Polls are open.

FROM THE DESK OF FADI MALOUF | NOVEMBER 2026

Today the country votes.

Whoever wins tonight, the lower middle market opens tomorrow at the same price it closed at today. Owners still retire. Lenders still want three years of returns. A buyer still needs a target that clears the bank.

Here is what I have watched in every election cycle since I bought my first company in 1999. Owners wait. The sale gets pushed to after the election. Buyers hold the file. Credit committees slow down. Then the noise clears and everyone moves at once, into the same deals, at the same time.

If you are an operator in motion, then the quiet weeks are when you build the bank file, meet the lender and write the buy box. If you are standing still, then you join the crowd in January.

That is the only politics you will read in this letter.

Cast your ballot on Forward Motion. This is the first time I am asking the room who you are and what you want more of. Ten questions, two minutes, no names required. What you tell me decides what gets written in December, and I will share the results in a December issue.

The next Buyer Cohort is open for applications. Twenty seats, application only, eight live hours over two weeks at Grow By Acquisitions. Five dollars to apply gets you the Eight Day Buyer Playbook and one CAM valuation on your first target, whether or not you are selected. If you want the cohort date before anyone else, say so on the ballot.

The room. If you own a business above $3M in revenue and would sit for a twenty minute conversation on growing through acquisition, reply to this email with the word interview. I read every reply.

1. Paying more. Borrowing less.
Letter | 2 min to read
Yesterday's issue. Small business owners are paying more for money and asking for less of it, and what that means for the file you bring to a lender.

2. The Mountain Doesn't Care About Your Projections
Letter | 3 min to read
A two hour hike outside Quito that took seven, and the four rules I use when a deal stops looking like the model.

3. Best margin. Cheapest price.
Letter | 2 min to read
Three listings show what sets your buyer pool, and it is not margin.

4. How to Structure a Business Acquisition: Seller Notes, Earnouts and SBA Rules
Guide | 5 min to read
The structures that get a deal across the line when price alone will not, and the SBA rules that changed on October 1.

5. The Grow By Acquisitions blog
Blog | one article every weekday
Buyer education in plain language: tuck in acquisitions, how much cash you need, reading a seller's numbers.

The post that opened the last cohort window
Post | 63 reactions, 34 comments
The Eight Day plan and the comment thread under it. The comments are where the real questions live.

I post every weekday on LinkedIn. If you are not following yet, that is where the daily signals land first.

Forward motion,

Fadi

This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, financial instruments, or investment products. FM Enterprises and Fadi Malouf do not provide legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Any business, acquisition, or capital related discussion is subject to further review, appropriate due diligence, and applicable professional guidance.