THE HONEST NO
Every page of this kind explains who qualifies and leaves you to work out whether that is you. This is the other list. If one of these describes your company, you can close the tab now.
WHO TELLS YOU NO
“Built Simplicity Solar to $35M in three years and sold it. He leads diligence on every asset we underwrite.”
“Nearly three years at McKinsey, then bought a company outright and scaled it to $50M.”
WHAT DOES NOT DISQUALIFY
These come up constantly and almost none of them matter. If you were about to rule yourself out for one of them, do not.
History matters more than headcount or revenue. Small long-running firms routinely outprice larger newer ones.
Mail, files and spreadsheets are the working record. No data team or warehouse is required or expected.
Tidiness is one of the weakest factors. Free-text mess often carries more reasoning than a structured system.
They narrow scope rather than ending it. Internal method is frequently unencumbered.
THE FASTEST WAY TO A NO
What the company runs on and for how long. That alone rules most non-starters out.
If there is nothing here, a Managing Partner will say so in the first conversation rather than later.
If there is something, we look at the record before pricing it. We do not pay for what we have not seen.
Typically $100K to $2M, agreed within a week, paid Net 30 to 60 after approval and anonymization.
QUESTIONS ABOUT QUALIFYING
Any business with real operating history. Venture backed, middle market, or founder owned. The length and texture of the record matter more than headcount or revenue.
Possibly not, if the record is dense. Iteration and reasoning can partly substitute for age, which is what the review establishes.
Yes, on the first call. Stringing people along costs us time we would rather spend on deals that exist.
Nothing at any stage. No fee and no commission, because we are the buyer rather than your representative.
SPEAK WITH A MANAGING PARTNER
Six questions and a straight answer. Nothing you tell us leaves Polyshares.
Check your data