$15K Wasted on a Lie
►EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1) THEY GAVE ME A FORECAST AND CALLED IT "HISTORICAL FINANCIALS": Broker handed over a "QuickBooks export" that didn't look, feel, or smell like QuickBooks. It was a forecast built by an analyst on a laptop. Three weeks and $15K of QoE work — all done on fiction.
2) THE BROKER LIED FOR THREE WEEKS, THEN SENT A "WHOOPS" EMAIL: When I caught it, the broker couldn't get me on the phone with the analyst. Then suddenly — copied my client — "Oh sorry, those were the forecasts, not the historicals." Three-quarters of $20K in QoE fees, burned.
3) IF THE FILE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THE SYSTEM IT CAME FROM, IT DIDN'T: QuickBooks has a look. Sage has a look. An analyst's Excel artistry has a look. If you don't know the difference, you'll eat a $15K lesson. And the broker will shrug.