In 30 days, a written playbook for building a holding company worth far more than you could build on your own.
You leave with a playbook for pulling capital, talent, opportunities and acquisitions harder than most owners ever do, including whether going public belongs in it, and how.
The four levers, whether going public makes sense, and your next 90 days, all applied to you.
Every playbook starts with an honest read of where you stand: your experience, capital, network and goals, the kinds of businesses that fit you and the ones to avoid, and what lenders, sellers and investors will see when they look at you. Then it shows you how to pull each lever, what your holding company could be worth, and what to do next.
Capital
A capital stack that doesn't depend on your savings: bank and SBA debt, seller notes, earnouts, rollover equity, special purpose vehicles and deal-by-deal investors, worked in dollars for a deal your size, plus the financing terms to refuse.
There are many ways to make a good deal happen, especially when you’re publicly listed. Part of the price can come from cash you have, or from outside investors, directly or through a special purpose vehicle. Part can be common shares and part preferred shares. Part can be a note paid to the seller over time, and part a seller earnout. A seller will consider taking a preferred share or a note from a transparent public company; they rarely would from a private company nobody knows. You can have your price or your terms, but not both.
Talent
The bench most buyers can't afford: retired industry leaders, former CFOs, the advisers your customers already trust, and a board. How to attract them with stock options and other equity that vests only on results, which equity tools fit your company, and how much to reserve.
Options that vest when someone produces, and when they bring in people they know. Our founder built a 120-person firm in its first year that way.
Opportunities
Growth beyond the deal: equity pools for the distributors and partners who already reach your customers, customers and suppliers as strategic investors, and the transparency and corporate governance that win the trust of lenders, sellers and partners.
When you can’t reach the customers, stop chasing them and recruit the people who already know them. One company brought on six or seven advisers with thirty years each, for options and no cash. Those advisers helped position the company better and connected it with prospective clients that turned into opportunities it would not otherwise have had.
Acquisitions
How to judge a deal before you fall for it: strategic fit, a reasonable price, the team you would be buying, the structure, and the better alternatives. Then how each acquisition should be valued, structured and integrated so the businesses you buy add up to far more than the sum of their parts.
Who pays if the deal dies. How to structure a deal you have doubts about so the loss is limited. And what to do when an acquisition doesn’t work: close it, and put the money behind the one that does.
What your business could be worth over time, and a straight answer on going public
What your holding company could be worth over time as a public company, valued on EBITDA, private and public alike, so the comparison is fair, and what your stake is worth on each path. It tells you what the business should be valued at over time, not where a stock would trade. Whether a listing makes sense for you at all, and if it’s a path you want, what you would need to do to be ready: the route, the timing and the gaps to close first.
Your next 90 days
Specific tasks with dates, the decisions to make now, the risks to watch, and five numbers to track every week. It starts with the foundation: books and records, corporate documents, employment agreements in writing, a data room. And one rule from day one: before you issue options or shares for anything other than cash, talk to us first, so you know the rules before you act.
A course is built for everyone in the room. The playbook is built for you.
Courses, communities and masterminds give you knowledge and a peer group. The playbook gives you a plan you can act on: how to get from the stage you're at to a valuable holding company, whether it stays private or goes public to get more out of all four levers.
Most people who come to us have used some of what's out there, and it was money well spent. Here is what each kind of help is built to do, and where it stops.
Courses and online communities
What you getThe process from search to closing: how to find, value, finance and negotiate a deal. Recorded lessons, templates, group calls, and other buyers to compare notes with.
Where it stopsThe curriculum is the same for the buyer with $50,000 and the buyer with $5 million, for the first-timer and the owner of three companies. It explains how deals get done in general. It isn't built to look at your capital, your network and your goals, tell you which deals you can realistically fund and close, or say what to do on Monday morning. When the lessons end, the plan is still yours to write.
Masterminds, seminars and live events
What you getEnergy, a room of ambitious people, introductions, and some shared time with the person leading it.
Where it stopsThe time is shared and the advice has to work for everyone listening. You may get a few minutes on your own situation, from people who haven't seen your numbers. Most people leave motivated and better connected, with nothing in writing about their own capital, team, deals or valuation. Turning the energy into a plan is left to you.
Programs that bring deals or invest alongside you
What you getDeal flow, and sometimes capital or an experienced partner in the deal.
Where it stopsA partner in your deal has a stake in the deal happening: a fee when it closes, a share of what you buy, or both. That can be a fair trade for capital and deal flow. It isn't the same as advice from someone with nothing riding on whether you buy, and it covers the deal in front of you, not the holding company you're building around it.
Books, podcasts and conferences
What you getThe holding-company model, and why a group of businesses can be worth more than its parts, told by people who built one.
Where it stopsIt's their story: their industry, their capital, their timing. Which parts apply to you, in what order, with what money and which people, is left for you to work out.
