The $28M Mistake

Victor stopped at the second paragraph. Thirty-eight months after his fund authorized a $28 million deployment, the Chief Restructuring Officer's letter described what had happened to every number the investment committee had approved. The Memphis deployment did not fail because anyone lied. It failed because vendor financial models are optimistic by structure — and the same six cost categories are understated in every proposal, in the same direction, every time. Here is what that structure looks like, what it cost, and what you can do before your next proposal arrives.