Due Diligence
Technical Due Diligence Financial Due Diligence Freedom to OperateBuilding & Leadership
Venture Building Mentor-Coaching Private PlacementsFinancial due diligence answers a single fundamental question: is the price right? It does not audit the accounts—that is the role of an audit—nor is its primary purpose to investigate fraud. It validates that the EBITDA upon which an entry multiple is applied reflects true, recurring earning power, and that the closing balance sheet matches transaction assumptions.
We analyze opportunities based on technical maturity—TRL 3 to 9—across any geography, technology stack, or industry sector. We follow the problem, not the trend.
From proof-of-concept to deployment.
Expert contributors across the Western Hemisphere.
Broad spectrum deep tech evaluation.
Guided purely by commercial opportunity.
— We do not review TRL 1–2 (initial concept and basic research stages).
Every adjustment uncovered directly impacts valuation. An extraordinary expense misclassified as recurring, once multiplied, represents capital shifting hands at close.
The normalized EBITDA to which a buyer applies an entry multiple. Beyond headline numbers, we isolate sustainable and recurring earning power.
A business is acquired with an agreed "normal" level of working capital. Setting the correct peg is as material to purchase price as QoE itself.
Enterprise Value minus Net Debt equals Equity Value. Identifying debt-like items directly impacts net cash proceeds at closing.
In Series B and beyond, focus shifts to unit economics, cohort retention, runway, burn multiple, and revenue recognition policies. For loss-making companies, we verify whether burn drives growth or reflects broken economics.
Complete QoE analysis, working capital pegs, debt-like item identification, customer/supplier concentration, three-statement financial modeling, and synergy validation. The findings feed the LBO model and price negotiations.
Strategic buyers overlay target financials onto internal management accounts: synergy validation, integration planning, and accounting policy alignment drive the mandate.
Customer concentration exceeding 30% of total revenue, particularly without long-term commercial contracts.
Declining gross margins without operational justification: often indicates pricing pressure or mix shift.
Working capital consuming cash faster than EBITDA growth: signals collection or inventory quality issues.
Capitalized costs expanding faster than revenue: frequently conceals underlying operating expenses.
"One-off" adjustments recurring year after year: these cease to be extraordinary items.
Deferred revenue growing faster than billings: potential indicator of aggressive revenue recognition.
Quality of Earnings report, normalized working capital bridge, debt and debt-like items schedule, 3-year historical financial summary, customer and supplier concentration analysis, KPI dashboard, and an executive summary mapping every finding directly to purchase price or SPA clause implications.
Fully credited toward any retained service.
A tailored proposal is provided following the Discovery Call.
Targeted consultations without a full diligence mandate.
Formal proposals are issued after the Discovery Call based on asset scope, geography, and transaction complexity.
It is the systematic review of a target company's historical and projected financial performance prior to an acquisition or investment. It validates Quality of Earnings, normalizes working capital, identifies debt-like items, and stress-tests financial model assumptions. Unlike an audit, its primary objective is to inform pricing and transaction structuring rather than certify financial statements.
A financial audit expresses an opinion on whether financial statements fairly present company performance under accounting standards. Financial due diligence does not issue audit opinions: it strips out non-recurring items, owner expenses, and accounting policy distortions to reveal true, sustainable EBITDA. Audits are retrospective and standardized; diligence is forward-looking and deal-specific.
QoE is the core output of the review: an adjusted EBITDA schedule that removes one-off gains or losses, normalizes executive compensation, eliminates non-recurring items, and establishes sustainable earning power. This adjusted figure forms the true baseline to which buyers apply valuation multiples.
Lightweight financial reviews for VC rounds take 1 to 3 weeks. Larger private equity or M&A mandates take 4 to 6 weeks. While quantitative modeling—cohort analysis, margin benchmarking, working capital trends—is organized rapidly, executive interviews and deal-specific adjustments remain human-led.
It is standard practice in PE acquisitions and bolt-on investments, mid-market M&A transactions, Series B+ funding rounds, secondary sales, corporate recapitalizations, and pre-IPO preparations. Seed and Series A rounds often bypass formal financial diligence, relying instead on commercial diligence and founder references.
We maintain active collaborations with a global network of over 50 independent PhD specialists. We deploy them on demand, tailored to each due diligence mandate, with active contributors across four key geographic hubs.
Begin with a 30-minute Discovery Call. We will define what financial due diligence must uncover before signing.
Book Discovery Call →