Commercial Due Diligence · Lower-Middle-Market PE
The Market Doesn't Care About the CIM.
Independent commercial due diligence for private equity firms doing $10M–$75M deals. Built for your deal size. Priced for your economics. Delivered before your timeline runs out.
The Problem
The big CDD firms won't take your call.
Bain, L.E.K., and EY-Parthenon start at $250,000 and staff eight-person teams for six-week engagements. They were built for large-cap deals. At your deal size, they're not a realistic option — and they know it.
- Most lower-middle-market firms rely on management presentations, QofE reports, and a few calls with industry contacts
- Management teams set the baseline — you're validating their numbers with their numbers
- Market assumptions go untested until you're already in due diligence
- Every bad acquisition starts with a growth thesis that survived no independent scrutiny
"The question isn't whether you can afford the research. It's whether you can afford to close on a thesis that hasn't been pressure-tested."
Services
Three products. One methodology.
Every engagement is grounded in independent secondary research — we never use management's data as our baseline. Primary research is added only when the secondary layer leaves gaps that matter.
Pre-LOI
Market Signal Report
$15,000 – $20,000
Before you commit to a deal, know whether the market thesis holds. Fast, independent validation of the commercial case — sized, scoped, and stress-tested against data sources management didn't provide.
Deliverable
15–20 slide deck + one-page Verdict Brief
10–14 business days
Post-LOI
Full Commercial Due Diligence
$30,000 – $40,000
Complete commercial validation before you close. Market sizing, competitive landscape, customer base analysis, growth thesis assessment, and expert validation. Everything your IC needs to underwrite the deal with confidence.
Deliverable
30–40 slide deck + Verdict Brief + methodology appendix
3–4 weeks
Post-Close
Portfolio Market Monitor
$4,000 – $6,000/mo
You bought based on a growth thesis. Now track whether the market is moving the way you expected — competitive shifts, customer sentiment trends, and adjacent opportunity flags, delivered quarterly with a monthly signal brief.
Deliverable
Quarterly market update + monthly signal brief
6-month minimum engagement
The Verdict Brief
Every engagement ends with a verdict.
Every Empiric engagement concludes with a one-page Verdict Brief — a direct, unhedged assessment your partners can read in three minutes before an IC meeting. Not a summary. A verdict.
No conclusions buried on page 34. No "it depends" equivocation. If the market thesis holds, we say so. If it doesn't, we say that too — with the data to back it.
Sample — The Empiric Verdict
"The market thesis holds, but customer concentration risk — top 3 clients representing 61% of revenue — requires mitigation in deal structure."
| Dimension | Rating | Signal |
|---|---|---|
| Market growth trajectory | 14% CAGR confirmed, 3 sources | |
| Competitive differentiation | 2 credible challengers entering | |
| Customer retention signals | Claimed NPS inconsistent with churn | |
| Growth thesis plausibility | Adjacent market opportunity sized |
Based on analysis of 47 secondary sources, 12 competitor profiles, and 340 verified customer reviews. Primary validation via 4 expert interviews. Market sizing independently derived — management projections not used as source data.
Why Empiric
Built differently, on purpose.
Secondary-First Methodology
We exhaust every existing data source before conducting any primary research. That makes us faster, cheaper, and less susceptible to the selection bias that plagues interview-led research.
Independent Baseline
We never use management's market data as our starting point. Every market size, growth rate, and competitive assessment is derived independently — from sources management didn't choose.
AI-Powered Delivery
AI-enabled research synthesis lets us compress timelines and reduce costs without compromising rigor. This is what makes the economics work at your deal size — not a cut-rate methodology.
A Verdict, Not a Report
Every engagement ends with a clear, unhedged answer. We tell you whether to proceed, what to watch, and what to price into the deal — not a forty-slide recitation of facts without a conclusion.
Get Started
Have a deal that needs independent validation?
A 30-minute call is all it takes to scope an engagement. We'll tell you exactly what we can deliver, in what timeframe, and at what cost — before you commit to anything.
Schedule a 30-Minute Callor send us a note