I agree with everyone here that if you can, it’s ideal to roll up your sleeves and step into the operator role—at least for a bit. That firsthand exposure is incredibly valuable. That said, it’s not always feasible for every buyer, especially depending on geography, stage of life, or portfolio structure. In those cases, I look for deals where the seller has a strong right hand—someone who's already managing the day-to-day and is promotable to operator. If there's budget, another approach I like is finding a rising star at a competitor who’s hit a glass ceiling. They often bring industry knowledge and fresh energy, and they’re hungry for ownership or a leadership seat they couldn't get elsewhere.

Most opportunities I've seen are usually tide to become the operator. There are a lot of good technologies/services that poorly runed underperform into a "bad" business. Sometimes, just a twik in the management, can arise a lot of hidden value. My last oportunity, was an industrial designer and manufacturer of the copper wire industry. They had plenty of know-how and barriers of entry. But, the poorly managed working capital, and an unefficient capital structure was leading them to catastrophy. The value flip there was to actually ensure procedures that end up guaranteeing a good working capital flow. As well as a better positioning in terms of pricing, and new business lines roll-up (such as Technical Services, Plant and Industry designing...). Despite that, I've there's a time that the opportunity arise without the need of becoming the operator, I think that is actually the best scenario. Buy a company and let those who knew it or know the indsutry to run it. (Altough we cannot forget that you always have to understant the businesses you enroll to).