One of OC’s first assignments was referred by an investment bank. A group of veteran healthcare executives wanted to build a services roll-up. Naturally, they needed a platform acquisition on one side of this plan, and a financial sponsor on the other.
The issue: they didn’t know the investor market.
Investment bankers get theses kinds of calls, but orienting people to the investment market isn’t what they do. What investment bankers do is connect established businesses run by experienced managers with the most interested investors, ideally to deploy substantial amounts of capital at reasonable risk-adjusted returns.
So there’s the gap: how to help talented managers get the relevant experience with the investment community for the first time?
In this case, we filled the gap. The management team hired us for a limited assignment in which we helped them:
- Orient their presentation to investors, passing Private Equity 101.
- Make introductions to a small number of low probability investor prospects (for practice) and higher probability prospects (for education and networking), and join them in meetings.
- Develop and research a list of potential investor contacts.
- Prepare for investor calls and hear context as they simultaneously networked into the investor community and pursued acquisition targets
After supporting the team for the agreed amount of time, we ended the consulting relationship. I felt pleased about the review of our work a few months later: “You helped us when we needed you.”
Sometimes small projects can make a big difference.