company I do business with. They’re massive. $115B revenue, 300k employees. Construction, transportation, security. Healthcare, education. Even waste management. They just chose a 34-year-old socialist who’s never run anything to be their new CEO. Good luck to them.

I grew up in a blue-collar setting filled with dirt, sun, and sweat. My dad ran a small but successful construction business that he built from the ground up with just a GED. In my 20s, I moved to NYC and swapped the job site for big city life. I was consumed by v134 XLS models, board meeting deadlines, and late nights in the office. I operated as a chameleon, slipping in between both worlds. I’d visit family on weekends, then snap right back into the finance grind. Today, I run a business that serves the dairy and ag industries and somehow, those experiences are starting to compound in ways I never could’ve predicted. Also, I just needed an excuse to post this tractor driving down the middle of the road this morning. 😅

Everyone loves to talk about “deal killers.” But after closing $1.5 billion in SMB deals since 2022, here’s what actually ends them and what just feels scary but usually doesn’t. Things That Rarely Kill Deals (But Everyone Thinks They Do): 1. Personal guarantees in sellers notes. 2. Sellers getting cold feet once they see the finish line. 3. Landlord lease negotiations. 4. Seller shopping the business and getting a “higher offer.” 5. Exclusivity running out. 6. Lending delays or extensions. 7. Asking the seller to stay on for a period post-close. Things That Actually Kill Deals: 1. QoE findings that blow up the valuation. 2. Realizing you won't have enough working capital. 3. Lawyers making unreasonable liability asks or slowing down the process eventually breaking buyer/seller trust. 4. Confession of judgment in seller's notes, push back on the noncompete or other extreme risk risk allocation demands.