PE Interview Question: If you could ask a company CEO any 5 questions what would they be?

Authored by: Certified Investment Banking Professional - 1st Year AnalystCertified Investment Banking Pro

dimesondimes

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Associate 2 in PE - Other

Anonymous

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This is what I would ask. I think the questions are self-explanatory but let me know

What is your business model - what do you sell produce offer and why is there a need for it 2.What are your unit economics and those of your industry 3.How do you differentiate yourself from your competition / what is your moat 4.Where do you see the business five and 10 years from now
What lessons have you learnt from things that may not have worked out as planned

monkey_brah

Funniest

Associate 2 in PE - Other:
This is what I would ask. I think the questions are self-explanatory but let me know
What is your business model - what do you sell produce offer and why is there a need for it 2.What are your unit economics and those of your industry 3.How do you differentiate yourself from your competition / what is your moat 4.Where do you see the business five and 10 years from now

What lessons have you learnt from things that may not have worked out as planned

Just like any good PE guy, asking 11 questions and claiming they are 2

Authored by: Certified Private Equity Professional - 3rd+ Year AssociateCertified Private Equity Pro

Associate 2 in PE - Other

Anonymous

Lol. These are really in essence, five questions. The first 4 are, I think, pretty self explanatory. I like to ask the last one because it indicates to me how introspective and honest management teams are and if they are willing to learn from mistakes.

Someone suggested valuation here — that’s your job to figure out based on the information you get!

Someone also suggested Management expertise — no one will ever say “oh we’re just shooting the shit here” but if you ask them about unit economics and how they differentiate themselves, based upon their answers, you can know if they really know what they’re doing

Hope this helps the OP

laka

Also curious, following

Array

John Stuart Mill

1.) What is your medium and long term goal for the company? 2.) What do you need that you don’t have that would help you get there? / what is your biggest problem right now? 3.) What do you think the company is worth to a strategic buyer? / How would you think about the value of your company? 4.) Why are you in X business? 5.) Why do you think you and your team are qualified to succeed in X business?

Authored by: Certified Investment Banking Professional - 1st Year AnalystCertified Investment Banking Pro

6xLeverage

(1) How (2) Now (3) Brown (4) Cow (5) ?

"My name's Ralph Cox, and I'm from where ever's not gonna get me hit"

JS Turnaround

One of the best questions I ever heard; go to the white board and diagram how the company generates cash. He says (I have not tried it) there is a lot of stumbling about and way too much time trying to answer this simple question.

Authored by: Certified Private Equity Professional - PartnerCertified Private Equity Pro

NoEquityResearch

This is a bit cynical, and I would never ask this in person but if I could really ask any five questions....

1. How many vacation homes do you own?

2. How many hours do you actually work per week?

3. How are decisions made at your company?

4. Who comes up with the ideas in your company and how do they reach management?

5. If this business fails, will you still be rich?

https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/resources/skills/finance/what-is-finance-definition

finthusiast1313

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