The Diagnosis
In emergency medicine, you don't work a complex case one step at a time. You can't. The patient is in the bay, the clock is running, and the answer isn't on a single test.
So you run things in parallel. Labs go off while imaging is queued. The consult is paged while the line is in. The differential narrows as data comes back from three directions at once. It looks chaotic from the doorway. It's actually design.
The whole point is that no single workup is allowed to be the rate-limiting step.
For ten editions, I treated the acquisition hunt like the only line running.
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The Prescription
Last week's progress note forced me to look at the dashboard honestly. Ten editions of documenting a single pipeline — and the pipeline hasn't moved in weeks.
The acquisition is a long arc. That's not a problem. But treating it as the only thing we're building? That's a rate-limiting step.
The shift came from a conversation Lacy and I kept coming back to: why are we waiting on one thing when we both have skills that could be working right now?
Lacy is building Stillwave Co — her product brand on Etsy. She's turning her own skills into something that generates independently. Her own line, her own rhythm, her own build.
The acquisition doesn't stop. It's still the long arc, the reason all of this started. But it's not the only line in the bay anymore. And watching Lacy build something of her own alongside the hunt reminded me of something I should have recognized earlier: parallel workups aren't distraction. They're design.
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Where We Are Right Now
This week was about momentum on multiple fronts.
Lacy is getting Stillwave Co up and running on Etsy. Building the storefront, staging product, setting up the systems. It's early — but the energy of building something tangible is different from waiting on a pipeline to move.
On the acquisition side, I triaged email this week. Nothing fit the deal box. No broker outreach went out. The pipeline is still cold. But the pressure on it feels different now. It doesn't have to carry all the weight.
I attended two mastermind meetings this week. Listened to other members work their deals — financing structures, negotiation sticking points, due diligence questions I hadn't thought to ask. Learning by watching real cases get evaluated is a different education than coursework. You hear how someone else navigates a seller conversation and you file it. You hear how a deal fell apart at the LOI stage and you adjust your own checklist. Stayed in the rhythm.
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What Comes Next
Support Lacy as Stillwave Co launches. Her build is hers — but the household benefits from both of us moving.
Get back into the deal pipeline with intention. Triage wasn't enough this week. Outreach needs to go out. The frameworks are there. The financing is locked. The only missing piece is the first real conversation with a broker.
Keep showing up to the community. And keep writing — because eleven editions in, the writing is part of the workup now.
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— Joe & Lacy
The workup isn't one line anymore. It's parallel. And both lines are running.