Exit Mode · Editorial
Long-form analysis on the deals shaping M&A in 2026.
Deep-dives, deal autopsies and founder-protective frameworks. Written for founders 1-5 years from exit.
Deal autopsy
Microsoft × Activision: Anatomy of a $69B Megadeal
Why Microsoft did it, the regulatory journey through CMA, FTC and EU, the financing and structure, and what every founder can learn from how a megadeal actually closes.
Valuation
The £50M Valuation Gap
Why founders and buyers see the same business so differently, and the seven specific levers that close the gap.
Regulatory
What Adobe’s Failed Figma Deal Tells Us About CMA Scrutiny in 2026
How the regulatory environment has shifted post-Brexit, and what UK founders should know about competition review when selling to a US strategic.
Sector
5 Boring SaaS Exits That Made Founders £100M+ in the Last 18 Months
The deals nobody writes about are the ones making founders rich. Five recent acquisitions of unfashionable, vertical, profitable UK and European SaaS businesses, and what the founders did differently.
Founder protection
The Earnout Trap: How 60% of Acquisitions Screw Founders Post-Deal
How earnouts work, the games buyers play in years one and two, and the four contractual protections to negotiate before the LOI.
AI M&A
AI Roll-Ups Are the New PE Playbook
What’s actually being acquired in AI right now, who’s paying the premium, where the fire-sales are, and what UK founders should learn before raising another round.
Insider · Bonus
The 7 Questions Every Buyer Asks (And Most Founders Fumble)
A short, tactical guide for founders heading towards exit. The seven questions every buyer asks, what they’re really asking, and how to answer them.
Lessons from 2025
2025’s Blowout Market: When M&A Blew the Doors Off
2025 was the hottest year in the archive. The deals show what a true seller’s market looks like, where premiums compress judgment, and how founders should act inside it.
Lessons from 2024
2024’s M&A Rebound: The Year the Market Came Back
2024 brought M&A back to life. The year’s deals show how founders should read an early recovery, where conviction returned first, and why discipline still mattered.
Lessons from 2023
2023’s Pivot to AI Rollups: The Seeds of Today’s Market
By 2023, buyers had already started repositioning around software, data and automation. The year’s deals show how the AI narrative reshaped M&A before the labels caught up.
Lessons from 2022
2022’s Rate-Hike Chill: When Buyers Walked Away
2022 raised the bar for exits. The deals that still reached signing show what founders should learn when rates rise, financing tightens and buyers hesitate.
Lessons from 2021
The 2021 SPAC Moment: What We Got Right and Wrong
2021 rewarded buyers and founders who believed cheap capital would last. The deals from that year show what peak-market behaviour got right and where it failed.
Lessons from 2020
What 2020 Taught Founders About Distressed M&A
COVID turned 2020 into a stress test for exits. The deals that still closed show what distressed M&A taught founders about liquidity, speed and buyer behaviour.
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