Frequently Asked Questions
- Do you always ask for a board seat?
- What is the best way to reach you?
Do I need an introduction?
- How can I be sure you'll keep my idea
confidential?
- What information will you need in
order to evaluate my business?
1. Do you always ask for a board seat?
We have found that sitting on the board of our portfolio companies allows us
to make the maximum contribution to their success. Because we are primarily
looking for businesses to acquire, we expect a board seat.
2. What is the best way to reach you?
Do I need an introduction?
While we prefer surface mail contact initially, we welcome business plan
submissions by email, fax, or surface mail. It is not necessary, but always
helpful, to
be
referred
by
an
industry
contact
or
friend of the firm. Contact information can be found at Contact
Us.
3. How can I be sure you'll keep my
idea confidential?
As a normal business practice we do not disclose
information provided to us. However, we will execute
an appropriate NDA (nondisclosure
agreement), if requested, before information is exchanged.
4. What information will you need
in order to evaluate my business?
A complete business plan is always very helpful,
but a concise executive summary can usually give us
the information we need for a preliminary evaluation.
While we don't require any particular format for submissions,
the following is a suggested checklist of information
to include. Being able to quickly identify answers
to the following questions will enable us to get back
to you quickly with our feedback.
- What major role in industry will your company
play if successful?
- What is your company's positioning statement?
- What products or services will you develop
to obtain this position?
- Who is your customer and what is your customer
acquisition strategy?
- What unique competitive advantages will
you have or attempt to build?
- Who or what is your current competition?
- Where are you in building the company? (If
a startup, please describe your major milestones
to success over the next year. If your product
or service is in development, alpha, or beta describe
how you have validated that the market is ready–customer
contacts are the best validation.)
- Who are you and who is part of your team
now? (Please include key bios, number of employees.)
- What is your current capitalization structure? (Please list the owners and other investors of
the company and the percentage each owns.)
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