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The First 24 Months Now Decide the Deal
The math has reset: ~13.0x entry multiples, seven-year holds, no multiple lift coming. PitchBook Q1 2026 data and what it does to operator playbooks.
May 13
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David Carr
Operating Cadence Is a Leadership System
Why time, rhythm, and sequencing determine whether leadership capacity compounds or collapses. Cadence as the organisation’s temporal architecture.
May 6
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David Carr
Dry Powder and the Pressure to Move
$1.3T in dry powder. DPI/NAV at 14% — a level not seen since 2008–09. What capital pressure does to buy-and-build sequencing in 2026.
May 1
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David Carr
April 2026
How Platform Calls and Add-On Calls Get Made Differently
What the first add-on reveals about whether the platform decision was right — and why most operators learn the difference the hard way.
Apr 25
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David Carr
Platform Selection and Add-On Selection Are Different Decisions
Why the same diligence framework that picks platforms well doesn’t pick add-ons well — and where the asymmetry actually lives in the criteria.
Apr 25
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David Carr
From Integration to Execution: When Systems Finally Matter
Most integration playbooks push execution too early. Four signals that tell an operator when the organisation is actually ready to stop stabilising and…
Apr 22
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David Carr
The Limits of Diligence
Why diligence reorganises uncertainty rather than resolving it. The category of uncertainty diligence can’t reach, and what experienced teams do anyway.
Apr 8
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David Carr
March 2026
Integration Capacity Is the Binding Constraint
Buy-and-build platforms don’t stall at the strategy. They stall when the organisation runs out of capacity to absorb what the strategy keeps demanding.
Mar 25
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David Carr
Practice Note — Operating Partners, Boards, and the Work of Coordination
How private equity firms organise value creation through Operating Partners and boards in buy-and-build platforms. A descriptive synthesis of the…
Mar 11
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David Carr
February 2026
Decision Rights, Not Alignment, Scale Platforms
Why aligned leadership teams still slow down under buy-and-build pressure. Decision rights, not agreement, determine whether a platform scales or…
Feb 25
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David Carr
The First 30–90 Days: What Actually Matters
The most fragile window in a deal’s life, not the most controllable — and a four-phase sequencing logic for what experienced operators actually do in…
Feb 18
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David Carr
From Identification to Selection: Fit, Distance, and Uncertainty
Why most of the acquisition decision is made before diligence begins. Fit, distance, and uncertainty get priced earlier than the formal process…
Feb 11
•
David Carr
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