Buyers hire Guardian in the window between the LOI and the irreversible personal guarantee — when there’s still time to decide.
“I have an accounting background — I could have done 70% of it myself. But if that takes me 60 days, what am I missing on the commercial side, the customers, the transition? Offloading the heavy lifting was the whole game…
Jesse Forrest
was out of his scope of work.”
Darrion Weems — first-time searcher · $9M cold-chain pharma LOI (The 2nd QoE with us worked — Darrion is now Owner of J&S Drayage)
Buried customer concentration. Phantom EBITDA. Working capital traps.
“Elliott helped us with a small add-on and not only determined EBITDA was $0 vs the $800k reported, but actively recommended against the deal. Exemplary work and why he’s our trusted partner.”
Reported EBITDA: $800k. Actual: $0.
Recommended against the deal.
“I went cheap on my first LOI. Clean report, deal died for unrelated reasons. Second LOI I called Elliott. Inside a week he flagged a single customer at 38% of revenue that the prior firm had buried in an appendix.”
Single customer = 38% of revenue. Buried in an appendix by prior firm.
Re-priced risk before signing the PA.
The moment the spreadsheet stops being abstract and the decision becomes real.
“His advice gave us the confidence in where to push back, and how to push back effectively. We wholeheartedly recommend Elliott to anyone in need of a QoE for an acquisition.”
Closed in 2021 with Guardian’s QoE supporting SBA approval.
“Limited access to critical information from the previous seller compounded the challenge. Elliott creatively bridged gaps in our data. His guidance and critical thinking instilled a high level of confidence in pursuing this deal.”
Findings that moved the purchase price — or ended the negotiation.
“I cannot overstate the value of doing a quality of cash and quality of earnings on a small business deal. The seller actually reduced their price by $1.5M after going over the reports. That is the value.”
QoE findings used in renegotiation.
$1.5M price reduction.
“Guardian exposed downside scenarios we did not initially uncover. Their analysis gave us the confidence to walk away after months of negotiations. The best deal may be the one you walk away from.”
Walked after months of negotiation.
The fee felt steep. The personal guarantee felt steeper.
“I recently completed due diligence on the acquisition of a manufacturing company with the help of Elliott and his team. For a deal of this size and nature, there are no better or more cost-effective options out there.”