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MarThe two failure modes of sub-scale GP fundraisingSub-scale managers fail either because they lack access to LP decision-makers, or because their materials don't survive an investment committee. The two are independent, and fixing one does nothing for the other — which is why generalist fundraising advice so often produces no result.→FebWhat a diligence tracker is actually forA data room stores documents. A diligence tracker states what evidence is expected for each item at this stage, what exists, and what is missing — which turns an unbounded preparation task into a finite list, most of which is not actually blocking.→FebRunning non-dilutive debt in parallel with an equity roundCompanies with cleared products and contracted revenue often have a working capital requirement better served by debt than equity. Running that conversation alongside the equity process changes the equity negotiation; running it afterwards changes nothing, because the round is already priced.→JanSizing a seed round to a milestone, not a roadmapMost seed rounds that stall are not underpriced — they are under-specified. A raise sized to the ambition asks investors to believe the whole roadmap; one sized to a defined milestone asks them to believe the next eighteen months, which is a materially easier question.→JanThe revenue model and the cash model answer different questionsA business can grow several-fold on the revenue model and run out of money on the cash model. In placed-instrument businesses the three drivers — instrument capex ahead of revenue, receivables build tracking the ramp, and one-time regulatory spend — routinely stack in the same period.→DecWhen export credit agency cover is structural, not residualECA cover is usually considered after the senior debt is sized. On projects with significant imported equipment it should shape the structure from the start — it changes effective cost of capital, available tenor, and sometimes senior lenders' willingness to participate at all.→DecCommodity scenario analysis as a matrix, not a sensitivityTesting price, volume and input cost one variable at a time produces three answers, none of which describes the actual downside. The variables correlate, and the combinations that break a covenant are usually not the ones a single-variable sensitivity finds.→NovDebt sculpting and what it costs the sponsorSculpting repayment to a target DSCR maximises debt capacity, which is usually what the sponsor wants. It also concentrates repayment in the years the model says cash flow is strongest, which transfers ramp-timing risk to the sponsor. The trade-off is worth making explicit before term sheets.→NovGetting credit for equity already in the groundWhen a sponsor has funded an acquisition or an earlier phase entirely from equity, standard ratio arithmetic applied to the remaining capex ignores that contribution — and calls for equity the project may not need. The fix is to have the prior contribution recognised as qualifying sponsor equity.→OctWhat to do when a rating agency flags your borrower mid-processAn adverse rating action lands in every lender's first screen and reads as a governance signal whether or not the underlying credit has changed. The response is to explain it before it is discovered, evidence precisely what it does and does not mean, and keep the process moving while it resolves.→OctFinancing a cross-border lending group entity by entityA holding company and its operating subsidiaries are not one borrower. Each entity answers to a different regulatory perimeter, lender universe and pricing logic, which means a cross-border lending group has to be placed as several transactions rather than one.→SepWhy the second tranche is priced by the first tranche's reportingEvery clean monthly borrowing-base certificate is diligence for the next raise, completed in advance. A borrower with twelve months of on-time covenant compliance enters an upsize conversation with an evidenced track record; one without starts from scratch at a worse price.→SepWhat a credit committee looks for in a loan tapeA credit committee reads the loan tape before it reads anything else. It tests cohort and vintage performance, loss curve shape, roll rates between delinquency buckets, and whether underwriting policy documentation matches what the tape shows actually happened.→AugHow lenders actually size a warehouse facilityWarehouse facility size is set by the borrowing base, not by the borrower's ask. Lenders apply eligibility criteria to the loan tape, strip out ineligible receivables, apply an advance rate to what remains, and layer concentration limits on top. The result is usually smaller than the originator expects.→AugTwelve things we check before taking a convertible note to lendersA senior secured convertible note can look investable and fail on a dozen specific points that only surface in structured review. These are the twelve checks Zenith runs on any convertible before it goes to a lender — covering conversion mechanics, discount and fees, security, the acquisition case, and the lead investor.→
Last reviewed March 2027
Start with the structure, not the pitch.
Tell us the transaction and the timetable. If it is not something we should run, we will say so.