M&Apedia is a free, editorially independent encyclopedia of mergers and acquisitions, sponsored by Main Street Wealth. We exist to give owners, advisors, students and journalists a credible reference on M&A — what the terms mean, how the process actually runs, and what the deal terms in front of you do and do not protect.

Why M&Apedia exists

M&A is a field where the public references are either too shallow (definitions written for readers with no transaction context) or too narrow (textbooks written for the largest deals and the largest banks). The lower-middle market — where most transactions actually happen, and where most owners experience their first and only deal — is poorly served by both.

The encyclopedia is built around three things missing from existing references: practitioner depth from people who do the deals, lower-middle-market specificity rather than bulge-bracket framing, and visible trust signals — bylines, dated reviews, references and a clear policy on sources and corrections. The full editorial standard is documented on the editorial policy page.

The editorial team

M&Apedia is currently authored and reviewed by Sukhrobjon Ismoilov, Founder & Principal of Main Street Wealth. Sukhrobjon is a graduate of Columbia Law School and has led or advised on transactions across HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, pest control, landscaping and adjacent home-services verticals.

We are growing the contributor base. If you have transaction experience and want to write, contact [email protected]. Outside contributors are credited by name with disclosed affiliations and conflicts of interest.

Main Street Wealth is an M&A advisory firm that focuses on home-services businesses. It funds the work of producing M&Apedia.

The relationship is structured to keep the encyclopedia useful and credible:

  • No advertising and no paid placements. Articles do not contain sponsored links, and other firms are referenced on the merits.
  • Disclosed sponsor presence. Where Main Street Wealth appears (the sidebar, the home banner, the resources page, the seller's playbook, the multiples report), it is clearly labelled as the site sponsor.
  • No pre-publication review by the sponsor. Main Street Wealth does not review or approve articles before they go live. It does not have edit rights on published content.
  • Topic-scope agreement only. The sponsor and editorial agree that the site covers M&A. Within that scope, what to cover, how to cover it, and how to evaluate competing approaches is editorial's call.
  • Author conflicts disclosed. Sukhrobjon is both the author and the principal of the sponsor; that relationship is on every byline and on every author bio page.

We think the right way to handle this is to do what serious publications do: tell readers exactly who pays for the work, keep the editorial line honest about what the sponsor does and does not get to decide, and let the substance of the writing argue for itself.

How the site makes money

M&Apedia does not run advertising or affiliate links and does not sell user data. Sponsorship from Main Street Wealth covers the costs of authorship, editing, hosting and the data work behind the annual report. Where readers click through to a sponsor page (the partner box, the seller's playbook CTA, the resources page), Main Street Wealth may benefit from those inbound enquiries. That is the funding model and we are straightforward about it.

What this site is not

M&Apedia is a reference. It is not investment, legal, tax or accounting advice. If you are working on an actual transaction, the right next step is to retain qualified counsel with experience in your industry, deal size and jurisdiction. We can recommend questions to ask; we cannot answer them for your specific deal.

Contact

Editorial: [email protected]
Sponsor: Main Street Wealth
More: editorial policy · methodology · resources

Last reviewed: 2026-06-16