Swedish serial acquirer Bergman & Beving uses a "profit to working capital > 45%" ratio as its core KPI. This forces subsidiaries to generate enough cash to cover taxes, dividends, and internal investments, ensuring growth is self-funded and disciplined without relying on external capital.

A powerful filter for any potential acquisition is asking: 'If this were the last business we could ever buy, would we still want to own it?' This simple question forces a long-term, operational mindset and helps avoid deals that rely on future exits or financial engineering.

Instead of relying on VC funding, Lemlist operates a self-sustaining growth model. By maintaining a high EBITDA margin (always above 20%), the company generates significant positive cash flow, which it then strategically deploys to acquire companies like Clapp as a form of reinvestment.

The firm intentionally avoids complex valuation methods like DCF or IRR, believing they can alienate non-financial, "industrialist" founders. Instead, they use a straightforward multiple of sustainable EBITDA (4-8x), which simplifies negotiations and builds trust by speaking the same financial language as the seller.

GSP spends years analyzing a sector to define its "lighthouse"—the pinnacle of business quality based on a few key metrics. This clear benchmark allows them to quickly evaluate subsequent opportunities and make investment decisions with exceptional speed and conviction.

Lagercrantz follows a strict formula, aiming for 15% annual profit growth. This is achieved by growing one-third organically and two-thirds via M&A, which requires them to acquire roughly 10% of their own size each year. This provides a clear, quantifiable framework for their programmatic M&A strategy.

Deel's M&A strategy prioritizes bringing in teams with years of deep, obsessive experience in a specific product area. This allows them to instantly add product depth that would take years to build internally, viewing it as more valuable than just acquiring revenue or general talent.

Parker Gale built its success on a hyper-specific niche: buying B2B software companies directly from their founders, specifically targeting those who had never taken outside capital and were ready to transition out. This "riches in niches" approach provided a clear, defensible strategy that resonated with investors.

A core GSP diligence criterion is ensuring an industry has off-the-shelf tech for multi-unit management. This avoids "dis-synergies," a hard-learned lesson where each new acquisition requires adding G&A instead of leveraging a central platform, destroying value.