How to Prepare For GP-LP Private Equity Due Diligence Meetings

What is a private equity due diligence meeting? How do you prepare for an LP DD meeting?  How do you deal with challenging LP questions? What can you expect from an LP when they are asking you questions?

Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball

Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London.  Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page. 

TL;DR How to Succeed in an Private Equity Due Diligence Meeting

Private equity due diligence meetings are critical for LPs (Limited Partners) to assess GPs (General Partners) before committing to an investment. LPs use these meetings to validate the GP’s track record, strategy, and team. To succeed:

1. Prepare Thoroughly:
   • Research the LP’s priorities, past investments, and tailor your message to align with their interests.
   • Master your fund’s performance data (IRR, MOIC, DPI, etc.)
   • Anticipate tough questions, prepare case studies, and address weaknesses honestly.
2. Align Your Team:
   • Ensure consistent messaging across all team members.
   • Assign specific topics (e.g., performance, ESG) to the most knowledgeable person.
3. Handle LP Questions Effectively:
   • Educate, don’t defend. Talk about the LP’s interests and reinforce key investment messages.
   • Be clear, direct, and use data to back up your answers.
   • Acknowledge weaknesses but highlight solutions and lessons learned.
4. Demonstrate Team Strength:
   • Show GP commitment (skin in the game), explain succession planning, and highlight decision-making processes.
   • Look and behave like a team
5. Stand Out:
   • Be confident but not arrogant, demonstrate consistency, and show long-term thinking.
   • Remind LPs what makes your team & strategy unique.

And…. Rehearse thoroughly, use storytelling, and enjoy the process. Professional coaching can help prepare for challenging LP questions and ensure a successful DD meeting.

For expert support, contact Benjamin Ball Associates, who have 15+ years of experience preparing PE teams for private equity due diligence meetings.

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What is the Purpose of an LP Due Diligence  Meeting?

If you work in private equity, LPs (Limited Partners) want to meet GPs (General Partners) in a private equity due diligence meeting to stress test their understanding and validate what they have heard in investor pitch meetings and read in the DD pack.

When an LP comes in for a DD meeting, you should assume they are interested in investing.  They now want to check and double check their understanding and meet everyone in the team to convince themselves that this is the right team to back for the next 5 or 10 years.  

While with some LPs this might feel like a box-ticking exercise, for most it is critical because it gives them the opportunity to learn what really happens behind the pitch deck.

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How Important is the Due Diligence Process?

GP-LP private equity due diligence meetings are critical in fundraising. LPs are looking for strong returns, a disciplined investment approach, and alignment of interests. To build trust and secure commitments, you, as a GP, need to anticipate tough questions, provide clear answers, and demonstrate a well-structured investment approach.

At Benjamin Ball Associates, we have been preparing private equity teams for DD meetings for over 15 years.  Though extensive role play of easy and tough investor questions, we help you prepare for all types of investor.  In this guide we summarise some top tips for private equity due diligence meetings. 

Some of our Private Equity Partners

What to Do Before the Meeting

1. Know Your LP Audience

• Understand their priorities – A family office will be different from a sovereign wealth fund.  A middle eastern HNW will be different from a corporate pension fund.  This is true both for their approach to due diligence and what they are interested in.  Some LPs are looking for global exposure while others may want regional mid-cap exposure.
• Research their past investments – Know their track record with PE, fund size preferences, and historical allocations.  See if they have other investments like yours.  They will be making judgements based on  their past experience.
• Tailor your message – Highlight aspects of your strategy that align with their investment philosophy, their track record and their history.

2.Master Your Fund Data & Track Record

• Be precise on performance – LPs expect clear performance figures such as IRR, MOIC, DPI, and TVPI figures, broken down by vintage.
• Have net return data ready – Gross returns are not enough; LPs want to know actual distributions and net performance.
• Stress-test your numbers – Be ready to discuss how your fund performs under different economic scenarios.

3.Prepare for Difficult Questions

• Build a databank of tough questions – Learn what investors are unsure about and what they need to know.
• Identify potential weak points – If your DPI is low, if exits have been slower than expected, or if key team members have left, prepare honest but reassuring responses.
• Have case studies – Use storytelling and have case studies ready to explain underperforming deals, lessons learned, and how you’ve adapted your strategy.
• Know your pipeline – LPs want to see a clear path to deploying capital in attractive opportunities.

4. Align Your GP Team’s Messaging

• Ensure consistency – Every GP attending should be aligned on key figures, fund strategy, and talking points.
• Decide who answers what – Allocate specific topics (performance, operations, pipeline, ESG) to the most knowledgeable person in the room.
• Anticipate LP concerns – If a previous LP raised an issue, assume it will come up again and have a refined answer ready.

How to Handle LP Questions in the Meeting

1.      Be There to Educate, Not to Defend

• Assume the LP wants to learn – Help them understand what you did, what you are doing and what you plan to do.  Paint a picture of a well-run business and be clear about where you are going.
• Talk about their interests, not your own – Make sure everything you say in the private equity due diligence meeting is about protecting investor’s money, investing wisely, growing value and realising exits.
• Give them something memorable – It could be a story, an insight, an interesting fact.  Aim to give them a STAR moment (Something They’ll Always Remember).
• Keep reinforcing the main investment messages – Whatever they have heard in the investor pitch should be repeated over and over again with more examples, facts and illustration.  There is no point in introducing lots of new ideas.  This will be confusing.  Instead, work on reinforcing what they have heard previously.

