RFC Knowledge-base, tools, templates, and guides

Past RFC Newsletters exclusive to Red Forest Capital funds

LAUNCH

• 2022 Search Fund Study from Stanford

• Launch Folder which includes a variety of materials for your fund’s launch

• Quick Start Guide and Launching A Search Fund presentation

• Internship Program including job descriptions and other assets

• Preferred Vendors and professionals to help with K1s and other admin

• Technology Guide to support marketing, research, automation, etc.

• ​​Navigate Cofounder Relationships​​ from the Techsters, Chief Investment Officer

• What Should I Do if My Co-founder is a Complete Jerk?​

• Questions to ask to resolve conflict at work

FUND OPERATIONS & INVESTOR COMMUNICATIONS

• Red Forest Capital Executive Summary to complement the website

• Banks, Lenders and Other Debt contacts, requirements and priorities

• Preferred Vendors and professionals to help your fund

• Priority Investment Bank and Brokers and contact information

• Roles & Responsibilities Framework to organize your team

• Post Mortem Template to identify areas for improvement

• Deal Memo example and FAQs template

• Deal Summaries and examples of vignettes to quickly solicit feedback

• Investor Pitch to help prepare to present the CIM

• Investor Update and an example of recurring search fund updates

MARKETING

• Branding & Websites tips to help differentiate your fund

• Sourcing, Outreach & Marketing best practices

• One Page Executive Summary and Fund Overview templates

• Priority Investment Bank and Brokers and contact information

• River Guide program materials, agreements and compensation

• Segmentation Guide and methods to segment seller personas 

• Website Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices

RESEARCH

• Research Resources and priority sources of industry and company data

• Company Data from a selection of industries, geographies and sizes

• Channel Checks a guide to engage industry stakeholders and assess targets

• Industry Prioritization measure ‘fit’ with your investment criteria

• Industry Prioritization & Sprints to guide your research program

• How to Execute a Sales Sprint from Sales Engine

• Industry Reports from IBIS and others. For current reports, subscribe to Searchfunder

• Internet Search Tips and tricks to find company data and comparables

SOURCING, OUTREACH, ORIGINATION & PROSPECTING

• Sourcing, Outreach & Marketing best practices

• The Seller’s Perspective and the topics important to sellers

• Elements of Storytelling to refine your ‘elevator pitch’ 

• Building Trust Quickly in New Relationships from Sales Engine

• Email Marketing and Finding Emails best practices

• Prepare for a Management Meeting and Questions to Ask Sellers 

• Seller Objection Guide to prepare for the inevitable objections

SCREENING

• Company Screening Guide and Technology Company Screening Guide

• Scorecard to quickly compare a deal to your investment criteria

• Guide to Corporate Entities & Structures

• Business Model Canvas to quickly analyze a company business model

• Screening LBO Model and a quick estimate of potential returns

DILIGENCE

• Diligence Guide overview, tips, suggested measures, etc.

• Diligence Workplan & RFC Reference Materials

• Diligence Workbook, an inventory of 1,500+ of questions and requests

• Key Financial & Accounting Matters to consider during diligence

• Guide to Corporate Entities & Structures

• Preferred Vendors and professionals to help with QofEs and Tech Diligence

• Don’t buy a breach or a bad reputation: An approach to due diligence

• Cyber diligence in M&A

• Find Material Misstatements Before They Find You

ANALYSIS

• Account (Logo) and Revenue Churn by Cohort

• Competitive Landscape and Analysis and SWOT Analysis

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) by Phase and SaaS KPIs 

• LTV : CAC Tutorial to complement RFCs LTV CAC and Churn Template

• Organization Chart and Stakeholder Analysis

• Sales Efficacy Survey and Customer Surveys

VALUATION

• Comparable Transactions Databases which are updated regularly

• Proforma and Growth Forecast to support growth plans

• Short Form Valuation Guide and Short Form Valuation Template

• Three Financial Statement Model and a common product of the QofE

FINANCING & CLOSING

• Banks, Lenders and Other Debt contacts, requirements and priorities

• Earnouts in M&A Transactions from Mayer Brown

• Legal Templates including NDA, IOI, LOI and Purchase Agreements

• Signing & Closing Guide and Supplements

LIFE AS A CEO

• What a CEO Should Do

• The Biggest Mistakes CEOs Can Make

• Reinventing Your Leadership Team 

• The Future of Team Leadership Is Multimodal

• Raise Capital Or Exit? How To Decide

• Mistakes To Avoid Now For A Smooth Exit Later

• Forming a succession plan for your business

• Assessing Successors as CEOs

BOARD MANAGEMENT & INVESTOR RELATIONS

• Building a Board of Directors Guide to consider as you approach LOI

• Do You Need a Board?

• Running Board Meetings (for SMBs and early stage companies)

• Female Board Representation In (Re)Insurance Doubles In A Decade

• The most effective way to do investor updates from Math Ventures

• Getting The Most Out Of Investor Meetings

• Memos from Howard Marks

• Jeff Bezos Annual Shareholder Letter

• Berkshire Hathaway Investor Letters

LEADERSHIP

• Why Being Real Matters: The Case for Authentic Leadership

• Reinventing Your Leadership Team 

• The Future of Team Leadership Is Multimodal

• R-E-S-P-E-C-T and ESG: Meet the new lexicon of the workplace

• How to Embrace the Shift in Office Culture

• Principles of the New Zealand All Blacks, who win 80+% of the time

• Managing a Distributed Team Through Natural Disasters

• Will asynchronous replace real-time communication in the workplace?

