Close the conviction gap before committing capital.
PRE-DEAL DILIGENCE
I help PE deal teams pressure-test software, data and tech-enabled services investments before first bid, in exclusivity, and ahead of final IC.
The output is IC-ready decision material: the judgement to proceed, pause or walk away; the evidence to support pricing; the risks to protect in the SPA; confidence in the exit MOIC.
For PE deal teams assessing primary, secondary and bolt-on investments where growth, AI durability, leadership transition or exit assumptions need operator challenge.
How IC decisions get sharper.
Outputs that match IC requirements: the decision in one column, and the evidence to make it in the next.
THE DECISION
WHAT YOU RECEIVE TO MAKE IT
Proceed, pause or walk.
A conviction view, with the two or three things that would change my mind. Particular attention to AI durability and competitiveness.
Hold price, re-trade or restructure.
Specific gaps between the model and reality, sized and defended.
EBITDA trajectory and multiple, defended against AI and competitive risk.
Clarity where value actually comes from, and how fragile it is.
Downside visible: sensitivities, failure points and what breaks first.
Underwrite the exit.
Set the first 100 days.
A small number of priorities, owned, with a cadence that holds.
Back the team or plan a change.
An honest ‘readiness to deliver VCP’ read, with transition options costed.
Protect value in the SPA.
What gets papered versus what gets owned in execution.
Pricing the deal for AI.
AI is repricing software.
Accordingly, ICs require extensive evidence of durability and future exit multiples.
The output is a bottom-up assessment of where AI removes, compresses or bypasses value in the asset, mapped across the value chain, time-bound, and translated into specific pricing, retention, revenue and exit scenarios. Examples disruptors include
→ The destruction of seat-based pricing
→ Agentic AI replacing the application layer
→ Erosion of time-to-market advantage
→ Tumbling cost of building and operating credible AI-native competitor solutions
→ Data moats primarily powered by incumbent customers
Where AI is a tailwind, accelerates growth or strengthens competitive advantage, it gets quantified too.
A clear basis for re-trade, hold-price or walk-away.
Where an operator outperforms a CDD house.
When lived operating experience must inform the IC decision, in addition to traditional CDD.
Industry expertise is needed to size market and asset attractiveness.
Up-to-date commercial and trading intelligence, from costs to sell-side pricing.
Real world delivery experience, including AI, required to build and underwrite a VCP.
Judgement from scaling and exiting similar businesses informs real risk understanding.
Where decisions are time-critical, high-consequence, and made with imperfect information.
Credible with both deal teams and management, without destabilising either.
Latest projects. What partners say.
£30M REVENUE, 35% EBITDA, DATA & SERVICES DEAL
Go/no-go recommendation with named pre-close conditions.
Independent stress-test of management growth claims.
Market-evidenced conviction ratings on each value creation lever.
Prioritised growth bets for post-deal VCP focus.
Leadership scalability and exit narrative risk assessment.
Clear view on which bets to back and which to set aside.
“
We’ve worked with Leon pre-deal, helping sanity-check investment cases and execution risk (CDD, VCP, etc.) and his insights and work have been very high quality.
£3BN AUM MID-MARKET BUYOUT AND GROWTH CAPITAL FUND
£6M ARR, 25% EBITDA, DATA & REGULATION DEAL
Go/no-go recommendation with named pre-close conditions.
VCP levers defined, sized and sequenced.
Commercial engine readiness and scalability review.
AI disintermediation and platform durability scoring.
Operator-led leadership and succession assessment.
Structured risk register with RAG ratings for IC.
“
Coming soon.
£2BN AUM MID-MARKET BUYOUT FUND
£80m
Insurtech scaled to exit
5
VCPS built and delivered
8
M&A processes,
buy, sell, roll-up
£85m
Largest P&L operated
You get IC-ready decision material.
Material in the format and cadence the deal needs.
Investment case with decision sensitivities
What must be true for the case to hold; and what would break it.
01
VCP execution plan
First six months of priorities, sized and sequenced.
02
Value creation levers, quantified
The four to six that drive real value and durability.
03
AI durability assessment
Exit multiple risk priced in. Disintermediation risks named. Countermeasures specific.
04
Leadership read
Back them, support them, or plan for change. Read as a Chair, not a recruiter.
05
Deal-breakers vs. manageable risks
What is protected in the SPA vs. owned and mitigated in execution.
06
How pre-deal diligence works.
ENGAGEMENT
Single IC report, or embedded alongside the deal team through bid, exclusivity and IC.
PRICING
Fixed fee, scoped to the decision. No open-ended retainers, no day-rate creep.
CADENCE
Verbal read in 48 hours where needed. Written material when the deal team and IC need it.
If the deal completes, I can also support with VCP delivery or Interim leadership.
POSITION
Inside the deal team, or representing it with management, customers, or other diligence partners. I do not destabilise either side.