You'd never skip financial diligence.
The team is just as material.
Leadership is the largest unhedged variable in most software deals. We give you an objective, written assessment of whether the management team can carry the thesis, before the money moves, and a plan to close the gaps after it does.
Can this team deliver this plan?
Not "are they impressive," impressive is easy to fake in a management presentation. The question that determines your return is whether the people in the revenue-critical seats have actually done the specific thing your thesis now requires: scaling from ten million to fifty, entering the enterprise, surviving a replatforming, building a channel. We have spent 30 years watching GTM leaders in this exact category succeed and fail at exactly those transitions.
Four lenses, one verdict.
Capability against the thesis
Each leader's real track record mapped to the specific demands of your value-creation plan, not a generic competency grid. Strengths to lean on, gaps to close, seats that need a change.
Behavioral fit & team dynamics
Using Kolbe-based analysis, we document how the team is wired and how that maps to the work ahead. Co-founder friction and the wrong revenue motion show up here before they cost you a year.
Scalability & key-person risk
Who is a single point of failure. Who has plateaued. Who is ready for more than their title. Where the org breaks first when you push the plan.
The real cost of the org
A grounded view of what the leadership team costs to complete and upgrade over the first 12 to 18 months, so the people line in your model rests on something better than a placeholder.
Pre-close, post-close, and ahead of exit.
On a deal timeline
When access is limited and the clock is short, we deliver a focused read fast enough to inform the committee. Skipping this is how investors get surprised after the close.
When access opens
We run the deeper assessment, validate the early hypotheses, and turn the findings into an actionable leadership acceleration plan for the board and CEO.
Re-baseline the team
Re-test the team against the plan, or get the leadership story exit-ready before a buyer's own diligence team finds the gaps for you.
Fixed fee, scoped to the deal, priced as the diligence instrument it is, separate from any search engagement, so there is never a question of whether the recommendation is a setup for a sale.
