The Small Things That Sink First-Year Owners

The biggest first-year problems rarely start as big problems.

They usually begin with a detail that seemed minor at close and becomes much harder to fix once you're operating the business.

Chris Meadows and Ryan Johnson from the Acquisition Lab will break down the operational and financial issues that can create outsized problems in the first six months of ownership, and what buyers can do early to avoid them.

Chris will cover:

• Insurance decisions that leave new owners exposed
• Holdco setup mistakes that become painful at tax time
• Vendor relationships that can get overlooked during a transition
• Legacy contracts and paperwork that create problems after the deal is done

Ryan will cover:

• What has to be live on day one so vendors get paid and payroll keeps moving
• Payroll and benefits transitions that can damage employee trust quickly
• Why a profitable business can still run into a cash crunch
• When basic bookkeeping stops being enough to manage what's ahead