A family office often receives more opportunities than it can review in depth, frequently with limited time to reach an initial view. The numbers pages are where the review usually starts, and it is the wrong place. Five early questions can help determine whether an opportunity merits a deeper review before time is spent on the model.
1. Who Pays, and Why Now?
The first question is the customer: a specific kind of company or person, with a budget, who pays for this today. A deck that describes a market instead of a customer has not yet found one. The second half of the question matters as much: what has changed, in regulation or in how the customer behaves, that makes this the moment. Without a credible change in customer need, regulation, economics or distribution, established suppliers often retain the advantage.
2. What Does the Company Do That the Customer Cannot Get Elsewhere?
The question is about the outcome the customer pays for; the technology is a separate conversation. The answer should explain the customer outcome in plain terms and withstand comparison with established alternatives. A list of features is a description of the product. The answer wanted here is what changes for the customer.
3. Who Else Is in the Round, and on What Terms?
Other investors in the round can provide useful context, but their participation should not substitute for independent diligence. A lead investor who has done the diligence, and whose terms the family office can take, is worth more than any page in the deck. The terms themselves say a great deal: a price that has moved since the last round, a structure with liquidation preferences stacked above the common, or a round that has been open for six months each tell a story the narrative page does not.
4. What Has Changed Since the Last Round?
The current deck describes the plan. The previous deck, put beside it, shows how the last plan went. Where relevant materials are available, compare the prior plan with current performance and the new proposal: the plan, the revenue, the headcount and the use of funds. A company that hit its last plan is a different investment from one that reset it, whatever the current page says.
5. What Does the Founder Need Besides Money?
A family office is a patient investor, and often a useful one: introductions, and sometimes an operating history in the founder's sector. Founders who know what they need beyond the check may also have a sharper view of the capabilities required for the next stage of growth. The answer to this question is also the answer to whether the family office should be in the deal at all, because capital alone is available from many sources.
What the Answers Say About the Next Round
A founder with a specific customer, a one-sentence answer to the second question, a credible lead, a record against the last plan and a considered ask is raising the next round already. The numbers pages then confirm what the five answers have said. If they do not, the model is the problem, and that is where the week of work goes.
Citalo Group provides scoped commercial and financial assessment for family offices considering selected opportunities, with the format and timetable agreed at the outset.
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