• Forming a succession plan for your business

• Assessing Successors as CEOs

• The Most Powerful Way to Begin a Meeting from Sales Engine

TEAM BUILDING

• How companies are responding to rising pressure on wages and benefits

• How to Attract Top Tech Talent

• Beyond Benchmarking: A Guide to Structuring Compensation

• Guide to Equity Compensation from Holloway

• Guide to Employee Equity by Balderton Capital

• Guide to Stock Option Grants by Matt Cooper of Skillshare

• Relocating employees cause interstate tax complications

• How to Create a Successful Virtual Internship Program

• Managing a Top Performer Who Alienates Their Colleagues

• How Outreach Is Using Employees & Empowerment To Win on LinkedIn

• NFL Super Bowl Champion Bruce Arians On Merit Based Leadership

• Ways To Develop And Sustain Employee Engagement

GROWTH

• Drive Growth During a Recession

• Retaining Customers in an Economic Downturn

• Grow Your Business With Minimal Investment

• Steps To Create A Successful Service-Based Business

• Getting Acquired Is A Legitimate Strategy For Building Your Business 

EXIT

• Raise Capital Or Exit? How To Decide

• Mistakes To Avoid Now For A Smooth Exit Later

• Drive Growth During a Recession

• Getting Acquired Is A Legitimate Strategy For Building Your Business 

MARKETING

• Marketing Tools for Beginners 

• Market Research for Small Businesses

• B2B Email Marketing & Lead Generation

• Marketing to increase retention and engagement

• Website SEO Checklist and Increase Google Page Rank Guide

• The SEO Moat: Why SEO Can Be A Competitive Advantage

• Content Marketing Stats That Every Marketer Should Know

• Calculating ROI of A/B Testing

• Email Marketing and Segmentation Guides

• Email Marketing for Small Businesses in 6 Steps

• What Is An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) And How Do You Create One? 

• Ways to Leverage Data for Marketing and Customer Relationships

• Customer Account Scoring Template

• Step by Step Guide to Outbound Sales Call Mapping

SALES

• Sales Efficacy Survey and Sales Programs For Small Business

• How to Build a Successful Sales Pipeline

• Techniques for Successful Prospecting

• Step by Step Guide to Outbound Sales Call Mapping

• Virtual Selling Techniques and Navigating the World of Virtual Sales

• How to Add Context During Sales Calls from Sales Engine

• Stories You Should Tell at Your Next Sales Meeting from Sales Engine

• The Six Steps of Closing & How to Close A Sales Deal from Sales Engine

• How to Respond to Sales Objections from Sales Engine

• Five Misperceptions of the CRO or CCO

• How the Best Sales Reps Manage Their Time

• Deliberately Underselling as Sales Strategy

• LinkedIn Prospecting Guidelines

• Sales Engagement Applications Guide from Gartner

• Digital Marketing Tips for Future Privacy Policies

PRODUCT & PRICING

• Product Positioning – How To Enter The Markets

• Does the Market Efficiently Price the Value of Brands?

• To retain users, pare down features

OPERATIONS

• Guide to Corporate Entities & Structures

• Hidden Challenges of Enterprise Cloud Agreements from DLA Piper

• Vendor relationships drive customer success with everything-as-a-service

• A Playbook for Negotiators in the Social Media Era

FINANCE & KPIS

• Time to Hire a CFO?

• The Strategic Role of the CFO in M&A

• GAAP v non-GAAP for Investors

• 2021 Customer Acquisition Benchmarks from Revenue.io

• A New Way to Look at Financial Reporting

• Ways to Maximize Business Deductions

• What KPIs are producing the highest SaaS valuations

• Preferred Vendors and professionals to help with fractional CFOs

• PCAOB updates requirements on auditing, accounting & specialists

TAXES

• Checklist for Bookkeepers

• Withheld Tax: What Business Owners Should Know

• Termination of the CARESAct Employee Retention Credit

• Tax Benefits Available to Disabled Taxpayers

• SaaS R&D Tax Credits and the IRS’s Internal Revenue Code 41

• Tax Implications for Employers with Remote Workers

GENERAL TECHNOLOGY

• Technologies For Smaller Businesses

• Technology Glossary, Information Technology (IT) terms and definitions

• The Dirty Little Secret Developers Won't Tell You: Most Tech Is a Waste

• When Should A Company Develop Its Own Software?

• A CTO’s guide to a modern tech stack

• No-Code Platforms Can Bring AI to Small and Midsize Businesses

• APIs Aren’t Just for Tech Companies

• Use AI to Grow Your Business

• The First Rule of Machine Learning: Start Without Machine Learning

• How to Use Massive AI Models (Like GPT-3) in Your Company

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

• Digitalization of the Service Workforce

• Seven lessons on how technology transformations can deliver value

• Tactics to Accelerate a Digital Transformation

• Tech-enabled SG&A transformation from McK

• What is Web3? from HBR and another from Reforge