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Check for red flags first— subscale, too large; customer concentration, cyclicality (e.g., new construction exposure, is it a capital good), tech obsolescence risk, fashion risk, etc
Then look for some proprietary advantage, and if that box is appropriately checked, look at growth story.
^how I always do it. Most CIMs can be thrown out in 10 mins given the red flag check.
Ask your senior what they’re looking for, what info they would like to extract, or if they have any go-bys…
If they don’t have anything, spend 5 mins telling them something like “I’ll plan to put together a few bullets focused on xyz; let me know if that’s not what you had in mind.”
Making slides about slides with no direction in a world where AI can do it in 30 seconds is probably not the best path.
I can talk through it. I work at a MM tech PE firm (old title on fishbowl).
1. Understanding the cost structure ( where are people located, what potential levers are there, talent strategy, legal entity complexity)
2. Understanding TAM - how much is real vs. a BS 3P study
3. Understand the GTM Motion (pipeline/TAM, motion efficiency, ICP, performance, forward looking investments & initiatives)
4. R&D - understanding infrastructure decisions. Ability to scale and downsize; engineering org structure, location strategy, product roadmap
Ask AI what they’d care about as a starting point
Read exec summary, people slides, and summarize financials. Need to understand financials and the add backs. I’ll always ask for financial operating model and assumptions.
Depends on industry but I’ll also focus on customer data and other revenue / GP cuts. Ultimate goal is to take the data and get to underwriting number.
Coach
Definitely use AI for this whether as your advisor or helping to generate