For readers who have already read Acquired Alpha: what changed, newest first.
2026-10-07: New book: Acquired Alpha
Building software got cheap, so a buyer now faces more products, more sellers that look alike, and proposals that cost almost nothing to write. Acquired Alpha is the advantage you gain by buying, adopting, or hiring what another party has built, and it counts only when the seller’s evidence cost the seller something real and you can check it without relying on the seller’s word. The book is for executives, CIOs, procurement leads, clinical and program owners, and boards who carry a consequential purchase.
It gives you named tools for each step of the purchase. The Claim Card, the Three Tests, and the seven-rung Cost-to-Seller Ladder are in “Count Evidence Only When It Cost the Seller Something.” The Eight Look-Alikes are in “Eight Look-Alikes Pass for Evidence in a Pitch.” The Proof Plan and the Failable Pilot are in “Turn Each Claim Into a Test the Seller Can Fail.” The seven requirements before signing and the Board Questions are in “Require Seven Things Before You Sign.” The Purchase Review is in “Keep Testing the Claim After the Purchase,” and the Exit Rehearsal is in “Plan the Exit Before You Need It.”
Four chapters apply the method to the people who bear the cost of a wrong purchase: “In Healthcare, Clearance and Certification Do Not Show Outcomes,” “In Defense, Test in the Unit’s Conditions and Plan the Sustainment Tail,” “Public Buyers Can Still Make Sellers Pay for Proof,” and “In Enterprise and AI-Native Software, Test With Your Own Data and Your Own Failures.” “Know What a Builder Can Actually Prove” says what a seller can and cannot show before you use the product. The method is a provisional framework, and “The Evidence for Acquired Alpha Stops Short of a Result” says where its evidence stops.