Can each claim point to evidence?
This is a hypothetical review checklist. Every central claim should lead to management interviews, customer material, financial records, adviser work, or a model. A conclusion without a traceable source returns to the open-question log.
Does the model pass through operating facts?
Revenue forecasts should connect to customer count, price, usage, and renewal behavior. Cost assumptions should connect to people, supplier contracts, or operating actions. A smooth line cannot compensate for an unsupported driver.
Does a risk change the transaction?
A risk section should do more than catalogue concerns. If customer concentration, a technology migration, or a regulatory requirement can affect value, the memo should connect it to valuation, structure, closing conditions, or a post-investment plan.
- Source of the risk evidence.
- Cash flow or operating action affected.
- Protection available in documents or the operating plan.
- Exposure that remains with the investor.
Remove ornamental language and read it again
My final pass removes adjectives that carry no evidence. The exercise is deliberately plain, and that is why it works: a paragraph that collapses without its adjectives was probably restating conviction rather than demonstrating it.