Red Lion Deep Dive
A disciplined, operator-grade evaluation for entrepreneurs who want to understand a business the way an experienced owner-operator would — not the way a broker packages it.
The Deep Dive synthesizes canonical ETA frameworks from the Stanford Search Fund Study, Harvard's HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, Walter Deibel's Buy Then Build, and Red Lion's proprietary operator-first methodologies. It evaluates the durable reality of a business — its cash flow resilience, owner psychology, transferability, and operator requirements — to reveal whether it truly works in the real world.
This is not theoretical analysis. It is practical, grounded intelligence for acquisition entrepreneurs.
"Great decisions require disciplined intelligence."
Begin a Strategic Evaluation
Provide a business dossier. Red Lion will produce an operator-grade evaluation grounded in leading ETA frameworks and real-world operator patterns.
Your Deep Dive results will appear here.
Evaluation Pillars
Red Lion Deep Dive analyzes a business across four operator-critical dimensions drawn from ETA research, owner psychology analysis, and long-term compounding patterns.
1. Durability of Cash Flow
Recurring revenue, essential services, low disruption risk.
We evaluate whether the business solves a stable need, serves a resilient customer base, and shows operational patterns consistent with long-term compounding — not short-term financial engineering.
2. Succession Dynamics
The human side of ETA: trust, readiness, motivation.
Drawing from Jim Sharpe, Ruback & Yudkoff, and owner-operator transition research, we assess:
- — Why the owner is selling
- — Whether a successor exists
- — The emotional posture of the seller
- — The difficulty or smoothness of transferring trust, knowledge, and control
Most deals succeed or fail here — not in the financials.
3. Operator Fit
What the CEO must actually do — not what a CIM claims.
We analyze day-to-day operator requirements, leveraging frameworks from Stanford GSB and real ETA operator case studies to determine:
- — Whether the business demands technical specialization
- — Whether the operator role is managerial, relational, or hands-on
- — What skills create leverage
- — Whether the role aligns with your background (if provided)
Operator fit determines endurance more than any spreadsheet.
4. Downside Protection & Simplicity
Margin of safety. Operational clarity. Transferability.
Simple, durable businesses outperform complex ones. We evaluate:
- — Revenue concentration
- — Key dependencies
- — Process documentation
- — Team resiliency
- — Operational fragility vs. robustness
This reflects the Permanent Equity belief: defensibility > growth stories.