An investment conference and workshop in the Winelands last week asked a question. “Where are all the deals?”
The deals, we know, are waiting to happen. The problem investors have is in the information they receive.
Investors know that deals are “there”. Their frustration is in the quality of information. Too little information. The wrong information.
Information is often so voluminous. That is as much a problem as a lack of information. It is a lack of the right information. It provides too many variables to consider at a high level.
Occam’s Razor
Simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones.
The more uncertainties and assumptions, the greater the risk of getting it wrong.
When a potential purchaser first looks at your business, she knows nothing about it. Heck, I know that many purchasers still know very little after their due diligence study! But that’s another story.
So in knowing nothing about the business, she has to make lots of assumptions. This is where your pitch deck comes in. Remove all the uncertainties. Prove your facts. Be succinct. But above all else be informative and accurate as can be.
But more than that… Give her relevant stuff.
It is all in the preparation and presentation.
People are quick to offer income statement summaries with a fast write up and an afternoon Q&A.
The very next step is too great a hurdle for unprepared businesses.
Sometimes the sellers and their brokers hand out mountains of information. Too often, it is the wrong information.
These guys have expensive specialists working for them. They should have the capacity to wade through your audit notes and adjustment accounts. But that is not where their capacity goes. Sure they will need that stuff for later due diligence. But for now, they want some high-level information.
This is what happens behind the scenes. Yours is not the only business the investor is looking at. She can only look at one business at a time. So they all go into a box. The first one to confuse her goes to the bottom of the box. And then the next one. Anything with too much work to get to the meat moves down the pile.
The business with all the information summarised and decipherable in an investment industry format… THAT one will stay open on her desk. Now you just need to make sure it is a compelling investment. But hey! You’re invested in the business, so that should not be a problem.