Articles
Articles by Scott Zack
On starting, running, and buying companies in Michigan.
How a Buyer Values a Small Business
How buyers actually arrive at a price for a small Michigan company: the earnings number they start from, the multiple they apply, and the five things that move it.
02What a Buyer Actually Looks At in Your Financials
The five things a buyer reads first in a small company's numbers, and what Michigan owners can clean up before the first meeting.
03Five Questions to Answer Before You Call a Buyer
What Michigan business owners should have clear, on paper, before the first conversation about selling.
04Selling to Your Management Team: How a Management Buyout Works
Your best buyer may already work for you. Here is how a management buyout actually comes together, and where it usually goes wrong.
05What Happens to Your Employees When You Sell Your Company
For most owners, the hardest question in a sale is not the price. It is what happens to the people who built the business with them.
06The Five-Year Succession Timeline Every Michigan Business Owner Needs
Most owners start planning their exit about three years too late. Here is how the time actually gets used.
07Questions to Ask Before You Sell Your Company
Price is the first question every owner asks. It should not be the last. Here is what I would want to know if I were on the other side of the table.
08What I Look For Before Creek Equity Buys a Company
The checklist is short. The discipline is in running it every time, especially when I already like the business.
09Lessons From Ohio State Basketball That I Still Use in Business
Film sessions, sitting the bench, and playing a role: what wearing number 34 for the Buckeyes taught me about running companies.
10Why Creek Equity Holds Companies for the Long Term
We invest our own capital, so there is no fund clock telling us when to sell. Here is why that matters to the companies we own.
11Building Businesses in Metro Detroit: What Has Changed in 20 Years
Two decades of starting and buying companies around Detroit. What is different now, and what has not changed at all.
12How to Evaluate a Management Team in One Meeting
You cannot know a team from one meeting. You can learn a surprising amount if you listen for the right things.
13The First 90 Days After an Acquisition
Listen first, protect the customers and the people, and change less than you think you should.
More of Scott's writing is published at Creek Equity Insights, his succession guide for Michigan owners, and his essay on the 1994-95 Buckeyes.