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A plan says the company will grow profit at some rate. The businesses it already owns produce some of that. The difference has to be bought, with money, from people who do not have to sell — and the size of that bill is fixed the day the rate is announced, before anybody has looked at a single target. Almost no acquirer states it, because a growth rate does not look like a purchase order. This pack splits reported growth into the part that was bought and the part that was grown, prices the buying as a purchase of earnings at a multiple rather than as a transaction with a value, and sets the spread against what the same money would retire of your own shares — a comparison settled entirely by whether the multiple you pay sits below the one you trade at. Then it answers the question the spread never asks: the year the balance sheet stops funding the buying, from four figures the company already has. It stops on four conditions: nobody has said what the company trades on, nobody has said what it pays for earnings, nobody has stated the plan's growth requirement, and nobody has said where the debt stops.
The test that runs through every file
A serial acquirer's engine is the gap between what the market pays for its earnings and what it pays for somebody else's, which is arbitrage rather than operations and stops when either multiple moves. It is the argument in the deck, it becomes the wizard’s axes, it drives the model’s inputs, and it reappears as lines on the checklist. That is what makes 16 files a product rather than 16 documents.
The model resolves to one number you can negotiate with: The spread — what the market pays for your earnings, less what you pay for theirs. It ships blank and worked, and every input is a named cell rather than a figure buried inside a formula, so the number arrives with its assumptions attached rather than on its own authority.
What is in the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack
- Foundations. The framework: why a growth rate is a commitment to spend, where the money comes from, the buyback comparison, and the four halts.
- Concept deck. Twenty-one slides for a board or planning session, with nine sourced acquirers and what each does not establish.
- Decision wizard. Eight scored questions returning the band, the weakest answer, and either of the two halt conditions.
- Machine model. Eleven candidate multiples paid across the columns, the spread against the buyback alternative, and the year the balance sheet stops funding the plan.
- Strategies and tactics. The moves at each of the four positions, what to do when the model halts, and four ways to make the next acquisition decision cheaper.
- Case studies. Nine sourced acquirers — one that paid 98% of $34.2bn in its own shares, one that booked $27.7bn of negative goodwill on the day it closed, and one that bought a lawsuit it could read in advance.
- Fit worksheet. The single page of record: the two multiples, the split of bought from grown, the spread, and the year.
- Roadmap template. Five phases with gates and owners, the assumptions register, a trigger and a quarterly reporting line.
- Practitioner manual. Splitting bought from grown, pricing deals as purchases of earnings, the board paper, six failure modes and their indicators.
- Field checklist. The one-pager that survives outside the binder.
- About the package. What each file does and the order in which to run them.
An honest note on fit
This is a kit for running a decision, not a research report and not a course. It is worth buying if a real decision is in front of you and you would otherwise start from a blank page. It is not worth buying to read.
Worked examples use an explicitly fictional business, labeled on every file that contains one, with numbers tuned to teach rather than to flatter — each worked case is built so that the decision does not simply come out well, and so that what settles it is the test the pack exists to run. A worked example where everything works is a brochure. The price excludes customization, implementation and support, and where the pack reasons beyond its evidence it says so on the page.
Questions
- What is the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack?
- The Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack is a decision-support kit for one question: How much of your growth are you buying, and at what spread? It contains 16 files — foundations, concept deck, decision wizard, machine model, strategies and tactics, case studies, fit worksheet, roadmap template, practitioner manual, field checklist, about the package — built around a single organizing test: a serial acquirer's engine is the gap between what the market pays for its earnings and what it pays for somebody else's, which is arbitrage rather than operations and stops when either multiple moves. It is what a leadership team uses to run the decision and leave a record of what they assumed, rather than a report about the topic.
- Who is the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack for?
- Anyone who has to make this call and answer for it: an operator or owner facing the decision, the executive team running it, the board or investor testing the reasoning, or an adviser who would otherwise build the framework from a blank page. It is worth buying when a real decision is in front of you. It is not worth buying to read.
- What is in the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack?
- 16 files in Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel: Foundations (Word + PDF) — The framework: why a growth rate is a commitment to spend, where the money comes from, the buyback comparison, and the four halts. Concept deck (PowerPoint + PDF) — Twenty-one slides for a board or planning session, with nine sourced acquirers and what each does not establish. Decision wizard (Excel) — Eight scored questions returning the band, the weakest answer, and either of the two halt conditions. Machine model (Excel, blank and worked) — Eleven candidate multiples paid across the columns, the spread against the buyback alternative, and the year the balance sheet stops funding the plan. Strategies and tactics (Word) — The moves at each of the four positions, what to do when the model halts, and four ways to make the next acquisition decision cheaper. Case studies (Word) — Nine sourced acquirers — one that paid 98% of $34.2bn in its own shares, one that booked $27.7bn of negative goodwill on the day it closed, and one that bought a lawsuit it could read in advance. Fit worksheet (Word, blank and worked) — The single page of record: the two multiples, the split of bought from grown, the spread, and the year. Roadmap template (Word) — Five phases with gates and owners, the assumptions register, a trigger and a quarterly reporting line. Practitioner manual (Word + PDF) — Splitting bought from grown, pricing deals as purchases of earnings, the board paper, six failure modes and their indicators. Field checklist (PDF) — The one-pager that survives outside the binder. About the package (PDF) — What each file does and the order in which to run them.
- What number does the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack produce?
- The spread — what the market pays for your earnings, less what you pay for theirs. The model ships blank and worked, and every input is a named cell rather than a figure buried inside a formula, so the number you take into a room arrives with its assumptions attached and can be argued with rather than merely believed.
- How is the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack delivered?
- As a single download of all 16 files, immediately after payment, with the same link sent by email. It can be downloaded 3 times and the link is valid for 30 days. There is nothing to install and no account to keep.
- How much does the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack cost, and is it a subscription?
- $499, one-time. It is not a subscription and there is nothing to cancel. Where the pack is revised within 180 days of your purchase, the new release is yours. The price does not include customization, implementation help or support.
- Are the worked examples in the Acquisition Machine Strategy Pack real companies?
- The case studies are real, sourced and dated, and each one states what its evidence does not establish. The worked model, wizard and worksheet use an explicitly fictional business, labeled as such on every file that contains one. A worked model needs roughly fifteen populated inputs; for a real company you would have public figures for perhaps four, and the rest would be estimates wearing the authority of a spreadsheet.