In November 2026 we looked at what people type into Google and Bing, and ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers, about building a holding company through acquisitions. The questions cluster into five groups: how to set up and build a holding company, how to pay for the second deal and beyond, whether and how a small holding company can go public, how the models compare (search fund, self-funded search, independent sponsor, holding company, private equity), and whether business-buying courses are worth the money. The answers that rank today come mostly from law firms, LLC-formation websites, individual operators' newsletters, forum threads and finance glossaries. They are good on definitions and entity setup. They are thin or silent on funding deals two through ten, on paying sellers in stock at small scale, and on taking a company with $1 million to $20 million of revenue public. This article explains what we found, how to judge any answer you get, and how we write ours.
These are the recurring questions, grouped. If you have asked one of them, you are in good company.
Building the holding company. How do you build a holding company for acquisitions? Should it be an LLC or a C-corp? How do you set one up for multiple LLCs? What does it cost? Can you build a "Berkshire Hathaway for small businesses"?
Paying for deal two and beyond. How do you fund a second acquisition while running the first? Can you use an SBA loan for a second business? What do you do after you hit the $5 million SBA 7(a) cap? Can a seller take stock instead of cash? What changed under SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 in October 2026?
Going public. How does a small company go public? Direct listing or reverse merger? Should my holding company go public, and at what size? What are Nasdaq's rules now?
Choosing a model. Traditional search fund or self-funded search? Self-funded searcher or independent sponsor? Holding company versus private equity versus search fund? What is a serial acquirer, and how is it different from a roll-up?
Courses and advisers. Are business-buying courses and masterminds worth it? Who advises acquisition entrepreneurs? What should a mentor actually give you?
The first page of results, and the sources AI assistants lean on, come from a handful of source types.
We read the strongest pages for each group of questions. The gaps were consistent.
AI answers are built from the same web, with some differences in what they favor. Studies published in 2026 are consistent on a few points. A matched-pair analysis of about 96,000 URLs (SISTRIX data, summarized October 2026) found that pages with a current year in the title, question-style headings, a visible last-updated date, a named author, tables and lists, 1,000 words or more, and ten or more outbound links to sources were cited more often by ChatGPT and Google's AI features. A study of 10,000 citations across B2B queries found ChatGPT leaning heavily on Wikipedia and company-owned pages, while Perplexity and Google's AI Mode drew far more on Reddit, YouTube and forums. An October 2026 fintech study found ChatGPT citing company websites and regulator pages for "how do I" questions, and Google's AI Mode spreading citations across lists and forums. These are correlations, not rules, and the engines change often. But the pattern is clear: the engines reward pages that answer the question directly, show their sources and say who wrote them and when.
Whether it comes from a search result, a newsletter or an AI assistant, run the answer through five checks before you act on it.
The articles on this site are built to pass those checks, because that is what we would want as readers. Each one opens with a direct answer, then the reasoning, then the sources. Each names its author, Joel Arberman, who has taken 17 companies public, closed 8 M&A transactions and prepared more than 30 private placements over 30 years, and each carries the month it was last reviewed. Figures link to the SOP, the rulebook, the SEC release, the filing or the study they came from, and when a figure is from our own work we say so. When something is our opinion rather than a rule, it is written as "my view." Every article ends with a disclaimer that we are an advisory firm, not a law firm, accounting firm or broker-dealer, because that is true and it matters. There are now about 200 articles, organized in three groups: building a holding company, taking one public, and buying your first business.
The analysis above pointed at questions that nobody answers well for a company of this size. We have written or are writing on each: direct listing or reverse merger for a small company in 2026; funding acquisitions two through ten without more SBA debt; paying a seller with stock and what Rule 144 and lockups mean for sellers who take it; holding company versus private equity versus serial acquirer; and whether a holding company with $1 million to $5 million of revenue can go public. If you have a question we have not answered, ask it on the application form and we will write it up.
Where these findings come from: our own review of Google and Bing results for about 20 queries in November 2026 and of the pages that ranked; the Vizup summary of SISTRIX data (October 29, 2026); the GrackerAI citation study (2026); the Omnius fintech AI visibility study (November 3, 2026); and the DigitalApplied review of 15 citation studies (November 5, 2026). Search results vary by location, device and day, so your results will differ from ours.
Treat it as a well-read friend, not a lawyer. Ask it for its sources, open them, and check the dates. For anything with a rule attached, read the rule.
Because they are specific, recent and written by people doing the work, and because search engines and AI assistants have learned that readers trust them. The trade-off is that nobody checks them, so read several and look for agreement.
The good ones are written by operators and are more useful than most published guides. Judge each by the same five checks: date, sources, author, size and what it sells.
Add your size and your situation to the query: "second acquisition SBA cap seller note" finds better material than "how to buy a business." Specific questions surface specific answers.
If your question is which model fits you, start with ETA, search fund, independent sponsor or holding company. If it is how to build the thing, start with how to build a holding company for acquisitions.
Meraki Dealmakers is a service of Meraki Partners, LLC, an advisory firm. It is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, business broker, law firm or accounting firm. This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
Start with the playbook. The first conversation is free.
Meraki Dealmakers is a service of Meraki Partners, LLC.
Meraki Partners, LLC is an advisory firm. It is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, business broker, law firm or accounting firm, and does not solicit investors or receive compensation based on capital raised.
© 2026 Meraki Partners, LLC