High Margins, No Map

In partnership with

Hey, it’s David

Welcome back to M&A from the Plane with quick stories and insights drawn from the many miles I log in the air talking to business owners, founders, and dealmakers.

This time: A high-margin business that looked bulletproof… until we dug in.

The Business Looked Ready to Fly… Until It Wasn’t
Although we were boarding late, everything looked good.

The plane seemed prepped. The crew seemed upbeat.
But right before takeoff, the pilot came on the speaker.
The issue: The navigation system wasn’t synced.

You could hear it in the cabin, all that polish suddenly felt irrelevant.
Without a map, no one was moving.

Today’s Newsletter Is Sponsored By:

1440: Your Weekly Business Cheat Sheet

Expand your business and finance knowledge with 1440. Get clear, conversational breakdowns of the key concepts in business and finance—no paywalls, no spin. Every Thursday, 1440 delivers deep dives, interactive charts, and rapid market rundowns trusted by 100k+ professionals.

Sign Up Today

It Looked Like a Premium Deal… At First

The numbers were impressive.
88% gross margin. 50% EBITDA. No debt. Solid rep coverage.

On the surface, it looked like one of those deals that practically sells itself.

But once we got into the conversation, the real picture started to form.
No CRM, just emails and memory.
No quoting system, just instinct and PDFs.
The product roadmap? Still in his head.
Rep relationships? All verbal, nothing on paper.

He thought the business was ready for an exit.
We realized it was all still running through him.

So We Made a Call

We had two options.
Let the market uncover the risks… and watch the deal get repriced.
Or get ahead of it and fix the issues before they ever showed up in diligence.

We chose the second path.

We pulled a senior team member forward to take point with reps.
We built a simple pipeline report to show how often specs turned into orders.
We launched the new product line early… just enough to prove it was real.
And we got stay-behind agreements in motion to ease the handoff.

Same business.
Same margins.
But now the story wasn’t about the founder.
It was about a business that could keep running without him in the middle of everything.

Final Thought

A clean plane doesn’t take off without a flight path.
Neither does a premium exit.

If this hits close to home, know this, it’s fixable.
Most of the risk isn’t in the business itself.
It’s in what buyers can’t see.
We can help you clear that up. We’re here when you’re ready.

Today’s Newsletter Is Sponsored By:

StartEngine’s $30M Surge — Own a Piece Before June 26

StartEngine is the investing platform providing exposure to pre-IPO companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Databricks.

After doubling their revenues YoY in 2024 ($23M to $48M), StartEngine’s now tripled first quarter revenue YoY to a record $30M, based on its unaudited Q1 2025 financials. Now you can join 45K+ shareholders across all offerings before this round closes next month.

Invest in StartEngine

_{Reg A+ via StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. No BD/intermediary involved. Investment is speculative, illiquid & high risk. See OC and Risks on page.}

Are you enjoying the content we’re sharing from BoardSpire?

I’d love to hear from you, so I’d appreciate your feedback in this quick poll:

Thank you!

David