You work for investors. Why publish a guide for founders?
Because the questions are better questions when everyone can see them. A company that has organized itself against these dimensions is a better company to underwrite and a faster engagement to run. A method that only works by surprise is not a method.
We are hired by capital, not by companies, and both documents say so on the first page. Nothing in the founder guide is advice to raise or not to raise, and nothing in it is written to make a company easier for us to sell to.
Do you assess the transaction, or only the company?
Only the company. We do not assess who introduced the opportunity, what their position in it is, or how much of a round reaches the balance sheet rather than retiring an existing holder.
Those are material facts about what is being bought and they are frequently invisible in a data room. We ask you at scoping whether you have established them, and we report anything we become aware of, but no dimension in the method is pointed at them and you should not assume they have been examined. Section 15 of the methodology says this in full.
Do you take equity, carry or referral fees on deals you assess?
No. Fixed fee only, agreed before we start, paid by you. We do not take equity in companies we assess, and we are not compensated by any company you ask us to look at. An assessment you paid for should not be compromised by our own exposure to the outcome. We are not a placement agent or a broker-dealer, and we do not want to be.
What happens if you conclude we should not do the deal?
You pay the same fee. The assessment is the product; the answer is not. A well-argued no, delivered in three weeks with the evidence attached, is usually worth more than a yes, because it is the cheaper of the two findings by an order of magnitude.
Who owns the assessment, and can we share it?
You own it. It is prepared for the client who commissioned it and cannot be relied upon by another party, which is standard for this kind of work and is stated in the engagement letter. Circulating it inside your own investment committee, or to your LPs as part of a position write-up, is expected and fine. Handing it to a co-investor as a substitute for their own diligence is not, and if someone wants formal reliance that is a separate conversation and a separate letter.
Will you sign an MNDA?
Yes, before anything confidential moves. The disclaimer asks you not to send confidential material through this website, which is a different point: until an agreement is in place we cannot treat unsolicited material as confidential, and neither of us wants that ambiguity. Book a call, we paper it, then you send the data room.
What if the specialist we need has a conflict with a company in our portfolio?
We check before we staff, not after. If the specialist the mandate requires has a live conflict, we disclose it and either propose a different specialist or decline the mandate. Bench members are independent professionals with their own practices, which is what makes the model work and also what makes conflict checking a standing obligation rather than an occasional one.
Do you work with companies directly, or only through a fund?
Both, though the default is through the fund. Portfolio work is usually bought by the investor and delivered to the company, which keeps the incentives clean and the readout honest. Direct engagements happen where the mandate warrants it, most often a company preparing to raise or a developer at a first-of-a-kind decision. If you are a founder reading this, the door is open; the site is written for the people who usually pay.
How long does diligence take?
Three weeks from the close of definition, plus a paid one-week definition phase before that. The fee is fixed and agreed before Stage 1 begins, so the number does not move once the work starts. If your timeline is shorter than three weeks, say so on the call. We will tell you whether we can do useful work in the time you have rather than agree and then thin the work out.
What do you not do?
We do not manage money, place capital, broker introductions for a fee or provide investment advice, and we are not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. We also do not do technology-only diligence. If you want a bench test and nothing else there are specialists who will do it faster and cheaper than we will, and you should use them.
Can you work outside the sectors listed on the Approach page?
Often, if the underwriting question has the same shape: a technology that works, a buyer who may or may not be compelled, and a clock. Not if it needs domain expertise the bench does not have. We will tell you which of the two it is before you commit, rather than learning on your money.
Are there deals you decline?
Two situations, consistently, for reasons that are about duration rather than ethics. The reasoning is on the Approach page.
