People can’t cope
Certainty is an imperative for human decision making, without it we cannot process what we are told. This leaves traditional investors caught like rabbits in the headlights; out of their depth with limited knowledge of comparable reference companies, or those they know well. Growth projections coming out of this crisis makes it difficult to convince investor’s of projections and its unclear how long snap back to certainty will take. With further strength in the stock market, trade sales for VCs and private equity firms have dried up, and replaced by owner realisation of a much smaller % of valuation on sale, (to mitigate revenue / crystal ball risks), with a high risk owner earn out period of up to 5 years to realise the rest.
