# Big Deal Small Business

An operator's essays on buying and running.

A free Substack from Kaustubh Deo, who left private equity to buy Blooma Tree Experts in Seattle in 2022; roughly weekly essays on buying, financing, and above all operating a small service business, written from inside one.

- Category: Newsletters
- Pricing model: Free
- Where it fits: Learn & Choose Your Path, Operate & Grow the Business
- Website: https://bigdealsmallbusiness.substack.com

## At a Glance

The best reality check on this list for anyone romanticizing ownership; read three essays before you write your first [LOI](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/loi).

## What It Costs

Free in full; no paid tier is offered (bigdealsmallbusiness.substack.com, July 2026).

## Best For

Hearing what ownership actually feels like years after close, from a self-funded buyer still running the company

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Written by a practicing operator rather than a content marketer; the risk and hiring essays draw on his own P&L
- Pro: Free in full and publishing steadily since 2021, with a stated 9,000+ subscribers
- Pro: Covers the unglamorous post-close years most acquisition content skips
- Con: One operator's vantage point in one trade (tree care), so patterns may not transfer
- Con: An essay archive rather than a structured curriculum
- Con: Cadence varies with the demands of the business he runs

## What Searchers Say

Deo is a familiar voice across [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) podcasts and SMB forums, and the newsletter is regularly recommended in searcher communities as the operator-perspective read.

## Compared With

- Which newsletter, deal flow or an operator's account? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/smb-deal-hunter-vs-big-deal-small-business.md)

## Sources

- https://bigdealsmallbusiness.substack.com/about
- https://bigdealsmallbusiness.substack.com/archive

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/newsletter.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/big-deal-small-business
Last checked: 2026-07-17

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt