This Man Speaks Truth! Time Kills Deals
Hayes Bryant from First Avenue Partners wrote a great piece over on Linkedin today about how “Time Kills Deals.” Gosh, if that’s not the truth. As a recovering investment banker I still intimately remember how accurate that old saw is.
As a practicing valuation guru, I now get to see those same train wrecks unfold in sloooooow motion from the outside. Hayes lays out four steps, which I’ll blatantly steal here:
- Make a “working Group” list (i.e. all those involved in the deal)
- Make a timeline + responsibilities schedule
- Schedule an Organizational Meeting
- Schedule the next deadline
I’m a huge fan of #4: if you aren’t pulling out your calendar and scheduling your next milestone at the end of the meeting, you’re unncessarily extending the timeline. And in a world where closing means getting paid… why delay?
.
.
Dan Doran
Dan is the Founder of Quantive and Value Scout. He has two decades of experience in leading M&A transactions. Additionally oversees Quantive's valuation practice and has performed thousands of business valuations.