Deal structure is where small acquisitions are won and lost, more often than at the purchase price. Seller notes, earnouts, government-backed lending, equity rollovers, and the difference between buying a company and buying yourself a job: each choice moves risk between the parties in ways that only become legible after closing.
This topic covers the mechanics — how the structures work, who they favour, and what each one assumes about a future nobody has seen yet. It also covers sourcing, because the deals worth having are usually the ones that never reached a listing site, and finding those is a different skill from evaluating them.
