This post is about one of my 45-second pitches at my BNI Chapter, BNI City Business. You can read the introduction to this collection here.

2 December, 2022. This was a last-minute slide change to highlight the need for research when buying a business. It is surprising how many people don’t bother with it, or only do very limited research.

The due diligence is only going to give you an understanding of the firm, not the wider industry in which it operates. Who are the competitors? What are the typical profits in the industry? What changes are coming, and what impacts will those changes have on the business? While typically not referring to them by name, I encourage the use of industry analysis (Porter’s 5 Forces), a SWOT Analysis, Industry Life Cycle, strategic positioning (Porter’s Generic Strategies; Treacy & Wiersema’s Value Disciplines), amongst others.

While the meme isn’t a perfect match to the topic, I found it charming enough to use.