Free primary sources, courses, and books for finance students aiming at lower-middle-market deals.
Everything here is either free, a standard reference, or both. It is ordered by usefulness for someone who wants to understand small-company acquisitions: first the sources that set the rules and the data, then the books that teach technique. If you read nothing else, read the Stanford Primer and the SBA SOP chapter on changes of ownership. Related pages: modeling fundamentals, industry reports, glossary, and the community guides.
How to read them is on industry reports.
| Book | Author and publisher | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions | Joshua Rosenbaum and Joshua Pearl (Wiley) | Standard technical reference for comps, precedents, DCF, LBOs and M&A. Written for larger deals; scale the assumptions down |
| Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies | Tim Koller, Marc Goedhart and David Wessels (McKinsey & Company; Wiley; 8th edition, 2025) | Deep corporate valuation, with a focus on cash flow and return on capital |
| Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset | Aswath Damodaran (Wiley) | Covers discount rates, relative valuation and valuing small and private firms |
| Buy Then Build | Walker Deibel (Lioncrest Publishing, 2018) | A practitioner's view of buying a small business; read it for the process, and check its numbers against the sources on these pages |
Editions change; check the publisher or your library for the current one. A book is a teacher of technique, not a source of facts about the current market. Use the primary sources above for rules and data.
| When | Topic | Do | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 15 | Accounting and Excel | Rebuild three statements for a small public company from its 10-K; drill the Excel shortcuts | Modeling Fundamentals; Excel |
| Days 16 to 30 | Valuation | Build a comparables table with 5 companies from EDGAR; run a DCF with a sensitivity table | Valuation |
| Days 31 to 50 | LBO and SBA financing | Build the small-deal LBO from scratch with invented numbers; add a customer-loss downside | LBO Modeling for Small Deals |
| Days 51 to 65 | M&A and diligence | Write a diligence request list and a one-page LOI for your invented company | M&A Basics |
| Days 66 to 80 | Search fund economics | Read the Primer's chapters on equity and economics; reproduce the worked example by hand | Stanford Primer; Compensation |
| Days 81 to 90 | Interviews and outreach | Do 20 questions out loud; send 20 outreach messages | Interview Questions; Internships |
Keep a single folder with every model and memo you produce. By day 90 you should have a small portfolio: a three-statement model, a comparable table, an LBO with a downside case, a diligence list and LOI, and two deal memos.
| Source | Read first | Questions to answer in your notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stanford Primer | The sections on equity and economics, and the fundraising process | What is a step-up? What are the three tranches? How does a preference change who gets paid first? |
| Stanford Study | Executive summary and the outcomes chart | What share of funds acquire? What is the median purchase price and multiple? How wide is the spread of returns? |
| SBA SOP 50 10, Appendix 15 | Credit standards, equity requirements, QoE | What is the minimum equity injection? Which sources are limited? What coverage ratio applies? When is a QoE required? |
| SBA SOP 50 10, interest rate chart and Appendix 17 | Maximum rates and maturities | What is the rate cap on a large loan? What is the longest term for goodwill? |
| EDGAR: one 10-K | Business description, MD&A, balance sheet notes | How does the company make money? What are its working capital days? What is capex relative to depreciation? |
| IRS Form 8594 instructions | Asset classes I to VII | Where does goodwill fall? Who must file? |
| Heidrick survey | Methodology and one table | What is "carry dollars at work"? What is the interquartile range for your target role? |
Write a half-page summary of each source in your own words. If you cannot, read it again.
| Week | Read | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford Primer, introduction and economics | One-page summary of the three equity tranches and the step-up |
| 2 | Stanford 2024 or 2026 study, executive summary and outcomes | A table of five numbers with page references |
| 3 | SBA SOP 50 10 Appendix 15 | A checklist of SBA requirements for an acquisition |
| 4 | One 10-K from a public company in an industry you like | Three-statement summary and working capital days |
| 5 | IRS Form 8594 instructions and Publication 535 section on intangibles | A paragraph on how goodwill is taxed in an asset purchase |
| 6 | Heidrick survey and Holland & Knight review | A compensation summary for two roles you are considering |
| 7 | Damodaran datasets | An industry margin and multiple table |
| 8 | A valuation book chapter | A DCF on a made-up company with a sensitivity table |
Modeling Fundamentals · Valuation · LBO Modeling for Small Deals · M&A Basics and Diligence · Excel Resources · Interview Questions · Career Paths and Recruiting · Internships & Breaking In · Industry Reports · Resume Review · Salary & Compensation Guides · Designations Guide · Glossary
Longer written answers live in the community guides.
