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Investment

Investment and Due Diligence Process

PIC is an active investor focused on opportunities where we can add practical value through governance, operating experience, and long-term partnership.

PIC is a family office that participates in equity investments to facilitate entrepreneurship and help existing businesses grow. We actively seek out companies to invest in on a majority or minority basis through our extensive networks and contacts. Our intention is to maximize our return by bringing some expertise to the business. If you are looking for a partner to help your business expand and grow, we encourage you to contact us.

When assessing potential opportunities, we have learned over the years that the people behind the business are the most important key to its success. Other investment criteria include: the market opportunity; growth potential; financial viability; risk level; ability for PIC to add value to the company; and the exit strategy.

We encourage you to learn more about angel, venture capital and private equity investing prior to contacting PIC Investment Group to ensure you understand if this type of investing is a fit for your business. If all you are seeking is money, we encourage you to look at other financing sources. PIC Investment Group is an active investor, and we look for opportunities where we can add value through our extensive networks and active investments.

The due diligence process will be lengthy and time consuming. In order for us to be successful, it is critical that we understand everything about the owners and management team, the uniqueness of the products or services, and your business processes and systems. In some cases, your opportunity may be too early for us and we will maintain contact until we see more milestones achieved. Keep in mind the process can take several months so we encourage you to start well before you actually require the money.

There are times when our portfolio investment companies need to raise additional funds before an exit. Good communication with us is important as we have access to experienced business owners that have successfully negotiated and sold their businesses. Remember, our success depends on you and we are here to help.

Business Proposal Summary

Process

PIC Investment Steps

  1. Step 1

    Please review the business proposal summary template on our website. After reviewing the template, we encourage you to phone the PIC office prior to filling in the template. In some cases, we can quickly determine whether your business venture is a fit with PIC.

    Please note, our investment lanes we want to stick within include chemical distribution & manufacturing, niche transportation, real estate, Ag and Health.

  2. Step 2

    If there is interest in proceeding further, we will ask you to submit your business proposal summary template on this website. We will review the submission and let you know if we decide to conduct further due diligence on the opportunity. Please note, at any time in the process, we may find that your business is not a fit for PIC.

  3. Step 3

    This is what we call the due diligence phase. If we feel your business proposal may be of interest to PIC, we will launch into due diligence with your company. We will ask you more detailed questions about your management team, product or service, financial statements, board of directors, markets, operations, competition, strategy, financing required and any other questions we may have. Customers, suppliers and other industry people will be contacted, in addition to checking into the background of the company, directors and management team.

  4. Step 4

    As the due diligence progresses, and if it appears to be a fit for PIC, we will start negotiating the terms of the deal. Normally a standard term sheet is negotiated and we work from there.

    It will be important that you are aware of the terms of the negotiation and have your own legal advisor helping you.

    At any time during this process, PIC may decide this is not a fit for our company.

  5. Step 5

    The term sheet is negotiated and the decision has been made to invest in your company. Closing documents are prepared by the lawyers and a closing binder will be prepared.

  6. Step 6

    Usually the terms of investment will provide PIC with a board seat. We expect that governance reports will be submitted a minimum of three times per year. It will be helpful to stay in contact with PIC on at least a monthly basis.

    We help our portfolio investment companies with advice, networks and connections. PIC has a significant amount of internal resources available to help our companies grow.

Tips

  • Start the investment process well before you need the money. We often will wait to see if certain milestones are reached prior to engaging in a serious discussion.
  • We encourage you to seek other sources of financing while talking to us. Do not rely on one investor, make sure to have a back-up plan. We review over hundreds of potential business opportunities each year and will often invest in only 3 or 4 per year.
  • Skin in the game is important to us. One of the best ways you can show us you believe in your business opportunity and will work hard to ensure its success is by investing your own money into your business.
  • Be realistic when determining the valuation of your company and the amount of equity you are prepared to give up. Keep in mind, there is a significant amount of risk for us in investing, and we may require more ownership than you are willing to give up.
  • Make sure to emphasize the exit strategy. On average we exit from the investment in 6-7 years. Keep that in mind while you are writing up your business proposal and make sure your plan for our exit is clear.
  • When filling out your business proposal, note that we want to see Boards of Directors in place with all of our portfolio investment companies. In most cases, we will also require a seat (voting or as an observer) on your board of directors.
  • For portfolio investment companies, PIC has investments ranging from $200,000 to over $8 million. The size of investment depends on many different factors. If you are a start-up, it is not likely that PIC will be investing in the upper half of that range. Sometimes we may suggest that other investors look at your business opportunity if it is more than we are prepared to invest in.