BNR Podcast: The deal of a lifetime

Episode 01. Pieter Schoen l Shoe Investments, Dutch Dragons

Private equity isn’t just about finding the right deals, but about quickly ruling out the wrong ones. In an environment where multiple deals are running in parallel, this directly determines your costs, speed and focus. 

Yet the problem often arises right at the start of a process. Information comes in piecemeal, documentation is inconsistent, and teams spend time structuring rather than analysing. The result: key insights come too late. By the time it becomes clear that a deal isn’t right, most of the costs have already been incurred. 

Broken deal costs are therefore rarely a coincidence. They arise because the moment of realisation comes too late in the process. 

The solution lies in bringing that moment forward. Not through more analysis, but through better preparation. If information is available in a structured format from the outset, you can assess more quickly whether a deal should proceed or not. 

This is where Virtual Vaults comes in. 

With Workspaces, you structure information before a deal begins. You set up your Information Request Lists in advance, gather documentation in one central location and collaborate using a consistent structure across all your projects. This allows you to see sooner what is complete, where there are gaps and where risks lie. 

When a deal becomes concrete, you can immediately apply that same structure to a data room. You don’t have to start from scratch. During due diligence, all communication and Q&A remain centralised, allowing insights to emerge more quickly