New here — do QoE work for business buyers
Hey guys, Nick here from St. Louis.
I help people buying small businesses figure out if the numbers actually check out — basically a QoE (quality of earnings) thing. Deal sizes are usually $300K–$5M.
Honestly the same story keeps popping up: someone buys a business, then a few months later realizes the financials weren’t quite what they thought. Not usually anyone’s fault, the add-backs just got a little too generous or the books were never meant for a sale in the first place.
Anyway — happy to be here. If you’re buying (or even just thinking about buying) a business, SaaS or otherwise, and want a gut check on the financials, feel free to hit me up. No pressure, just like talking shop.
One thing I've noticed is that buyers often spend a lot of time validating growth potential and surprisingly little time validating the assumptions behind the earnings.
A business rarely fails because the spreadsheet was wrong by accident. It usually fails because the buyer and seller were measuring the business through different lenses.
This is spot on, and honestly the exact reason I ended up doing this work. Growth potential is exciting so people dig into it, earnings assumptions are boring so people take them at face value. But the boring stuff is usually where the actual risk is hiding.
Different lenses is a good way to put it too — seller sees “what I built,” buyer sees “what I’m inheriting,” and the add-backs are usually where that gap shows up first.
Glad it resonated.
Your reply made me think there's one strategic decision sitting underneath that buyer–seller lens which becomes much more significant as ClearView grows, but I don't think I can explain the reasoning properly in a thread without oversimplifying it.
If you're interested, what's the best email to reach you on?
Appreciate that — happy to dig into it over email. You can reach me at nick@clearviewqoe.com whenever works for you.
Thanks! I’ve just sent it over.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts whenever you have a chance.
Thanks, I will check your message!