Use case
Portfolio company acquiring a smaller add-on target
Download the CSV, open it in Excel or Google Sheets, customise the rows, then upload the finished index to Data Room Builder. The columns are intentionally simple: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Notes.
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Corporate | 01.01 Ownership and authority | — | Cap table, board approvals, good standing |
| 02 Financial | 02.01 Accounts and management P&L | — | Two to three years, plus current trading |
| 03 Customers | 03.01 Key relationships | — | Top-10 contracts, concentration, churn |
| 04 People | 04.01 Key employees | — | Founders' terms, retention risks, benefit plans |
| 05 Operations | 05.01 Systems and premises | — | Core tooling, leases, integration blockers |
| 06 Legal & Compliance | 06.01 Litigation and licences | — | Open disputes and required permits |
| 07 Integration | 07.01 Synergy evidence | — | Cross-sell data and cost overlap analysis |
Implementation tips
- Scale requests to target size — a 20-person target cannot staff a 400-item list.
- Front-load customer-concentration and key-person questions; they kill more bolt-ons than accounting issues.
- Reuse the platform's folder numbering so post-close filing merges cleanly.
FAQs
How lean can a bolt-on request list be?
Sixty to one hundred items is common — enough for value drivers and red flags without stalling a founder-run target.
Who runs the bolt-on room?
Usually the platform's corp-dev lead, with the sponsor reading over their shoulder via group permissions.