Culture risk in SMB deals

Post-close culture shock is an expensive, avoidable drain on IRR. For searchers and sponsors in the <$25M market (especially when the founder is exiting), the impact of this can be particularly destructive if mismanaged. I’ve watched deals that seemed great on paper collapse because the people who were actually holding it all together didn’t mesh with new ownership (but from the family office side so the narrative was filtered through investor relations teams, not directly from the people who actually lived it). All that said, I’d love to talk to a few searchers, independent sponsors, or advisors who have lived the "people side" of a transaction. If you’ve survived a messy founder transition or inherited a culture that wasn't what it seemed in the data room, I’d love to hear how you handled it! If you’re in Toronto, coffee is on me. Otherwise, happy to jump on a quick call. Drop a comment, DM, or reach me at redacted Full disclosure: I’m currently building a way to flag these risks using open-source intelligence. My goal is to map the "informal" organization effectively without relying on the typical HR surveys that everyone hates. Your experience would be a huge help in getting the methodology right & I’m happy to share the anonymous, aggregated findings from these discussions with you if you're interested.