Know what you're buying.
Target company structural coherence, quantified.
All client data is confidential. Information is used solely for assessment and not shared with third parties.
Target Company Context Profile vs. Industry Benchmark
We assess target company infrastructure through data room analysis, management interviews, and system documentation review.
AI value creation line items from CIM are validated against actual infrastructure state. Findings quantify risk: achievable vs. blocked EBITDA impact, hold period alignment, post-close capex requirements.
Output is IC/LP-ready: valuation impact quantified with recommended adjustments, hold period roadmap sequenced, 100-day plan actionable.
Target company time
2–3 hours (management interviews)
Our turnaround
1–2 weeks (aligned to deal timeline)
Week 1
Data + Assessment
Week 2
Delivery
Compressed delivery available for accelerated deal timelines.
Target Structural Coherence Profile
Infrastructure state across 6 structural levers, benchmarked vs. industry
Red Flag Identification
AI initiatives that will fail post-close without infrastructure investment
Valuation Impact Analysis
AI value creation line items vs. infrastructure reality: achievable vs. blocked EBITDA
Hold Period Roadmap
Year 1–3 milestone sequencing within typical PE hold window
Risk to Deal Thesis
Quantified impact if infrastructure investment not approved
100-Day Plan
Critical path for post-close infrastructure build
Deal Memo Summary
IC/LP-ready executive summary with valuation recommendations
+ 30-day post-close follow-up included. Assessing multiple targets? See Portfolio Screening.
Falsifiable diagnosis. The infrastructure exists or it doesn't.
Excerpt from sample DD (Industrial manufacturing target, mid-market)
Target: ACME Industrial Components — $85M Revenue, 420 employees
Context Profile vs. Benchmark
Red Flags
“AI-powered customer success”
BLOCKEDSource: management deck, slide 14
Requires: Accessibility L3, Integration L3
Current: Accessibility L1, Integration L2
Status: will not function post-close
Investment to fix: $180-320K over 8-12 months
“Predictive churn model”
BLOCKEDSource: CIM, page 23
Requires: Capture L4, Maintenance L3
Current: Capture L2, Maintenance L2
Status: prototype only, cannot scale
Investment to fix: $120-200K over 6-10 months
Investment Summary
Post-close infrastructure investment: $300-520K
Timeline to stated AI capabilities: 12-18 months
Recommendation: Adjust AI value creation assumptions
0.5–1% of deal value
Typical deal: $30–50M acquisition
Range: $25,000 – $35,000
Additional factors that may adjust pricing:
M&A deals are 10–100x larger than deployments, so percentage is lower (standard DD rate). Assessment fee credited if target enters portfolio.
A CMC pre-acquisition diagnostic profiles the target company's structural coherence across 6 structural levers. Structural deltas between the target's coherence and the AI value creation assumptions in the CIM reveal which initiatives fall outside the operating range post-close without infrastructure investment — typically 40-60% of AI line items in mid-market manufacturing deals.
CMC compares the target's per-lever coherence against the infrastructure requirements of each AI initiative claimed in the investment thesis. A structural shortfall of 2+ levels in any lever means that initiative is above structural coherence — it will not deploy within a typical 3-5 year hold period without targeted capex. The diagnostic converts these shortfalls into valuation impact: achievable vs. blocked EBITDA, with recommended adjustments.
Delivery takes 1-2 weeks, aligned to deal timelines. The target company provides 2-3 hours of management interview time plus data room access. CMC structural coherence profiling, benchmark comparison, and IC-ready output are produced within that window. Compressed delivery is available for accelerated deal timelines at $25K-$35K (0.5-1% of deal value).
Standard tech DD evaluates current IT systems and technical debt. CMC pre-acquisition diligence evaluates whether the organisation's reasoning infrastructure can structurally support the AI initiatives driving the deal thesis. If the lever governing process documentation is below the required threshold, document extraction outputs cannot integrate cleanly into downstream systems — regardless of the vendor selected. This is an operating range constraint that IT audits do not detect.