2.      Be Clear and Direct

• Give precise answers – The tighter your answers, the more realistic they sound.  Vague statements, avoided questions and lengthy explanations will ring alarm bells.
• Use data to back up your messages – Most LPs love data.  So, when you make a statement, back it up with a proof point.  Message + Proof is a powerful formula for answering DD questions.
• Keep explanations simple – This is particularly important for things which are hard to explain.  The longer your answer, the bigger the problem sounds.

3.      Acknowledge Weaknesses, but Show Solutions

• Never deflect tough questions – If an investment underperformed or lost money, acknowledge it, explain what happened, what you learned and what you are doing differently now.
• Turn challenges into strengths – For example: “Yes, this portfolio company struggled, but we intervened early, changed leadership, and recovered X% of value.”
• Have risk mitigation strategies ready – LPs want to know you have contingency plans, e.g. for downturns, inflation, or regulatory changes.

4.      Demonstrate Team Strength and Alignment

• Show deep GP commitment – LPs want to see a significant GP investment in the fund (skin in the game).  Be prepared to share what proportion of your net wealth is invested in the fund.
• Explain succession planning – If a key partner left, explain how responsibilities have been reassigned and how stability is maintained. Be clear what would happen if a key person fell under a bus.
• Highlight decision-making processes – Explain how the investment committee works and how conflicts are managed. Prepare examples of when there have been disagreements.

Be Ready for Challenging LP Questions

All good investors will want to get under the surface and see if the whole team say the same things as the fundraising team.  That means you might get some more aggressive or tough questions in the private equity due diligence meeting.

• Be ready to be challenged – LP’s like to test how you react when someone tests your fundamental beliefs.
• Be ready to asked about conflict – How are they handled? What happened? How was it resolved?
• Be ready to be asked about your colleagues – What’s that partner really like to work with?  I’ve heard he’s difficult.
• Be ready to be asked about your opinions – Do you really personally agree with this strategy?

How to Prepare for Private Equity DD Meetings

The better you prepare, the more likely your due diligence meetings will go well.  That’s why our clients always insist on extensive team coaching before meeting investors.  They want their team to experience the toughest investors in a safe coaching environment before meeting face-to-face. 

These are some of the tips we share with our clients:

Prepare case studies – LPs will expect to be taken through case studies (prepare both good & bad) and to hear about the decisions have made.  Don’t just pick your best stories.  Show some investments where you have had problems.

Acknowledge your weaknesses – No fund is perfect.  No business is faultless.  You need to articulate challenges you’ve faced, what you learned and what you are doing differently.

Prepare your sacrificial lambs – If areas of weakness in your business don’t come to mind, then prepare something to talk about.  Recognising where you are not perfect or where there is work to be done helps the investor see that you are open and you know how to run a business.

Be proactive in organising the DD meetings  – You can set an initial agenda and suggest how the day is organised.  Not every investor will agree, but it may make their life easier if you give them something to start with.

Rehearse your teams thoroughly – Nobody is a natural at answering LP questions.  You want to work with a professional coach who understands how LPs think and can put all your team through a range of realistic DD scenarios. That what we do regularly for our clients.

Techniques to Answer DD Questions Effectively

• Be consistent – Support what the investor has already heard from your colleagues
• Be positive – Even about tough things, show the upside or what the firm has learned
• Keep it simple – The world is complicated,  But your answers should not be.
• It’s not about you –It’s about the LP and their money.  Talk about their interests, not yours
• Have a conversation – Build a relationship.  Ask them questions.
• Structure your answer well – Strong start. Good explanation/example.  End strong.
• Use stories, example, anecdotes – Give them something they can’t read in the pitch book.
• Practise – Get grilled beforehand with the toughest questions.  Get professional coaching
• Enjoy the process – If you enjoy it, the LP will too.

Handle Fund Terms and Alignment Carefully

• Be transparent about fees – If LPs ask about carry structures, hurdles, or fee levels, have clear justifications ready.
• Explain why the fund size is right – If you’re raising a larger fund, justify it with deal flow and strategy, not just “market opportunity.”
• Be open to co-investment discussions – Many LPs want direct investment opportunities, so be prepared to discuss your approach.

Final Advice: How to Stand Out in LP Due Diligence Meetings

• Confidence without arrogance – Be assured in your strategy, but never dismiss LP concerns.  Help them understand your thinking.
• Demonstrate consistency – LPs look for stable, disciplined GPs who stick to their stated investment approach.  Beware of style drift or where you have deviated from your stated strategy
• Build trust – LPs want partners they can invest with across multiple funds. Articulate your vision beyond this fund cycle.

Get Expert Support To Prepare for Your Next DD Meeting

If you want help preparing for your next private equity due diligence meeting, get in touch.  We’ve been supporting private equity firms for 15 years and can help you prepare your team.

Call today and speak to Louise Angus about how we can support you.  Call +44 20 7018 0922 or info@benjaminball.com

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FAQs: LP-GP Private Equity Due Diligence Meetings

To prepare for your upcoming private equity due diligence meeting, get in touch. We’d be delighted to support you and your colleagues with intensive coaching and role-play.

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