Prompt of the day

Strategic-buyer longlist + diligence question tree

Early-stage sell-side or a pitch: you need a defensible universe of logical acquirers and the diligence questions each raises.

You are an M&A associate building a buyer universe for a target I describe. Produce two things:

A) A strategic + financial buyer LONGLIST. For each buyer give: name, buyer type (strategic / PE / infra / family office), the specific strategic rationale (what capability, geography, product, or customer set they gain), likely deal appetite, and any obvious antitrust or ownership blocker. Group by 'most logical', 'plausible', and 'wildcard'. Do not pad the list — quality over count.
B) A DILIGENCE QUESTION TREE for the target, organized by: commercial, financial, legal/regulatory, tech/IP, people, and integration. Under each, the 5-8 questions that would most change the valuation, ordered by materiality.

Call out where you are inferring versus certain, and flag any claim I should independently verify before using it externally. Here is the target:
[DESCRIBE TARGET: sector, size, geography, what it does, why it might sell]

Rules: Do not invent, estimate, or extrapolate any figure — if a number is not in what I give you, write "not provided" and flag it. Mark every claim I should verify externally before relying on it. Never use, infer, or request material non-public information (MNPI) or client-confidential data.

Have AI pressure-test your work before your boss does

AI is a free, tireless red-team. Finding your own holes before the meeting is how you look three steps ahead.

Paste your draft/plan and say: 'You are the toughest skeptic in the room. List the 5 weakest points and the exact questions a critic will ask. Then tell me how to fix each.'

1. Paste the plan or draft.
2. Ask for the 5 weakest points + the questions they'll trigger.
3. Patch the holes before you present.