The First 100 Days After You Buy
What happens after the wire hits is what separates dealmakers from operators.
đ§ Lead Story: Closing Isnât the Goal â Control Is
The business isnât really yours when the wire clears.
It becomes yours when:
The assets are fully transferred
The employees trust you
The customers stay and keep paying
The vendors keep shipping
And the systems still work on Monday
That doesnât happen by accident.
Thatâs called post-close execution â and itâs where most first-time owners either stabilize⌠or spiral.
Real Lessons from Real Deals
Recently, we supported multiple buyers with clean diligence and smooth closings â yet still faced challenges that only operator readiness can solve.
In one deal, a customer continued making payments to the sellerâs old ACH account post-close.
The buyer didnât catch it in time â and now theyâre chasing a seller whoâs in no rush to return the funds.
In another deal, the seller had quietly overridden the payroll system for years.
Employees received extra PTO each December, but nothing was documented. No handbook. No policy. Just a verbal tradition.
Post-close, an employee flagged her balance as âwrong,â and tensions rose quickly.
With help from his advisors, the buyer issued a clear internal memo, formalized the PTO policy, and rolled forward time fairly.
Crisis avoided. Morale preserved. And the buyer looked like a pro â not a panicked rookie with a legal pad.
In a third deal, a seller contracted for post-close transition support still held all admin control over the companyâs IT infrastructure months after closing.
They refused to hand over full access.
The buyer had to escalate through legal channels to enforce handover of basic operational systems like email, accounting, and CRM.
None of these were missed in diligence.
They werenât oversights.
They were reminders:
Diligence gets you to closing.
But systems, support, and operator readiness carry you through what comes next.
The 0-to-1 Gap
If youâve never built something from scratch â never gone â0 to 1â â post-close can feel like being handed the keys to a moving train⌠with no map and no brakes.
That doesnât mean donât buy.
It means donât do it alone.
Get a coach
Join a vetted operator peer group
Find a mentor whoâs already scaled and stabilized
Bring in smart money that adds more than capital
Build an advisory board before you need it
Bring experience into the room â before youâre the only one in it.
When we started building SMB Law Group, we hired a business coach on day one.
He told us:
âDo X, Y, and Z.â
We listened.
But the why behind those things? That didnât land until two years in.
And once it did â once the systems clicked, the strategy locked, and the team aligned â
Execution got 10x sharper.
That kind of clarity only comes from experience.
From learning what matters the hard way.
From building.
So if youâre skipping the early-stage grind by buying instead of building...
Make sure someone on your team has already walked that path.
Because buyers donât just need capital.
They need calibration â from people whoâve been through the fog, and made it out with systems, strategy, and sanity intact.
If you donât have that support yet â go get it.
Before youâre two months in⌠fixing a system you didnât know was broken.
đ Acquisition Insight: Your First 14 Days as the Owner
If you're two weeks post-close and still waiting for things to "settle," you're already behind.
By Day 14, you should be able to say â confidently â that:
â Employees know who you are, understand whatâs changing (and whatâs not), and feel like someone is in charge. Youâve sent a Day 1 email, held at least one live call, and made space for their questions.
â Top customers have been personally contacted. Theyâve heard your name. They know continuity is the plan. They feel like theyâre in steady hands.
â All vendor relationships are mapped, logins are secured, and ACHs are tied to the right accounts. No more payments hitting the sellerâs inbox or going unpaid because of access issues.
â Your financial controls are live. Youâve defined who can move money, approve payments, run payroll, and sign contracts. No ambiguity. No overlaps. No holes.
â Youâve started tracking what matters. Whether itâs churn risk, vendor friction, or employee morale, youâve built a system to flag red alerts before they become fires.
This isnât about perfection.
Itâs about control.
If youâre still reacting to issues by the end of Week 2, you're operating on hope.
If youâre preventing them â youâre starting to think like a real owner.
đ§ Behind the Scenes at SMB: Real Post-Close Support
Weâre not just deal counsel â we help clients protect their investment after the deal is done.
Hereâs how we do it:
â
Post-Closing Toolkit (Client-Only)
Included with every M&A engagement, this resource helps buyers:
Review and update customer and supplier agreements
Clean up entity structure
Identify and resolve loose ends in contracts, compliance, and documentation
Ensure employee classifications, offer letters, and contractor terms are legally sound
â
Free Fractional General Counsel (FGC) Support
Our clients receive free post-close legal access to ensure theyâve got someone in their corner watching their back!
This isnât fluff.
Itâs what closes the loop between acquisition and operational control.
𧞠Client Close Highlight: Scalepath
Real deal. Real buyer. Real traction.
A few weeks ago, one of our clients closed a highly strategic acquisition â one that many of you in this community will recognize:
đ Congrats to Rand Larsen, who just acquired Scalepath, a vetted peer group for small business owners.
Rand originally built a cohort of 40+ acquisition entrepreneurs whoâd already closed deals. Then he acquired a majority of Michael Girdleyâs SMB community and merged the two.
Scalepath now supports 90+ business owners post-close â and the insights being shared inside are the kind youâll never find in a broker memo.
If youâre under LOI, Rand will introduce you to someone who has closed in your industry. That means real due diligence insight from someone whoâs lived it.
đŠ Reach out directly: Rand@joinscalepath.com
Client mentioned with permission.
đ Market Spotlight: Why Weâre Watching Dealonomy
If you havenât seen Dealonomy yet, take a look.
Itâs a new platform for discovering quality, vetted SMB deals â founded by our friend Clint Fiore, formerly of Bison Business, one of the top M&A shops in the country.
Clint and his team are building what feels like the âeasy buttonâ for business buyers:
Clean, SBA-lendable deals
Motivated sellers with realistic expectations
Professional advisors on both sides
An all-in-one system for NDA â offer â due diligence â close
Weâve reviewed the backend, and itâs real:
đš 20+ deals already live
đš Most deals in the $500Kâ$1.5M SDE range
đš Real documentation and process
đš More added every week
And SMB Law Group is now proud to be a preferred legal partner on the platform â helping buyers navigate the LOI and legal process with confidence.
The best part? Itâs free to join.
But serious buyers can grab a 30-day trial of the Premium Plan, which gets you early access to every new deal and other high-leverage perks.
If youâre tired of sifting through junk on BizBuySell, and want a clearer, faster path to good businesses with serious sellersâŚ
đ Go check out Dealonomy
đŚ Need a Buyer-Friendly LOI Template?
Weâve built our LOI template on 3 years and $1 billion of closed deals.
â
Proven language
â
Buyer-friendly terms
â
Ready to customize
Bonus:
Use our template and weâll finalize your LOI for free.
Just email info@smblaw.group to get started.
â ď¸ Disclaimer
This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. Certain examples are anonymized and modified for educational purposes only and do not represent specific client communications or missed diligence findings.