Why Manual Back-Office Work Survives in Profitable Companies
Find a profitable company still running payroll off a spreadsheet or scheduling by hand, and the reflex is to assume the owner is behind the times. Sometimes that’s true. Usually it isn’t. Profitable companies keep manual processes because, for a long stretch, keeping them was the rational choice. The …
The Diligence Questions That Actually Predict Operational Pain
Most of a diligence checklist confirms what you already believe. A few questions tell you what you’re actually buying. Most of a diligence process confirms the story the seller is already telling. The data room is organized to support the thesis. The management presentation is rehearsed. The standard checklist …
Buying the Problem vs. Being Hired to Fix It
An independent sponsor and a turnaround operator do the same work. The difference is who’s holding the risk. Two people walk into the same underperforming business. One bought it. One was hired to fix it. Strip away the ownership paperwork and their first ninety days look nearly identical. Same …
When AI Is the Wrong Answer
The operational problems that look like AI opportunities but aren’t I have deployed AI in an operation and watched it work. Call analysis that rebuilt a sales process. Digital workflows that replaced back-office systems held together with paper and habit. That experience is exactly why I have become skeptical …