In May 2026, Jonas Moortgat (Customer Success Manager at openthebox) ran a 15-minute mini webinar on why private equity deal teams lose deals they could have qualified out months earlier. The session reframed late-stage deal failure as an early-stage process problem, and walked through what a sharper front-end qualification step actually looks like.

In this session, Jonas walked through:

• Why qualification fails late, even when teams have the right process on paper. The deep checks happen, but they happen after a partner has spent time, an NDA has been signed, and the relationship has built momentum that is hard to walk back from.
• The four signals that kill deals in late diligence. Financial trajectory, ownership structure, real decision-makers, and structural risk. Every team checks these eventually. The firms with stronger deal economics check them first.
• The five pre-commitment questions that separate strong qualifiers from the rest. Trajectory, ownership navigability, real decision-makers, structural red flags, and whether the information you have actually supports the valuation range you are working to.
• A live walkthrough in openthebox. A realistic deal candidate, looked at through each of the four lenses, with one question at every step: at what point would you have stopped?

Whether you work in private equity, advisory, or invest your own capital, this session gives you a sharper way to think about the qualification decisions you make in week one, and what they cost when you make them in month four instead.