How to Read a Deal in 10 Minutes
The five numbers that tell you whether to keep reading — or walk.
Most operators drown in a deal package before they know if it's worth their time. After two decades and $200M+ in closed transactions, I read a deal in roughly ten minutes — because I only look for five things first.
One: the basis. What is the all-in cost versus what comparable assets actually trade for? If the spread isn't there at purchase, no amount of operational genius creates it later.
Two: the exit. Who buys this from you, at what price, and when? A deal without a clear, funded exit is a hope, not a plan.
Three: the gap. How much capital is missing, and is it debt, equity, or both? This tells you whether the deal is fundable as structured.
Four: the downside. If everything that can go wrong does, what do you lose? If you can't survive the downside, the upside is irrelevant.
Five: the operator. Who is actually doing the work, and have they done it before? Most deals don't fail on the spreadsheet — they fail on execution.
If those five line up, I keep reading. If they don't, I pass — fast. The discipline isn't analyzing more deals. It's killing the wrong ones quickly so you can fund the right ones.