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Two partners acquired MC Tool in October 2007 for $5 million. The company was a machine shop that manufactured parts for a wide variety of applications in the energy, automotive and industrial equipment industries. In their first year of ownership, the partners focused on improving operations and enhancing sales with impressive results: sales doubled and EBTIDA increased by over 40%. But the "Great Recession" had an immediate impact in the fall of 2008 as customers cancelled orders and new sales became scarce. MC Tool's core business was cyclical and risky. The partners were considering transforming the business towards manufacturing more precise parts that would be less cyclical and less risky.

Ari Medoff's (HBS '11) goal was to control his own professional destiny by owning his own company. His search identified a suitable acquisition in Home Nursing of North Carolina, and he had negotiated a purchase price of $3.5 million, or 4.2x trailing EBITDA. Medoff had completed his due diligence, arranged financing, and completed the legal documents required to complete the acquisition and anticipated closing the transaction in just a few weeks. But then the sellers surprisingly asked to renegotiate the terms of the note they had agreed to early in the acquisition process. Medoff must decide whether to renegotiate the debt or abandon the transaction.

The owner and CEO of Adaptive Engineering was facing an important decision: should he focus on rebuilding its core professional services business which had generated significant revenue and cash flow over the past several years, or should he focus on developing and marketing licensed software which had been under development for several years but had yet to become profitable.

Lind Equipment failed to meet its loan covenants with its senior bank lender in the summer of 2008, just six months after it was acquired. While the senior bank debt comprised only 6% of the capital used in the acquisition and was fully secured, it exercised its right to stop payments to Lind's subordinated lender that funded about 40% of the acquisition, pushing that debt into default as well. These financial problems were the result of declining revenues and profits at Lind as exchange rates and the impact of the Great Recession took its toll on the firm. Without a quick solution, Lind could be pushed into bankruptcy.

Nashton Partners was a search fund founded by two HBS MBA's that raised $500,000 to finance a search for a company that they could purchase and then run for the next five to ten years. The case examines the search fund structure, the two-year search, and two potential acquisitions.

Talismark, which helped its customers manage their waste, was considering re-engineering its business fundamentals to dramatically increase profitability by changing its sales and information processes. Implementing the changes would be expensive and would interrupt its new customer acquisition efforts, and it would be 18 months until the company could begin to acquire new business. The case explores the rationale and consequences of re-engineering a business.

Next Street Financial, LLC was a modern merchant bank that provided high quality advisory services and capital to small- and mid-sized inner city businesses. Next Street was a for-profit business that aimed to increase the growth, profitability and success of its client companies, thereby enhancing economic development, wealth and job creation in the inner city. The advisory component of its mission seemed well underway but raising a fund to directly finance client companies had proved challenging. As Next Street considered expanding its capacity to help clients achieve their growth potential, the firm was deciding between raising a fund or focusing its resources on expanding its abilities to more effectively help its clients obtain financing from other institutions.

In 2007, the Red Hen Baking Company was deciding whether to move from its cramped and inefficient facility to a new facility. It had been in business about 8 years, and 2006 was the first year RHB realized a profit that was over $50,000. The added annual cost of the new location was about $58,000 and would require a $300,000 build-out. While the owner of Red Hen was excited about the possibility of a new, efficient bakery, he wondered if it was worth the added expense and risk.

Riverview Technologies was a Stockholm, Sweden-based company that had developed software hedge funds. After spending more than a year in an organized sale process, the winning bidder had become increasingly difficult to work with and the closing had been substantially delayed. Despite the late stage of the process, the selling shareholders were considering walking away.

Briggs Capital was a regional mergers and acquisitions advisory firm that helped owners to sell their small firms. The case presents a company that was for sale in the fall of 2010 - a troubled manufacturer of post and beam style homes and log homes. Using the actual information that was available to potential buyers, students evaluate the potential acquisition.

Greg Mazur decided to purchase a small business after graduating from the Harvard Business School. The case explores his decision about whether or not he should finalize his deal to purchase Great Eastern Premium Pet Foods, Inc. ("GEPP"). It gives students the opportunity to consider his search process, his due diligence about the company, his post-purchase plans, his valuation analysis and the structure of the potential transaction.

Gemini Investors was a private equity firm focused on small and lower middle market businesses. Gemini's target investment size was between $4 million and $6 million and a typical portfolio company had revenue of between $8 million and $30 million. In early 2015, Gemini was completing the investment of Gemini's Fund V and it was deciding whether it should raise a fund sized similarly to their prior funds, or alternatively, raising a significantly larger fund.

ALAC was a small importer of specialty industrial chemicals. The case explores the different financing alternatives to facilitate the company's explosive growth in working capital. At the end of 2009, the company was awarded the United States distributorship for the specialty chemical di-isononyl phthalate (DINP) from a large Taiwanese producer and had almost tripled its sales in 2010. It expected to double its sales in 2011 and to dramatically increase its profits. ALAC critically needed to obtain financing for the explosive growth in its inventory and accounts receivable balances.

Talent Partners' CEO was very successful at growing the business and establishing its leadership position. He was compensated with a mix of salary and options and he did not own any equity in the company. The options were set so that if Talent Partners achieved its financial plan over the next five years, about half of his total compensation would come from the options.

Bob Williams, the CEO of National Public Broadcasting (NPB), was considering an unsolicited offer to purchase the company in the early spring of 2006. The company was a media underwriting representative for public television and radio stations throughout the United States. When Williams and his wife Linda Williams started NPB in 1996, they had imagined that it would grow quickly and be acquired by a larger media representation firm in a few years. But the business proved to be more complex than they had anticipated with slower growth and less interest from strategic acquirers and, as a result, Williams had been running NPB ever since. The unsolicited offer gave the Williams and their partners the potential opportunity to realize a significant cash payment for the business. The case explores the impact on the sale of the ownership structure decisions that were made when NPB was formed and the complexity of the sales process for small businesses.

The founding CEO of Triple Point Technology, Peter Armstrong, was considering the sale of the company. The company specialized in providing its clients with software used for transaction processing and risk management in various commodity markets. Triple Point Technology had grown substantially in its 13 years of existence and potentially was a source of a significant amount of wealth for its owners. The sale was prompted by a co-founder who wanted to sell his share of the business. The case explores the rationale for owners to monetize at least a portion of their company's value, the sales process, and compares two different offers from the perspective of the company's executives that will have a significant continuing interest in it.