Investment criteria answer a specific question: among many opportunities, which companies merit the time of research and investment teams. They comprise fifteen dimensions grouped into four categories, spanning the nature of a business, its financial and operational condition, its people and governance, and its long-term strategic position. These are not independent scores to be summed, but evidence that reinforces or contradicts itself when applied to an actual company.
Business & Market
Business Quality
We weigh revenue predictability, profit durability and cash conversion over a single year's growth figure — a legible revenue structure, no undue reliance on a few customers, profits that do not depend on one-off factors.
Market Structure
We assess industry concentration, entry barriers and demand cyclicality, distinguishing a market that can sustain reasonable returns from one where price pressure or overcapacity erodes margins.
Competitive Positioning
We examine the source of advantage relative to principal competitors — cost, customer relationships, technical accumulation or distribution — and whether it compounds over time rather than fades.
Industry Dynamics
We form a view on the industry's stage, regulatory direction and technological trajectory, identifying structural shifts that could reshape competition rather than short-term swings.
Technology Relevance
We assess technology's actual role in the business model — a genuine advantage, or table stakes — and whether the company's investment there matches its strategic position.
Financial & Operational
Financial Resilience
We look at balance-sheet structure, debt-servicing capacity and cash reserves under revenue stress — whether a company can keep operating through a downturn or customer loss without a forced financing or sharp contraction.
Scalability
We assess whether a model can be replicated as volume grows without materially diluting margin — product standardization, marginal delivery cost and management span are the concrete points we look at.
Capital Requirements
We assess how capital-intensive future growth will be — fixed assets, working capital and research spending — and whether that need matches the scale and pace of capital we can commit.
Operational Strength
We examine execution in production, supply chain, quality control or service delivery — details that often reveal real competitiveness more clearly than strategic narrative.
Risk Profile
We identify vulnerabilities in customer concentration, supply-chain dependence, regulatory exposure and key-person reliance, feeding into the decision and later deal structuring (see Risk Management).
People & Governance
Management Quality
We assess founders' or managers' industry experience, execution record and integrity, and whether they can build organizational capability as the company scales rather than relying on individual ability alone.
Governance
We examine decision-making mechanisms, disclosure habits and how related-party transactions are handled, forming a view on whether governance can support transparent, accountable decisions once an outside shareholder is involved.
Strategic & Long-Term
Strategic Importance
We form a view on where a company sits within its supply chain or ecosystem, and whether it can grow more central as the industry consolidates or technology shifts, rather than merely holding its current share.
Long-Term Growth Potential
We assess the concrete drivers behind growth over the next five to ten years — new product lines, customer segments or geographies — distinguishing a sustainable path from growth that depends on a one-off tailwind.
Ability to Build Sustainable Competitive Advantages
The hardest dimension to judge: whether a company can keep investing in research, brand, distribution or customer relationships, deepening its moat over time rather than being caught up by later entrants.
Price: 1; Strategic & Long-Term: 2; People & Governance: 3; Financial & Operational: 4; Business & Market: 5
Illustrative framework
How the criteria work together
In practice these fifteen dimensions rarely all look strong at once. A company with excellent business quality may face real constraints on scalability; a management team with strong execution may need governance transparency to improve gradually after investment. The task is not to find a company that scores well on every dimension — such companies are rare and often do not need outside capital — but to judge which dimensions are decisive for long-term success, and which can be improved through partnership. Certain weaknesses carry a disqualifying weight that no strength elsewhere can offset: doubts about management integrity, an irreversible industry decline, or a material legal risk that cannot be isolated through deal structure all fall into this category — however strong the financials, a weakness of this kind is enough to end an investment.
When the criteria together support an investment, price remains the last test. Even an excellent company is not a good investment if the price already discounts many years of future growth; a good-but-imperfect company at a reasonable price is often more attractive than a near-perfect one priced beyond what its prospects justify. Price is therefore not one criterion among many, but the final check on whether, once everything else holds, the capital is genuinely worth committing.