4 ms·

In India anyone can purchase the balance sheet and p&l for any private company as long as you know its name or directors name on a website like https://zaubacor

In India anyone can purchase the balance sheet and p&l for any private company as long as you know its name or directors name on a website like https://zaubacorp.com https://zaubacorp.com PS - no affiliation Edit: Not sure why I'm being downvoted, added this because I genuinely think it is a good additional step for seed investors and HNIs investing in startups to ensure the legitimacy of the claims made in a pitch deck.

ceejayoz 7y ago
Fraudulent balance sheets / P&L statements aren't impossible.
- r_singh 7y ago
  Fair enough, but they're much harder to fake than a pitch deck. Require co-ordination between multiple businesses. Fake Income Tax returns, etc. I've seen pitch decks where companies claim they have 100s of customers like Amazon, etc. Whereas their revenues on P&L are like ~$20,000 per year.
pintxo 7y ago
A public register for balance sheets is quite usual, isn't it? It is basically the next feature to implement after establishing a company register. I am quite often checking on potential business partners using the relevant company registry. Looking for owner structures and latest balance sheets.
notahacker 7y ago
P&L is possible to purchase in many other jurisdictions too, including the UK. It's also borderline irrelevant if the theoretical valuation of your startup is based on something which becomes a revenue stream in future (SaaS revenue, enterprise contracts, coin value appreciation). Obviously some startups have more plausible arguments about the magnitude of future revenue streams not based on past performance than others
- r_singh 7y ago
  I was not aware of that. I have tried to find (and even purchase) revenue information for private companies in the USA, with no success (reached as far as SEC filings, but couldn't get detail revenue, P&L info). And I don't trust revenue information on websites like Zoominfo and Owler as they are way off the mark for Indian companies. Good to know that this is possible for the UK too (I wonder if that is why India Ministry of Corporate Affairs allows this too). As a director in a private company, I always viewed this as a possible privacy violation (that anyone, including bad actors could know my income if they wanted to).

ceejayoz 7y ago

Fraudulent balance sheets / P&L statements aren't impossible.

r_singh 7y ago
Fair enough, but they're much harder to fake than a pitch deck. Require co-ordination between multiple businesses. Fake Income Tax returns, etc. I've seen pitch decks where companies claim they have 100s of customers like Amazon, etc. Whereas their revenues on P&L are like ~$20,000 per year.

pintxo 7y ago

A public register for balance sheets is quite usual, isn't it? It is basically the next feature to implement after establishing a company register. I am quite often checking on potential business partners using the relevant company registry. Looking for owner structures and latest balance sheets.

notahacker 7y ago

P&L is possible to purchase in many other jurisdictions too, including the UK. It's also borderline irrelevant if the theoretical valuation of your startup is based on something which becomes a revenue stream in future (SaaS revenue, enterprise contracts, coin value appreciation). Obviously some startups have more plausible arguments about the magnitude of future revenue streams not based on past performance than others

r_singh 7y ago
I was not aware of that. I have tried to find (and even purchase) revenue information for private companies in the USA, with no success (reached as far as SEC filings, but couldn't get detail revenue, P&L info). And I don't trust revenue information on websites like Zoominfo and Owler as they are way off the mark for Indian companies. Good to know that this is possible for the UK too (I wonder if that is why India Ministry of Corporate Affairs allows this too). As a director in a private company, I always viewed this as a possible privacy violation (that anyone, including bad actors could know my income if they wanted to).