Pivoting from PPP Craziness to new deals

Our bank has has moved swiftly through our PPP requests and will be pivoting back to new money in the very near future after our current customers are taken care of. Having strong relationships AFTER you close can never be more emphasized than these past few weeks. Moving forward to new opportunities pay attention to some potential hurdles: 1) business evaluations will be impacted by Covid-19. How will a businesses financials (good or bad) be relevant in a business evaluation in the next 6–12 months+. 2) trailing 12 cash flow could be either abysmal or artificially inflated . How will banks account for this in their analysis? 3) banks will be impacted long term. So many customers are on payment deferrals at the moment. Some customers (conventional or SBA) will not make it through this crisis. Is the bank you are working with able to continue lending if their income has dried up for a full quarter or had long term financial pain from losses? 4) ask your fellow search fund contacts how their bank handled this situation. Transaction financing is simple and commoditized. Long term relationships are harder to validate until there is an issue. This crisis will bring out either the best or worst in banks and other partners with regards to their customer relationships. Ask you peers how their experiences went This was an extreme example but is relevant to reflect on how long term partners can play in to your success as an entrepreneur.