

Respond quickly and professionally to any additional investor requests. Using these business and legal checklists enables you to anticipate most of the information requested. It will also speed up the review process. Having due diligence binders ready will demonstrate to the potential investor that you are prepared.
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Assign the coordination of binders to one person who will keep track of information and update documents when appropriate. Once you’ve decided to raise money from outside investors, take the time to prepare due diligence binders. Tips for startups on due diligence Prepare due diligence binders If the VC is highly experienced in this area (or has in-house legal counsel), they may take on part of the review to reduce the overall deal expenses. Ask for references to determine which firms investors respect and use themselves. The advisors you choose can reflect favourably on you, including your lawyers, so do your research to find the right ones. Make sure that your lawyer is prepared to answer their questions. Once the fund has reached the stage of moving toward a favourable decision, their lawyer will complete a legal review. Each firm may have a specific process, but it tends to involve reviewing the management team, market potential, the product or service (and the need it meets) and the business model. Once the opportunity is determined to “fit” the fund’s investment criteria, the deal is assigned to a junior and senior member of the team who will investigate further to determine the viability of the deal. Some funds will only review opportunities that have come via a referral from a trusted source.The opportunity does not fit the fund’s mandate or criteria (e.g., the business’ stage, geographic region, size of the deal, industry sector).Most opportunities do not make it through screening for two reasons: Typically, for each 100 opportunities reviewed, ten will receive a detailed review (Stage 2 and Stage 3 of due diligence) and the fund may invest in one of them. This allows them to quickly flag the ones that fit and indicate that they will spend more time and money evaluating. Venture funds review and evaluate hundreds of business opportunities over the life of the fund and use predetermined criteria to identify which opportunities to focus on as possible investments. If the VC acts as a lead investor in a syndicate, then they may also share the outcome of their due diligence with other investors. Once the process is complete, the investor will use the outcomes of the process to finalize the internal approval process and complete the investment.
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The process involves asking and answering a series of questions to evaluate the business and legal aspects of the opportunity. The due diligence process should select the potential winners, identify the key risks associated with the investment and develop a risk mitigation plan with company management as part of a potential investment.ĭue diligence is a rigorous process that determines whether or not the venture capital fund or other investor will invest in your company. By definition, investing in early-stage companies is risky. The venture capital (VC) industry uses due diligence to describe what the investor does to evaluate a potential investment opportunity. Involves three sequential stages: screening due diligence, business due diligence and legal due diligence.


In venture capital, the due diligence process:
