IPO & M&A
Strategic Acquisitions vs Product Tuck-Ins
Strategic acquisitions vs product tuck-ins: a deal buys a market or a feature, and pricing them the same is how acquirers overpay. A fit matrix and real deals.
Topic hub
IPO & M&A
IPO breakdowns and acquisition logic from the primary documents — S-1s, proxies, and deal filings — not the press-release framing.
7 articles
Strategy and Deals
IPO & M&A
AI Startup Valuation: Cost Structure Matters
AI startup valuation turns on cost structure: gross margin, inference compute, and who controls the cost floor. Why software multiples meet utility economics.
IPO & M&A
Meta's Open-Source AI Strategy Explained
Meta's open-source AI strategy commoditizes the model layer, funded by a ~$200B ad engine. The full play, read through Meta's own SEC filings.
IPO Analysis
IPO & M&A
How to Analyze a SaaS IPO
How to analyze a SaaS IPO: score growth quality, retention, the path to profit, and valuation with a 5-test scorecard built from real S-1 filings.
IPO & M&A
Customer Concentration Risk in SaaS Filings
Customer concentration risk in SaaS hides in two quiet places in every filing. Here's how to size it, where it detonates, and the checklist to read it.
IPO & M&A
Stock-Based Compensation in Tech IPOs
Stock-based compensation in tech IPOs is the largest non-GAAP add-back. Read it as dilution, not a freebie, with cited S-1 and 10-K figures.
IPO & M&A
How to Read a Tech S-1 Like an Operator
How to read a tech S-1 like an operator: skip the narrative, go straight to revenue mix, retention, SBC, and customer concentration. A read-order scorecard.