Directderek.com · Independent writing
The useful question is usually impolite.
Markets, businesses, and the decisions that look simple until you ask one more question. Written by Derek, without the performance.
Keep readingWhat Direct Derek
is for
Look past the clean number. Find the assumption underneath it.
What does it prove?
At what size?
Who takes the other side?
A precise answer can still rest on a weak premise. These are essays about checking the premise—then following the consequences far enough to be useful.
essay
July 29, 2026 · Public Market Edges
Form 4s Without a Press Release
Insider accumulation is useful only after checking compensation and ownership history.
Read the essayFrom the essay
“Acquired does not mean bought.”
Broadly speaking
Areas of interest
Markets
Businesses
Odds, ends, and useful exceptions
Infrastructure autopsies, collectibles, one-off special situations — essays that refuse a category but answer the same question.
Recent writing
- 01 Jul 29, 2026 Form 4s Without a Press Release Public Market Edges
- 02 Jul 28, 2026 Expiring Country-Code Domains Nobody Monitors Globally Alternative Markets
- 03 Jul 27, 2026 Septic Pumping Beyond the Metropolitan Roll-Up Map Consolidation Map
- 04 Jul 19, 2026 Sports Cards After the Tourists Leave Alternative Markets
- 05 Jul 06, 2026 Forty Cents, Seven Years Special Situations
- 06 Jul 01, 2026 The Closed-End Fund Discount With a Stated Catalyst Special Situations
- 07 Jun 27, 2026 The Float Is Smaller Than the Funds Trapped Inside It Public Market Edges
- 08 Jun 22, 2026 Count the Buyers Before You Buy Market Anatomy
- 09 Jun 15, 2026 Heathrow Terminal 5’s Opening-Day Failure Infrastructure Autopsies
- 10 Jun 10, 2026 Authentication as the Actual Collectible-Market Edge Alternative Markets
- 11 Jun 06, 2026 After the Ribbon: The Maintenance Annuity Behind Energy Infrastructure Picks and Shovels
- 12 Jun 02, 2026 Grease on the Calendar Consolidation Map
- 13 May 28, 2026 Car Washes After the Multiple Re-Rating Consolidation Map
- 14 May 21, 2026 The Best Small Business That Never Reaches BizBuySell Buying Businesses
- 15 May 17, 2026 Seller Financing as a Test of the Owner’s Confidence Buying Businesses
- 16 May 13, 2026 Buying a Competitor From a Failed Owner Acquisition Playbooks
- 17 May 09, 2026 Buying a Business That Also Buys You a Job Acquisition Playbooks
- 18 May 05, 2026 Fragmentation Among Owners Who Never Compare Notes Market Anatomy
- 19 Apr 30, 2026 Testing and Inspection Attached to Every Weld Picks and Shovels
- 20 Apr 26, 2026 Field-Service Software Living on the Technician’s Phone Workforce Enablement
The approach
One more question.
- Start with the claim.Say plainly what appears to be true before reaching for a framework.
- Find the hidden assumption.The weak part of a clean number is often the story underneath it.
- Test it at real size.An idea that works once may stop working when repeated.
- Write the useful version.Enough detail to make the conclusion earned. No theatre around it.
From the channel
On video.
About
Direct, by design.
Direct Derek is independent writing by Derek about markets, businesses, and whatever else rewards a closer look.
Posts arrive when an idea is developed enough to be useful—not because a publishing calendar says something is due.
More about Derek →Start here: the small-market edge →