After spending some quality time with managers and investors recently, I've come to realize that, while they have a lot of respect for one another, they also have a lot of frustration with one another's due diligence processes. Here's their thoughts about each other's due diligence in a (somewhat sarcastic) nutshell.
Tongue in cheek? Perhaps. But I think there's more than a little truth in those cartoons.
Maybe we should try to agree to exercise a little more peace, love and understanding about what drives the due diligence process from both sides of the fence. For managers, efficiently (if not perfectly) responding to every investor and due diligence request is paramount, since asset flows for most managers are tight. For investors, who are also resource constrained, eliminating managers quickly that won't 'make the cut' is key, while fiduciary responsibility and headline risk contributes to a high stakes process. I think both sides agree the process is far from perfect, but perhaps there are ways to tweak the process, rather than see the other side as an adversary.
