Quentin ‘Q’ Thom
Co-Founder and Co-Head
Can you give us a brief summary of what your company does?
At perfORM Due Diligence Services we help protect sports organisations from unwanted association by assessing potential partners in crypto, blockchain and Web3.
This sector is characterised by volatility, with many examples of success and failure, and we offer timely Operational Due Diligence (ODD) research reports on firms that assess core reputational and financial risks, including the inability to fulfil sponsorship obligations.
Our reports focus on who the firms are and how they manage and mitigate risk. We assess whether their infrastructure, compliance and risk management structures are as robust as equivalent-regulated firms in traditional finance, such as asset managers.
We will volunteer improvements to internal controls of the subject under review in acknowledgment that the sports team will be entering into multi-year commitments.
Who are your customers?
In sports it’s rights and title holders.
What makes you stand out from your competitors?
We are an award-winning provider of ODD services for a diverse base of UK and international clients.
perfORM launched in 2019 as the only London-based and technology-enabled ODD service of its kind.
We have an established team of highly experienced ODD practitioners with a laser-like focus on client service which ensures high levels of client satisfaction, trust and partnership.
In October 2021 we announced that perfORM had been formed as a subsidiary company of JTC Group PLC.
We work with teams directly and suggest, screen and introduce prospective sponsorship partners. We offer constructive feedback to the targets of our ODD reviews.
What are the current trends in your business area, and how are they affecting how you work and how you deliver on strategy?
The crypto space and the firms that operate in it are in a completely new industry, operating in a largely unregulated and volatile environment. ODD is an essential, new tool that can be used to understand what that crypto business is.
What challenges have you encountered, and how have they been overcome?
Education and misunderstanding in sports. ODD includes background checks and a lot more!
We include background checks (individual and entity) at the time of the review and thereafter, 365 days a year. This assures that the team is aware of any open-source negative news, filtered by perfORM and enabling the team to be in control of any unwanted situation or news story.
Taking crypto exchange as an example, the scope of our review and reports includes key operational pillars such as:
- Ownership & firm structure risks
- Financial health
- Listings and services
- Internal control & corporate governance risks
- Regulatory and compliance risks
- Surveillance of nefarious activities
- Private key management & customer asset safety (loss through theft)
- Transparency.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A testimonial:
“As part of accepting a new sponsorship partner, we engaged perfORM for their timely and unique crypto due diligence services” – F1 Team.
For more information, read the SportsPro feature interview with Quentin and Co-Founder James Newsman and listen to the accompanying podcast below.
