FOR PROFESSIONALS ADVISING A BUYER
I don't pay referral fees, and I don't accept them.
Franchise brokers are typically paid by the franchisor when a buyer signs, and referral fees are common in SBA lending. I think those payments shape the advice buyers get, so I don't take or pay them.
No fee, no split, no reciprocity, and nothing to disclose to your client beyond my name. If I'm useful to the people you advise, you'll send me work.
For attorneys and CPAs advising a buyer
Send me the brand your client is weighing and I'll send back a one-page summary of what the public record shows, usually within two business days, at no charge. Forward it to your client if it helps. It is a summary of public records drawn from the 1,043 machine-extracted FDD filings across 850 brands on this site, may contain extraction errors, and is not advice, an engagement or the FDD Read.
Brokers, lenders and vendors: no free work, but the FDD Read is available to buy.
What I do that you don't
Franchise attorneys
YOUYou read the franchise agreement — the term, the transfer and renewal conditions, the covenants, the venue clause, what happens when it goes wrong.
MEI read the money. Whether the Item 19 earnings claim is built from the top third of the system, what Item 20's outlet table shows once transfers and reacquisitions are separated from genuine growth, whether Item 21's auditor has raised substantial doubt, and how this brand's franchisees' SBA loans actually ended. I do not practise law and I do not opine on the agreement.
Business brokers and M&A intermediaries
YOUYou have a seller, a listing and a buyer who needs to get comfortable and financeable before the LOI goes stale.
MEI test the numbers the buyer is being asked to believe: three years of the seller's P&Ls tied out, every add-back examined (analysis, not an audit or review), what the unit actually clears after the buyer's debt service — against the brand's own filings rather than the broker package. A buyer who understands the deal closes it. A buyer who is guessing walks late, and takes the commission with them. I do not list businesses and I do not represent sellers.
SBA lenders and loan brokers
YOUYou need a borrower who understands the projections they are submitting, and context on the brand you are underwriting.
MEIn a paid Deal Review I help the buyer build their own model — a three-scenario pro forma with breakeven, sensitivity and month-by-month ramp working capital — and summarise the brand's public SBA loan history. The buyer may share it with you as part of their own application. You receive it for information only: it carries a no-assurance statement, it is not my representation to you, and no lender may rely on it in place of its own underwriting. I do not place loans and I take no fee from a lender.
The rules
Who is asking
Don Drummond, CPA — Virginia #43775. Internal audit and controls: SOX programs at XO Communications, governance and risk at Deloitte. Full background and licence number. The rating method is public, and prices for the paid work are published.
Tell me your firm, that you advise a buyer, and the brand. I'll send the one-page summary back. No sequence, no follow-up to unsubscribe from.
Request a summary →