It starts where those leave off. One adviser with thirty years on the capital side works through your situation with you: your capital, your network, your goals, the businesses you own or are looking at, and the holding company you want to build. If you already have deals in view, we look at them directionally against it.
What you get isn't a template or a workbook. It's a written analysis with specific recommendations, presented to you live, that you can act on the next day: how to fund what you buy, who to put around you, how to judge and structure each deal, what the holding company could be worth, whether going public belongs in it, and what to do in the next 90 days.
Private or public
The playbook covers both roads and gives you a straight answer on which fits you.
Several programs in this market talk about taking a company public. Our founder has done it seventeen times, several with his own companies: eleven direct listings, four reverse mergers and two IPOs. The answer comes from someone who has run the process, and who will tell you when it doesn't fit.
A word on "no money down"
Yes, it's possible to buy a business with no money down. A good one, at a good price? Not likely.
You will usually need some of your own money, or you'll need to raise it from investors. The playbook works out how much, from whom, and on what terms.
If you don't yet know what a letter of intent or an SBA 7(a) loan is, start with a course or a book; it costs far less than our fee. Brokers, marketplaces and your own outreach bring the deals. Lenders, sellers and your investors provide the money. Your accountant and lawyer run diligence on a specific company and write the documents. If you're in a community of buyers, keep it.
We stay out of all of that, so the playbook is a fixed fee with no equity and no success fee, whether you buy or walk away.
Some of the most valuable advice is "not this one."
Acquisition entrepreneurs get distracted by shiny objects: a deal that looks great on first read and pulls them away from their plan. The playbook gives you the questions to ask before you fall for one. Does it fit your strategy? Is the asking price reasonable for what you're actually getting? Is the team that comes with it any good, and does the business depend on someone who isn't staying? Does the structure work? Is there a better use of the same money and time?
None of those answers is on a spreadsheet, and they're where thirty years on the capital side of deals matters most.
Four sessions, one playbook.
Where you are
Your goals, capital, experience and any deals in view, starting from what you send beforehand.
People, equity and growth
Your bench and board, your equity plan, and the partners who can grow what you buy.
Capital
The capital stack and sources for your first or next deal, and the terms to avoid.
The playbook, presented
What your business could be worth over time, the answer on going public, the risks and your next 90 days.
Your written playbook
The four levers applied to you, what your holding company could be worth, a straight answer on going public, and your next 90 days, in writing and yours to keep.
What a finished playbook covers.
An example table of contents. Every playbook is written for one client, so the detail in each section is yours alone.
The Holding Company Playbook · Prepared for [Client] · [Date] · Confidential
01 Where you stand. Your goals, experience, capital and network; what lenders, sellers and investors will see; the businesses that fit you and the ones to avoid.
02 The holding company. Your thesis, how the company is organized, who owns what, and your role in it.
03 Talent. The bench and board to build, how to attract them, and your equity plan.
04 Opportunities. Partners, distributors and customers as strategic investors; transparency and governance.
05 Capital. Your capital stack for a deal your size, worked in dollars; sources and order; the terms to refuse; when to raise.
06 Acquisitions. How to judge a deal: fit, price, team, structure and alternatives. Then valuation, structure and integration.
07 What your business could be worth over time. What your holding company could be worth private and public, valued on EBITDA on both sides, and your stake on each path. What it should be valued at over time, not where a stock would trade.
08 Going public. Whether it makes sense for you, and if you want it, whether you're ready and what you'd need to do to be ready.
09 The path. The stages between where you are and what the business could be worth, and the order to pull the levers.
10 The risks. The five that could derail the plan, and what to do about each.
11 Your next 90 days. Tasks with dates, the decisions to make now, and five numbers to track every week.
What to send us beforehand.
Nothing needs to be polished. We'd rather see what's real.
- Your goals and timeline, and the kind of holding company you want to build
- Your background: a résumé or LinkedIn profile is enough
- The capital you could put in yourself, and who in your network might back you
- If you already own businesses: three years of financial statements, the current year to date, and any debt
- Your team today, and any advisers or board
- Any deals in view: the listing or teaser, the information memorandum and any letter of intent
- Past deals, including the ones that didn't close, and what you learned
Who the playbook is for, and who it isn't.
It's for you if
- You're serious about buying your first business, or adding to the ones you own
- You have some capital, or people who know you and might back you
- You want a professional's judgment on your situation, not another framework
- You're ready to act on what the playbook says
It isn't if
- You want someone to find or fund a deal for you
- You're looking for an investor rather than an adviser
- You want a guarantee of an outcome; nobody honest can give one
- You aren't prepared to put in the work afterward
Start the process for $10K.
Apply, and we'll set up a free first conversation to make sure the playbook is right for you before you commit. If it isn't, we'll tell you.
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