M&A

Buying and selling companies

Sep 13, 2026

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9 min read

$5 Million is a Nightmare

Benchmarks for Operators 9/13/26

CJ Gustafson

Aug 16, 2026

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7 min read

Catch and Release: Too Big to Acquire

Benchmarks for Operators 8/16/26

CJ Gustafson

The Nightman Cometh for Late Stage SaaS: Airtable Acquired by Bending Spoons

Aug 9, 2026

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8 min read

The Nightman Cometh for Late Stage SaaS: Airtable Acquired by Bending Spoons

Benchmarks for Operators 8/9/26

CJ Gustafson

Jul 26, 2026

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9 min read

Domo? The Post Operating SPAC?

Benchmarks for Operators 7/26/26

CJ Gustafson

Mar 29, 2026

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22 min read

What Happens to a CFO upon Acquisition?

Benchmarks for Operators 3/29/26

CJ Gustafson

Feb 24, 2026

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15 min read

How to Shut Down a Company

And the Cost of Quitting

CJ Gustafson

What’s a 'Stalking Horse' in the context of M&A?

Dec 21, 2025

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14 min read

What’s a 'Stalking Horse' in the context of M&A?

Benchmarks for operators 12/21/25

CJ Gustafson

The Awkward Exit: $150M to $300M Acquisitions

Nov 30, 2025

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17 min read

The Awkward Exit: $150M to $300M Acquisitions

Benchmarks for Operators (11/30/25)

CJ Gustafson

Sep 23, 2025

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9 min read

How Does Bankruptcy Work?

I'm not a lawyer, but here's how I'd explain it

CJ Gustafson

Jun 17, 2025

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10 min read

The Exit-Ready Org

What private equity sponsors are actually looking for, and how to avoid killing deal momentum before it starts.

CJ Gustafson

All Stock Deals: Your Company, As Currency

Jun 1, 2025

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10 min read

All Stock Deals: Your Company, As Currency

6/1/25 Benchmarks for Operators

CJ Gustafson

Feb 11, 2025

•

7 min read

Build vs. Buy Tools

Lessons from the Nightmare of Homegrown Tools

CJ Gustafson

Oct 20, 2024

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11 min read

A Take Private Takeoff?

10/20/24 Benchmarks for Operators

CJ Gustafson

Sep 29, 2024

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9 min read

"Below My Line"

9/29/24 Benchmarks for Operators

CJ Gustafson

"If less than half of your deals fail, you're probably not taking enough risk"

Sep 24, 2024

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8 min read

"If less than half of your deals fail, you're probably not taking enough risk"

Is corporate M&A like drafting a 1st round QB?

CJ Gustafson

Jul 7, 2024

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8 min read

Avoiding Buyer's Remorse

7/7/24 Benchmarks for Operators

CJ Gustafson

Jun 27, 2024

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7 min read

Negotiating the Working Capital Peg

Part 4 in our month long series on Tech M&A

CJ Gustafson

Jun 20, 2024

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5 min read

Your Complete Guide to Earnouts

June's four part series on M&A negotiations at tech startups

CJ Gustafson

Your Complete Guide to Liquidation Preferences

Jun 6, 2024

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6 min read

Your Complete Guide to Liquidation Preferences

June's four part series on M&A negotiations at tech startups

CJ Gustafson

Apr 21, 2024

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10 min read

Firewalls & Fire Sales

4/21/24 Benchmarks for Operators.

CJ Gustafson

Oct 26, 2023

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15 min read

A Crash Course in M&A

Interviewing Anand Sanwal, Founder and CEO of CB Insights

CJ Gustafson

Jan 3, 2023

•

8 min read

M&A Strategies

How to evaluate your acquisition landscape

CJ Gustafson

Dec 13, 2022

•

8 min read

Understanding Take Private Transactions

And trends to identify them before they go down

CJ Gustafson

Aug 16, 2022

•

8 min read

Ways to buy a business

Asset deals vs Stock deals - in plain English

CJ Gustafson

M&A

$5 Million is a Nightmare

Catch and Release: Too Big to Acquire

The Nightman Cometh for Late Stage SaaS: Airtable Acquired by Bending Spoons

Domo? The Post Operating SPAC?

What Happens to a CFO upon Acquisition?

How to Shut Down a Company

What’s a 'Stalking Horse' in the context of M&A?

The Awkward Exit: $150M to $300M Acquisitions

How Does Bankruptcy Work?

The Exit-Ready Org

All Stock Deals: Your Company, As Currency

Build vs. Buy Tools

A Take Private Takeoff?

"Below My Line"

"If less than half of your deals fail, you're probably not taking enough risk"

Avoiding Buyer's Remorse

Negotiating the Working Capital Peg

Your Complete Guide to Earnouts

Your Complete Guide to Liquidation Preferences

Firewalls & Fire Sales

A Crash Course in M&A

M&A Strategies

Understanding Take Private Transactions

Ways to buy a business

yo, btw…