KPI Dashboards

Walking a Sponsor Through the Maturity Wall Before the Q3 Investor Letter

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 22:09:24 GMT

The first call on a refinance rarely goes the way a sponsor expects. The lender doesn't ask how the portfolio did. They ask for one building's trailing twelve months, its rent roll, and the extension test in the loan agreement, and then they ask what the fund plans to pay its investors while all three of its loans come due. That last question is the one most sponsors haven't answered yet.

Walking an HVAC and Plumbing Owner Through What a Platform Buyer Pays For

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 22:09:22 GMT

The founder of an HVAC and plumbing shop called me on a Monday morning after a record summer. Two private-equity-backed platforms had left messages the same week, and the question was simple: what's my business worth, and what should I fix before I call them back?

Walking a Founder Through PEPM Contract Margin Before the Next Raise

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 22:09:20 GMT

The first diligence request a growth investor sends a care company that sells to employers on a per-employee price is rarely about revenue. It's a one-line ask for visits per member per month by contract, against the utilization each price assumed. Most founders I meet have never seen that table, because it doesn't live in the P&L. It lives in the eligibility files, the scheduling system and payroll, and somebody has to join them.

Walking an App Founder Through Subscriber Economics Before the Next Raise

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 22:09:18 GMT

Most subscription founders start Monday with the same screen: paying members, MRR and growth, straight from the billing tool. It's a good screen. It just can't tell you that the campaign you scaled in September is buying members for more than they'll ever pay you, or that the app stores now cost you more than your song licensing and hosting combined.

Walking an AI Founder Through the Switch From Usage to Subscription Pricing

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 22:09:16 GMT

When an AI company changes how it charges, the first diligence request from a growth investor is usually one line long: show us what the same customers would have paid on the old prices. It sounds simple. Most founders I meet can't answer it without a week in spreadsheets, and the ones who can usually stop at the total.

Walking a Contractor Through the WIP Schedule Before the Surety Review

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 20:57:59 GMT

Surety season starts with a short email: please send the September WIP schedule before we renew the program. For a contractor about to bid the biggest job in its history, that one schedule decides whether the bond is there. And the question the owner should be asking isn't "how big is my backlog?" It's "which of my estimates is wrong, and what does fixing it do to my bonding line?"

Walking a CPG Founder Through a Wholesale Cash Squeeze

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 20:57:57 GMT

When a growing beverage brand asks a bank for a line of credit, the first question usually isn't about sales. It's this: if sales are up 39%, why do you need the money? Most founders can feel the answer and can't prove it. An AI summary of the P&L won't prove it either, because the P&L says the year went well. The answer sits in distributor remittances, the deduction backup, the aging and the co-packer's run schedule.

Walking an Owner Through the Numbers 18 Months Before the Sale

Mark Wald — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 20:57:55 GMT

The first thing a buyer sends after a signed LOI is a document request list, and it's long. Three items on it decide most of the price: support for every add-back, revenue by customer with the name of whoever manages each account, and a payroll register. Most owners see that list for the first time in week one of diligence, when it's too late to change the answers.

Walking a CEO Through a SaaS Revenue Quality Dashboard Before the Board Meeting

Mark Wald — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:39:54 GMT

A CEO I've known for years pasted their company's P&L into ChatGPT before a board meeting last spring and sent me what came back. It was well written and correct about everything it said. Revenue up, margin flat, cash a little behind revenue in the last quarter, consider monitoring working capital. They read it, nodded, and asked me the question it couldn't answer: why is cash behind, and what do I do about it before the board asks?

Walking a Holdco CEO Through the First Year: Consolidation, Covenants and the Next Deal

Mark Wald — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:35:16 GMT

Twelve months after a platform deal closes, the lender's first question on the quarterly call is always some version of this: are you deleveraging the way the model said you would? It's an easy question to answer badly. The consolidated numbers say yes, and then the second question comes: which firm is behind, and why?