The Acquirers Podcast · Thursday, September 3, 2026
Matthew Sweeney outlines his investment process, starting with identifying a "good business," defined by quantitative metrics like returns on capital or qualitative aspects like long-term stability. He also prioritizes partnering with management or boards who own significant stock and ensuring the business can weather economic cycles through a strong balance sheet or recession-resistant cash flows.
“And I start with a couple main questions and the first one is just, is it a good business?”
“And I typically look for some combination of either a management team that owns a lot of stock, a board of directors that owns a lot of stock, or maybe it's an activist investor that's recently gotten involved.”
“But just a view on how they're likely to behave when things get difficult because those difficult periods are always around the corner. We just don't know how far away that corner is.”