Gaurav Agrawal

Transactions are decisions under uncertainty. Quality of Earnings reduces that uncertainty. We’ve supported QoE engagements for both buy-side and sell-side clients across companies generating $500K to $80M+ in revenue. One consistent takeaway: Adjusted EBITDA is rarely a single fixed answer. It’s a range.  A framework.  A series of judgments that require accounting depth and forward-looking thinking. Our process focuses on: • Multiple EBITDA case scenarios • Working capital sustainability • Margin durability • Post-transaction tax considerations • Clear articulation of risks and assumptions Whether you’re private equity, a strategic acquirer, a lender, or a business owner preparing for exit — clarity drives better decisions. And better decisions drive better outcomes. #TransactionAdvisory #QualityOfEarnings #M&A #StrategicFinance #PrivateEquity

11

2 Comments

Hg built software so 2,500 executives could share what works The system is called Hive. It connects senior leaders across more than 60 companies in Hg's portfolio. Hg also has a library of tools, templates and playbooks that its companies can use. The idea is simple. When one company learns something useful, the rest should not have to learn it again. One CFO fixes a pricing problem. One CTO learns why a system move failed. One team finds the number that warns customers may leave. Most funds lose those lessons when people leave or the company is sold. Hg gives those lessons somewhere to live. That may be more valuable than another AI tool. A smaller fund can build the same basic system today. Put board reports, project reviews, supplier notes and lessons from past deals in one secure place. Label each lesson by company, sector, team, problem and result. Add an AI agent that can search the files and show its sources. When the same question keeps coming up, turn the best answer into a playbook. You do not need 2,500 executives. You need ten companies sharing what they know so the eleventh starts ahead. The AI model is not the advantage. The advantage is the knowledge collected across every company the fund has owned. Most funds call their portfolio a network. Hg built software that helps it act like one. The smartest fund may not know more. It may simply forget less.

3

The in-house vs. outsourced CFO question does not have one right answer. For PE managers and VC managers, the answer often looks very different. A lot of times, the conversation starts with "should we hire a CFO or outsource the role?" There are a number of factors that go into that decision. But one that often does not get considered is the investment strategy itself. Your management fees have to fund the entire management company, including the investment team, investor relations, operations, technology, overhead, and cash reserves. And after all of that, the partners still need to get paid. A PE manager expecting to make 5 to 10 investments may need a very different investment team than a venture manager expecting to make 30 or more. And that affects how much of the management fee is available for everything else. If your strategy means a larger investment team, you have less of the management fee available for the back office. Keeping back office costs variable makes sense. It is also all the more important not to take on fully-loaded in-house roles if the amount of work or complexity does not actually warrant it. If you have a smaller investment team and more flexibility in the budget, that opens up options for bringing things in-house, if that is your preference.

3

3 Comments

Most deal teams don’t lack capability. They lack capacity. When internal teams are stretched, execution quality suffers—not because of talent, but because of bandwidth. That’s where interim execution support can make the biggest difference. I’ve spent much of my work filling that exact gap during critical periods. How are others solving for capacity constraints during deals? #MergersAndAcquisitions #PrivateEquity #InterimLeadership

4

What is different this time re VC? One thing is we are getting calls from early investors for liquidity on companies who have yet to establish the first phase of gross margin let alone operating margins, let alone a demonstrated ability to be a compounder for public equity shareholders. That's not to say things are not working. Everything but price discovery and liquidity is working. What is your take? I'll offer that 2027 could be a big year for M&A in terms of quantity of assignments for the banks.

4