Question 1

Can you explain your role at Palatine?

Accepted Answer

Greta: I'm Strategic Growth Director, focused on value creation. I help management teams with strategic growth planning, bringing in advisors for select initiatives and overseeing those initiatives alongside the teams, all the way to exit.

Question 2

Why is go-to-market important to your approach to value creation?

Accepted Answer

Greta: It sits at the very core of everything. If the go-to-market strategy isn't well set up, achieving business plan is very difficult. Historically, our diligence process was more siloed : CDD, IT DD, Ops DD, all being separate assignments. Go-to-market combines it all and looks at how the business as a whole is positioned to succeed in its market. It's a really wholesome approach.

Question 3

How does GTM diligence compare with the other diligence streams you commission pre-deal?

Accepted Answer

Greta: Part of it is Coppett Hill's approach of going inside out rather than outside in. It's not just what the market and competitors are doing. It's the business itself: its offering, its pricing, its internal mechanisms, how it markets and how it sells. A bit of tech, a bit of people, a bit of market, all in combination, and that's why I find it so valuable.

Question 4

How did you find Coppett Hill?

Accepted Answer

Greta: We were introduced through a mutual contact, and I then went along to one of Coppett Hill's breakfast events to hear more about how the team approaches GTM due diligence. It was the right point in time for me as we were assessing our overall approach to CDD. Some providers had added go-to-market sections, but they still tended to be outside in, assessing the documents someone gave them. When we looked at Coppett Hill economics, they made sense too, compared with CDD costs.

Question 5

What has the feedback been from deal teams and management teams?

Accepted Answer

Greta: Our deal teams were very positive about the data-led approach: combining data from different sources and flat files, and sensitising the business plan on actual performance rather than theory. Management teams appreciated that Coppett Hill connected directly to their systems rather than asking them to send more and more information, so they could stay focused on running the business during the deal. They were positive about the work too, especially established teams who wanted to understand how their business could actually scale, based on real data.

Question 6

Is there anything you would highlight as a strength for Coppett Hill?

Accepted Answer

Greta: The ability to connect the systems, look inside out, and stitch information together. As a lower mid-market fund, some of our smaller businesses will have more limited data when we enter a deal, so that was incredibly helpful. It also protects management teams: if we go ahead with a deal, we live with the consequences of them being too busy with the process. Coppett Hill also works well with other DD providers. . You made it easy for us to make it work.

Question 7

What could we have done differently?

Accepted Answer

Greta: It's less about what you could do differently and more about where the sweet spot is. For buyouts, it's a no-brainer. For smaller businesses that will change significantly post investment, historic data matters less, and diligence becomes more about the people and the value creation potential. For any deal, an explicit conversation upfront about the investment thesis and what needs to be true helps set the right scope.

Question 8

How would you characterise your overall experience of working with Coppett Hill?

Accepted Answer

Greta: Overall, it's been a very positive experience. We've now done a couple of DDs together and I'd be interested to see how post-deal support could work, particularly on digital marketing. We're excited to continue.

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