Essential Infrastructure

“Essential” has new meaning.

We have learned many definitions related to essential in 2020. The interpretation of essential has been heavily debated, including discussions over golf courses, liquor stores, restaurants, and bars. As communities open up, these debates are getting more interesting as the discussions center around who is allowed to be open.

My favorite debate about “essential” is the one where the attorneys representing Elizabeth Holmes, the Founder and CEO of Theranos, appealed to the court that they should be considered essential and allowed to meet at the office to work.

Mindy Barker | Barker Associates The right infrastructure is critical to generate the data about your business during the due diligence process with potential investors.

Pre-COVID, one meaning of “essential” described having the right infrastructure in place if a company wanted to raise capital. The right infrastructure is critical to generate the data about your business during the due diligence process with potential investors.

Here are a few examples of why this is important:

Revenue projections will be a key component of what the investor will look at when evaluating the business. The revenue in the projected income statement for the prior year probably represents an increase in the revenue over the current year. The investors will ask questions like: “How long does it take you to close a deal from the time you speak to a customer to close?” “How many deals do you have in the pipeline now?” “What is your customer churn rate?” “How do you charge customers – as SaaS, by transaction?” etc.

These questions will be asked during the initial discussion as well as during the presentation. Whatever answer you give, if the due diligence moves forward, must match the data in the general ledger, CRM (Customer Relationship Manager data base) and other systems.

I have known a C Suite executive falsely stating things like they have never lost a customer or they close a deal in 30 days. But when we drilled down on the historical data his statements are not supported by facts.

I have also experienced a C Suite Executive who stated that the projections were high because “that is what we need to close this deal.” False information may get the attention of a potential investor but it will not keep their attention when they drill down to the “essential” infrastructure and claims are not backed up by facts.

Burn rate – potential investors will ask what your burn rate is, i.e. what is the amount of cash the company requires each month. Burn rate is based on the cash leaving the checking account – not the pretax income. These are two different calculations and often commingled into one number for companies. If the C Suite executive states the monthly burn rate is $10k because that is the best guess he has during an investor presentation, but the historical cash spend is $15k per month, the investor will lose trust and the company seeking investment will lose credibility. Best guess does not get the job done.

According to the experts at Ernst & Young:

“Increasingly, buyers are looking for infrastructure that can help them identify, track, measure and report on a broad range of externalities. Being able to demonstrate actions taken to date, along with a path forward that helps buyers envision how the company can help address or mitigate global challenges and serve societal needs, can help them think more expansively about opportunities for creating value.”

In their article, the E&Y authors are directing their advice to Private Equity Firms to emphasize the importance of creating value for portfolio companies the PE may want to sell. The quote above supports my assertion that adequate infrastructure is essential for companies seeking investment.

You may say to yourself, I will build the infrastructure when I am ready to pitch to investors – we are not ready right now. If you have the ability to influence decisions about company spend, it is your fiduciary responsibility to insist the company has the right infrastructure. Not only will it position the company to prepare for the future, it will guide the entire management team in making the right decisions day to day.

Let’s dive into your essential infrastructure concerns – click here to set up a 30-minute free consultation to discuss your unique situation.

Related Post

Oh no – not again! Many entrepreneurs who launch a business are focused on selling and bringing in revenue so much they are not thinking about the type of infrastru...