{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Build a Business Worth Buying","title":"150 Acquisitions Later: Saul Cohen on Why Deals Really Fall Apart ","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3298,"description":"Saul Cohen is a chartered accountant, founder of UK-based advisory firm The Expert Eye, and an acquisitions advisor who's worked on more than 150 deals — with a private equity fund of his own now in the works. In this episode, Saul breaks down SCORE, his framework for the risk factors that quietly set a company's multiple (Systems, Commercials, Organization, Regulatory, Exposure), and tells the story of a deal that looked clean on paper until a single site visit uncovered a culture problem that killed it. He and Aaron also get into why cash flow and the buyer's own temperament, not the target's numbers, are what most often sink an acquisition. For founders, the takeaway is blunt: get used to being evaluated the way an investor evaluates you, long before you're actually selling.\nIn this episode:\nWhy EBIT gets you in the conversation but SCORE sets your multiple\nThe due diligence red flag that never shows up in a financial model — and the deal Saul killed because of it\n\"Founder stardust\": why you can't just hire another you, and what to build instead\nHow to negotiate on deal terms, not just price, when a buyer flags risk\nLifestyle business vs. performance business — why deciding late gets expensive","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/phsiZGVABXNGagv9Pf58BfoPvAl4NAkTvAu1ewlPQvU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yYmE0/MDQ1Zjg3MDQ4ZmI0/YWEwMTYzNDFjYTNm/MmYyOC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}