An investor paused after due diligence: getting the deal back in 10 weeks
The fund’s analysts found an article about a conflict with a co-founder, reviews from former employees and AI answers that led with the conflict.
IMG 0121:9The situation
IMG 024:3The fund halted talks on the round after due diligence. Officially, it “needed more time”. Unofficially, the analysts sent over a selection: an article about the conflict with a former co-founder, twenty reviews from former employees and a ChatGPT answer about the company.
None of these sources carried the company’s position. It had never commented on the conflict publicly.
What the audit found
- The article about the conflict was the first Yandex result for the founder’s name
- Former employees’ reviews without a single response from the company
- AI models retold the conflict as the main fact about the company
- No interviews with the founder in 4 years
IMG 033:2
IMG 043:2What we did
IMG 053:4- Week 1
Audit and position
Compiled a timeline of the conflict and the documents on its settlement.
- Weeks 2–4
Company position
Published the timeline and outcome on the company website and responded to reviews.
- Weeks 3–8
Interviews
Three interviews with the founder in business media on the product and the market.
- Weeks 4–9
Sources for AI
A press kit, reference profiles and structured company data.
- Week 10
Second review
The fund repeated its review and returned to the deal.
The result
IMG 0616:9IMG 0716:9If your situation looks similar
These services are usually added next to lock in the result.
Next stepMedia and PR
Coverage of the company and its leaders’ expertise in business media.
Learn more →
Next step24/7 mention monitoring
Reviews and brand mentions under watch 24/7.
Learn more →Next stepCompliance risk assessment
How banks and counterparties see the company during due diligence.
Learn more →What we did not do
- We did not remove the article about the conflict: it is accurate
- We did not write reviews on behalf of “satisfied employees”
Services used
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IMG 0116:10A UAE bank paused an account opening
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IMG 0116:10A board appointment
Search results were almost empty: three mentions in five years and an old interview with inaccurate figures. AI models knew nothing about the candidate.
IMG 0116:10ChatGPT confuses the client with a namesake
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