01Buying a business
Understand the people and equipment.
Look beyond the sales summary to the equipment, people, and customer relationships that make the earnings possible.
Ron Diver · Puget Bindery, est. 1919
Good businesses.
Worth carrying
forward.
I run a century-old trade bindery on two shifts. I’m also looking for the next business to buy.
Field notes on buying, running, and handing on a small business. For searchers pursuing their first acquisition, owners building the next one, and people thinking about a sale.
Read the opening letter
Letter No. 01 · Available to read
02Growing through acquisition
Test the cash and capacity.
Understand the cash, capacity, and operating capability a second business will ask of the first.
03Preparing for a sale
Prepare the crew for the handoff.
Bring the owner’s knowledge, the crew’s strengths, and the work worth preserving into the conversation about what comes next.
A note from Ron Diver
Have a business in mind?
I write this letter, and I’m doing the work myself: running Puget Bindery in Kent, Washington, and looking for businesses to acquire. If you’re considering a sale, or know an owner I should meet, I’d welcome a conversation in confidence.
More about Ron