Deal

Congratulations! It’s a deal. You have done your due diligence. By all means, move ahead. While you do, keep your eyes open. No one learns everything they would like to before a deal closes. The quality of a deal is demonstrated by performance afterwards, something that doesn’t happen by default.

Read our article about making the deal work.

Maybe Deal

You probably feel pretty good about the opportunity and may be tempted to think you should go ahead. Before you take the plunge, however, think about the overwhelming tendency people have to be over-confident. If you are over-confident by even 5%, what will that mean? Far better to uncover what you don’t know now.

Read our article about making the deal work.

Risky Deal

At these levels you need a very good price to ensure you can deal with those issues that are not now visible. Doing a risky deal means you can’t afford to pay a fair price. Ask yourself these questions:

How much are we willing to invest to make the deal work?

• Money
• Time
• Reputation
• Talent

Then ask yourself what else you could be doing with these resources?

No Deal

No explanation needed here. It is tempting when you’re “close” to start rationalizing away concerns. Some beaches are reserved for shipwrecks. Don’t let it be yours.