over the years to share best practices with our team and our clients to ensure we collaborate more effectively. Can you share your process of investigation? How have you refined this procedure to allow for greater success? The process of investigation starts with a very clear definition of the questions we’re trying to address: what is the investment thesis, and what are the key issues we have been brought in to tackle? We’ve found that initial precision regarding scope allows you then to spend time effectively on digging into the critical issues, rather than becoming overly broad and generic as you try to “boil the ocean”. Sourcing is another area we pay a lot of attention to. We try to bring in as many sources as we can to fuel our insights. A lot of that is quantitative, namely, opensource and proprietary management data. But I think a big differentiator for GRAPH is our strong belief in the value of qualitative insights, particularly ‘voice of customer’. We often deal with niche sectors where there’s not a lot of publicly available historical data. Having deep interviews with a representative range of key stakeholders and current decision makers lets us get ‘under the skin’ of the business. It enables us to get a view on how the sector is going to perform in the future, who the likely winners will be, and what value creation and differentiation opportunities the business has. At what stage of need do clients usually come to you for professional guidance? We’re lucky to have the chance to work with clients across all stages of the economy, from first-time founders seeking initial capital, all the way to large-cap funds who are investing in world-leading businesses. We often meet businesses that are taking on external investment for the first time and work with them through the commercial due diligence process. As a people-led business, GRAPH has a strong entrepreneurial culture that particularly suits our work with founder-led businesses. Post-investment, we might then help the business map out their growth strategy, whether it’s through organic options like launching new products or refining their pricing strategy, or the inorganic route through bolton acquisitions. Then in a few years, at exit, we might support the business with sell-side diligence as they take on investment from a larger PE fund. Can you tell us about some of the successes you have seen at GRAPH, particularly in terms of your client relationships? For us, a big measure of success is the length of relationship that we can build with our clients. We’re grateful to have clients that we’ve worked with since we set up the business and that we’re still working with 7 years later. We don’t take those partnerships for granted. Our success is underpinned by us consistently taking a long-term view in the way we operate and making sure that we’re always doing the very best possible work, and finding new ways to add value in those client relationships. We’re grateful to have clients that we’ve worked with since we set up the business and that we’re still working with 7 years later.” USA 16 Finance Monthly Deal Maker Awards 2024. UNITED KINGDOM
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