Research Methodology

Who writes this research

All research published here is written by John-Michael Tamburro, the firm's founder, and reviewed by him before publication. Neo Advisory has one principal; there is no research team, and nothing is published under a house byline that a person did not write.

We say this plainly because the alternative is common and rarely disclosed. A great deal of sector commentary is assembled rather than written, and the reader has no way to tell. Every article on this site carries a named author for that reason.

What sources we use

Sector research draws on public, verifiable sources, cited inline so a reader can check them. In practice that means government statistical series, industry association data, transaction databases, published advisory research, and company disclosures.

• Government and academic — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Industry associations — NACS, the International Carwash Association, Associated Builders and Contractors
• Transaction and valuation data — GF Data, Kroll, Capstone Partners, KPMG Corporate Finance, Hyde Park Capital
• Sector-specific — CCC Intelligent Solutions for collision repair, FTI Consulting, and company investor relations and press releases where a specific transaction is discussed

Where a figure is contested or the underlying methodologies differ, we say so rather than presenting a single number as settled. Statistics on AI adoption are a recurring example: self-reported usage and production usage are measured differently and differ by an order of magnitude, and we present both.

How we handle transaction data

Some analysis draws on transaction data compiled at Miracle, LLC, a separate firm, and it is attributed as such wherever it appears. It is not presented as Neo Advisory proprietary data and should not be read that way.

Deal counts drawn from that source reflect transactions recorded within a defined sector scope. They are not a complete census of the market — no lower-middle-market count is, because a substantial share of transactions are never publicly reported — and are useful for direction and relative volume rather than as an absolute total.

Where AI is used, and where it is not

Neo Advisory builds and operates AI systems in its own back office. They handle call reception and scheduling, financial aggregation, bookkeeping and payroll, and marketing production.

They are not used to produce the research published here, and they are not used to produce advice given to clients. Analysis, judgment and drafting are human work. We hold that line deliberately: the failure mode of these systems is confident, well-formatted output that happens to be wrong, and the only reliable defense is a person who knows the domain reading it.

We write about our own AI deployments, including what went wrong, in Running AI Agents in an Advisory Firm.

What we do not publish

Some things are deliberately absent from this site, and their absence is a policy rather than an oversight.

• Client transactions and case studies of our own. Transactions the founder has advised on were completed at other firms, by individuals rather than by Neo Advisory as an entity, and publishing them under this firm's name would misattribute them. They are listed with their original attribution and dates on our press and publications page.
• Client names and testimonials. Clients engage an advisor on the expectation of confidentiality, and a sale process is precisely the situation where that matters most.
• Firm-level regulatory or licensing claims. The founder's FINRA qualifications are stated as his personal credentials. Neo Advisory makes no registration claim of its own.
• Performance figures presented as the firm's own. Career transaction volume is attributed to the founder and to the firms where that work was done.

The cost of this is real: it means fewer proof points than a firm willing to publish outcomes. We would rather be checkable than impressive.

Dating and updates

Every article carries a publication date. Sector research reflects conditions at the time of writing, and market data in these sectors moves within quarters — multiples, transaction volumes and cost inputs in particular. A report dated eighteen months ago should be read as a record of that period, not as current guidance.

Where a report is materially revised rather than corrected, the revision is noted.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, we want to know and we will fix it. Email info@neoadvisory.ai with the article and the specific claim. Substantive factual corrections are made to the article and noted; typographical fixes are made silently.

Citing this research

Journalists, analysts and other advisors are welcome to cite this work. No permission is required. We ask only that citations name Neo Advisory and link to the specific article rather than the homepage, so a reader can check the claim in context.

For data questions, methodology detail behind a specific figure, or comment on a sector we cover, email info@neoadvisory.ai.

Scope and limits

Everything published here is general information, not advice. It does not account for the circumstances of any particular business, and no advisory relationship is created by reading it. Valuation ranges, timelines and structures described are typical rather than predictive, and the outcome for any specific business depends on facts this research cannot know.