dd-meeting-prep

Diligence Meeting Prep

Workflow

Step 1: Meeting Context

Ask the user for:

• Meeting type: Management presentation, expert call, customer reference, advisor check-in, site visit
• Attendees: Who from the target or third party
• Topic focus: Full overview, or specific workstream (financial, commercial, operational, clinical/regulatory, tech)
• What you already know: Prior meetings, CIM, data room findings
• Key concerns: Specific issues to probe

Step 2: Generate Question List

Organize by priority and topic. Structure depends on meeting type:

Management Presentation

Business Overview (warm-up)

• Walk us through the founding story and key milestones
• How do you describe the business to someone unfamiliar with the space?
• What are you most proud of? What would you do differently?

Revenue & Growth

• Walk us through revenue by customer/payor/segment/geography
• What's driving growth? Price vs. volume vs. new customers/patients
• Sales cycle and win rate trends
• Biggest growth opportunities in the next 3-5 years

Competitive Positioning

• Who do you lose deals to and why?
• What's your moat? How defensible is it?
• How do customers/referrers evaluate you vs. alternatives?

Operations & Team

• Org chart — who are the key people?
• What roles are you hiring for? Hardest to fill (e.g. RNs, MAs, physicians)?
• What keeps you up at night operationally?

Financial Deep-Dive

• Margin bridge — what's changed and why?
• One-time or non-recurring items
• Capex — maintenance vs. growth, de novo vs. same-store
• Working capital seasonality

Forward Look

• Walk us through the budget/plan for next year
• Assumptions you're most/least confident in
• What would need to go right/wrong to materially beat/miss plan

Expert Network Call

• How do you view [company]'s positioning in the market?
• Secular trends driving this space (for healthcare: site-of-service shifts, value-based care, reimbursement changes)
• Strongest competitors and why
• Risks an investor should be aware of
• If you were buying this business, what would you diligence most carefully?

Customer Reference Call

• How did you find [company] and why did you choose them?
• What alternatives did you evaluate?
• What do they do well? Where could they improve?
• Likelihood to renew/expand? What would change that?
• If they raised prices 10-20%, how would you react?

Step 3: Benchmarks & Context

For each key topic, provide:

• Industry growth rates and margin profiles
• Comparable company metrics (if comps analysis exists in session)
• Data points from the CIM or data room warranting follow-up
• Discrepancies between data sources to clarify

Step 4: Red Flags to Probe

• Inconsistencies in CIM or financials
• Customer/payor concentration or churn signals
• Management team gaps or recent departures
• Unusual accounting treatments
• Missing data room items

Step 5: Output

One-page meeting prep doc:

1. Meeting logistics: Who, when, where, duration
2. Objectives: Top 3 things to learn
3. Question list: Prioritized, grouped by topic (star the must-asks)
4. Benchmarks: Key numbers to reference
5. Red flags: Specific items to probe
6. Follow-up items: What to request after the meeting

Important Notes

• Lead with open-ended questions — let management talk, then follow up on specifics
• Don't lead the witness — ask neutral questions
• Take notes on body language and confidence levels, not just answers
• Always end with: "What haven't we asked about that we should?"
• Keep the list to 15-20 max — you won't get through more in 60-90 min