The clock is running and the exit door is narrower.
A sponsor can leave an end market that a permanent holder cannot. That advantage is worth less than it was. Holds are longer, software exits are down, and the return has moved into the add-ons.
Discuss acquisition criteriayears: the technology holding period at exit in 2026 to date. In 2021 it was 4.5 years.
PrivateEquityInfo, September 7, 2026: 13,757 exits across nine industries, 2,586 of them in technology. The study folds software into technology; no named publisher reports a software-only figure for 2026.
Six and a half times in, nine times out. The end market decides whether that spread survives to exit.
The step-up between an add-on multiple and a platform multiple is what the market pays for scale in one end market, on the day you sell. The exit buyer will run the end-market work on your customer base.
TagniFi PowerComps, Q2 2026; the multiples are the provider’s own figures, published in a piece written by its managing director. PitchBook, June 25, 2026. ION Analytics / Mergermarket, July 15, 2026. A lower-middle-market deal platform’s published study of broken letters of intent, January 27, 2026: seventy-five broken letters across eight buyer types and eight industries, with 2023 comparisons from the same series. The percentages are separate reported categories and are not summed here. That study covers all industries and does not break its diligence category down further.
Six things the desk does before a name reaches you.
The clock is running and the exit door is narrower. The desk makes each add-on a deal the exit buyer will not reopen.
Every company in the vertical your platform serves, with its owner, its size and its signals, before any of them goes to market.
The exit buyer will run the end-market work on your customer base. The desk runs it first, on each add-on, so the platform’s story holds at exit.
Relationships built before a banker is hired, so the platform is already the natural home when the owner decides.
Revenue reconciled to bank deposits, every adjustment marked supported or unsupported, before the letter is priced.
Contracts with consents, customers shared with the platform, systems that will not merge, found before the letter rather than after closing.
Each business scored and ranked against criteria and weights you approved. You decide which to pursue.
What is on the record before you price it.
| Question | How it is usually answered | How the desk answers it |
|---|---|---|
| Does the add-on fit the platform? | A slide at the investment committee. | Customer overlap, product overlap and end-market exposure from the records of both. |
| What does it earn? | Adjusted earnings, as presented. | Every adjustment marked supported or unsupported, with the document that decides it. |
| Does the retention hold? | A figure from the CRM. | Gross and net retention by cohort, rebuilt from invoices and bank deposits. |
| What transfers? | Counsel’s review, in week six. | Every contract, license and permit with a consent requirement, listed before the letter. |
| How long is the clock? | The fund’s remaining life. | The time each add-on takes from first conversation to signed letter, from the desk’s own record of the sector. |
| What ended the last deal in this sector? | Nobody asks. | The Dead Deal Notes, coded by sector, stage and finding. |
Each engagement starts with your criteria and a clearly defined sector.
Your acquisition criteria and one clearly defined sector. The work covers one sector at a time, with scope agreed in writing before it begins.
The software businesses in that sector, scored and ranked against criteria and weights you approved. You decide which to pursue.
Built ahead of a process. Nothing about a company reaches you without its owner’s permission.
Each opportunity assessed before a letter of intent, so you are pricing against the findings instead of renegotiating after them.
Plain answers, then a conversation if you want one.
Why does the return sit in the add-ons?
Because the platform multiple was paid at entry. The add-ons are bought at the sector’s multiple and sold at the platform’s, and the exit buyer prices the whole on the end-market work it runs on your customer base.
What does criteria on file ask of me?
Your criteria, confirmed with you each quarter. A retained search covers one sector at a time, with scope agreed in writing.
Can the desk cover more than one platform in a sector?
Yes. Criteria on file can cover more than one platform in a sector, and a retained search is scoped in writing for each engagement.
Do you represent the seller as well?
Never on the same transaction. Capital Row acts for one side, under a scope agreed in writing.
What is the first conversation?
Your thesis and the sectors that match it. Read by a person.
Run the exit buyer’s question before the exit buyer does.
The first conversation is about your thesis and the desks that match it.
Each engagement starts with your acquisition criteria and a clearly defined sector. Scope is agreed in writing before any work begins.
The software businesses in that sector that match your acquisition strategy.
Built ahead of a process. Nothing about a company reaches you without its owner’s permission.
Each opportunity assessed before a letter of intent, with revenue reconciled to bank deposits and each adjustment marked supported or unsupported.
Put your criteria on file.
See the rest of your market.
Capital Row helps buyers see more of their own market, with the financials traced to source before the letter of intent.
Read by a person.