Investment Questions
The right diligence question is the one that can change the decision.
Diligence should not maximize the amount of analysis. It should reduce uncertainty around the assumptions that determine value. SVI scopes the work around the investment decision, the asset or business, and the evidence required to support or challenge the thesis.
Does the evidence support the asset's value?
An attractive scientific narrative is not the same as a supported investment thesis. SVI considers whether the available evidence is strong enough to support the value being assigned to the asset.
Why it matters
The strength of the story and the strength of the evidence are not always the same.
Is the commercial opportunity actually underwritable?
Large theoretical markets are easy to describe. Investable markets are constrained by real-world adoption and economics.
Why it matters
A large market does not automatically produce an achievable revenue case.
Will pricing, access, and reimbursement support adoption?
Clinical value does not automatically become commercial value. Payment and provider economics can materially shape adoption.
Why it matters
A product can work clinically and still underperform economically.
Can manufacturing and supply support the forecast?
In operationally complex categories, the ability to make, distribute, and reliably deliver the product can be as important as clinical performance.
Why it matters
Commercial potential has little value if the operating system cannot reliably deliver it.
Can this organization actually deliver the investment case?
Two companies can hold the same asset and still create very different outcomes. Leadership, resources, and operating capability matter alongside the underlying evidence.
Why it matters
The same asset can carry different risk and value in different hands.
What could break the thesis?
Every attractive investment case has failure modes. The important issue is whether a risk is material enough to change the decision.
Why it matters
A thesis is only as strong as its ability to withstand the risks that matter.
Which assumptions are carrying the valuation?
A compelling base case can depend on surprisingly few assumptions.
Why it matters
Valuation can look robust until one or two assumptions change.
Where does value come from after the investment?
Closing a transaction does not create the value assumed in the investment case. Value still has to be earned through the decisions and execution that follow.
Why it matters
Post-investment value depends on turning the thesis into results.
The deliverable follows the decision.
The appropriate output may be concise or extensive. What matters is that the work resolves the decision, makes uncertainty visible, and gives the investment team a defensible basis for action.