Every number on this site comes from my own deal
In 2024 I bought a mobile oil-change business with an SBA loan. I'd built and sold a company before. I'd been a director in corporate software. I'd been searching for a year. And I still paid $450,000 for a business whose honest earning power, documented in the seller's own tax returns, supported a price around $300,000.
I published the entire post-mortem: the claimed earnings vs. the tax returns, the $55,000 truck that appeared on none of the seller's filings, the customer list I couldn't see until after I'd paid, and the six checks that would have caught all of it. It's the most detailed public teardown of a small business purchase you'll find, because it's exactly what I do for buyers now.
Everyone at your closing table has a job. Protecting you isn't one of them.
| Person | Who they protect |
|---|---|
| The broker | The seller |
| The bank | The loan |
| The SBA | The bank |
| The seller's financials | The seller's story |
| Burned Once | The buyer. That's the whole job. |
AI reads what the seller wrote down. I catch what got left out.
Fair question, so I'll ask it for you: why pay me when AI reads packets for free? Honestly? Run it first. It's decent, and it's free.
But a packet only holds what the seller wants you to read. The expensive stuff is buried underneath it. I know where to dig because every layer below already got me.
The packet
Sales packet · P&L · Tax returns · Asset list
AI reads every word of this. It's the free part, and it's real.
What got said out loud
The slow season? "No big deal," said on a call, never on paper. My worst months run under a third of a normal one.
Digs here"What has the seller told you out loud that isn't written down anywhere?"
What's sealed until closing
The price included "all customer lists." I finally saw mine after closing: 22 customers, two doing most of the work.
Digs here"What have you asked for that you haven't gotten?"
What only eyes catch
No paper mentioned the dead compressor or the shot tires. A $750 inspection would have. I was too scared of losing the deal to ask.
Digs here"Have you watched the business actually run?"
What you don't want to find
The packet said the truck was worth $55,000. The seller's own tax form, sitting in my folder, said $15,000. Nobody hid it. I didn't want to see it.
Digs here"What's the one thing about this deal that bugs you, even if you can't prove it?"
Twelve questions before I read a single page.
Every workup starts the same way: before I open your documents, you answer twelve questions about what happened around them. Each question exists because skipping it cost me real money. Your answers tell me where to dig.
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- 12
You just read four of them. The other eight come with your workup.
I read your deal looking for reasons to walk. That's the part you can't download.
Don't buy a report you've never seen. Here's a whole one.
I ran a complete Deal Workup on my own 2024 purchase, using only the documents that were sitting in my folder before I signed. Same format you get. Nothing held back, nothing blurred, no email required.
- The verdict: don't sign at $449,000, the documents support about $300,000
- The claimed $168,699 in earnings rebuilt from the tax returns down to $120,000
- Seven ranked red flags, including the $55,000 truck that no tax schedule had ever carried
- The eight questions I should have sent the broker, written to copy and paste
FULL DELIVERABLE · NO EMAIL GATE · THE DEAL IS MINE, THE FORMAT IS YOURS
Read it or talk it through. Either way, it's your actual deal on the table.
Send me the deal you're actually looking at: the sales packet, financials, tax returns, whatever the broker gave you. I read it the way I should have read mine.
Deal Workup
- A straight answer on whether the price is defensible
- Claimed numbers rebuilt from the tax returns, every add-back tested
- Every red flag ranked, with the dollar amount attached
- The exact questions to send your broker
- What needs a CPA, an attorney, or a mechanic, and what doesn't
- How your deal compares to real deals at this size
Workup + Debrief
- Everything in the Deal Workup
- 45 minutes live on your deal, findings in hand
- Walk the red flags, pressure-test your plan
- What I'd negotiate, and what would make me walk
Deal Call
- Live, rapid-fire review of your deal
- Show up with your sales packet and your deadline. That's the whole ask.
- Operator judgment, not a checklist
- Only 4 slots a week. Book early, the price only goes up from here.
LAUNCH PRICING · EVERY ENGAGEMENT IS ME PERSONALLY, NOT A TEMPLATE · IF YOUR DEAL IS CLEAN, THE REPORT SAYS SO
Three days from "here's my deal" to "here's the truth"
Send the file
Pay, then forward what the broker gave you: the sales packet, financial statements, tax returns, asset list. The clock starts when the documents land.
I do what I skipped
Rebuild the earnings from the returns. Cross the asset list against the depreciation schedules. Find what the annual totals are smoothing over.
You decide with open eyes
Red-flag report, the questions to ask, and where the price should actually sit. Walk, negotiate, or proceed, but on purpose this time.
Four slots a week. Bring your deal.
One fixed block on my calendar, capped on purpose. I run a business too, which is the point of asking me. Payment first, then you pick your slot from every open time on the calendar.
Book a Deal Call · $400Operator. Acquirer. Burned once.
I'm Matt. I've built a construction-trades business from nothing and sold it. I've owned online businesses. I spent eight years climbing the corporate ladder to become a director at a tech company. I've bought businesses, sold a business, and overpaid for a business. And I run that last one profitably today, which is how I can show you its books.
That mix is the service: I've sat in your chair, the seller's chair, and the operator's chair. When I read a seller's sales packet, I'm not scoring it against a checklist. I'm asking the question nobody at your closing table is paid to ask: would I buy this, at this price, with my own money? I answered that question wrong once with $450,000 of my own money. You get the version of me that exists now.
- 2014 · Built and sold a landscape construction company
- 8 yrs · Climbed to a director-level software role
- 2024 · Bought a mobile service business (SBA 7a)
- 2025 · Grew it past the sellers' best year ever. The first full year after purchase.
- $150K · What skipping diligence cost me, documented publicly
- Nº 001 · The post-mortem, every number sourced
You know the six checks. Here's the fillable version for your deal.
You just read what caught me. This is the actual template, the same six checks built as a worksheet: drop in your numbers, tax returns, and asset list, and see what the article showed you, but running on your deal instead of mine.
YOU'LL ALSO GET THE DEAL TEARDOWNS: REAL SALES PACKETS, REAL RED FLAGS, NO SPAM, UNSUBSCRIBE WHENEVER