Commercial due diligence
that tests the revenue, not just the market
What a growth thesis misses without a pricing view
Commercial due diligence is meant to tell you whether a target’s growth is real and durable. Most of it stops at market size and competitive position and treats pricing as a footnote. Yet pricing is where revenue quality is decided. A number propped up by discounting, mispriced segments, or untested willingness to pay looks like growth in the model and erodes the moment you own the asset.
How our commercial due diligence works
We test whether the revenue is real
We look past the topline to revenue quality: how much of it leans on discounting, how durable it is by segment, and whether the growth in the model survives contact with the market.
We measure the target's pricing power
We assess what the company could charge against what it does charge, grounded in value-based pricing and willingness to pay, so you know the monetization headroom before you sign.
We work to the exclusivity clock
Diligence runs on a tight window. We scope to the timeline the deal demands and deliver a view the investment committee can act on, not a study that arrives after the decision is made.
We read the data the company already has
We turn the target’s own pricing, discount, and deal records into evidence, using pricing analysis to surface the patterns that management interviews and a CIM will not.
We hand you a thesis you can act on
The output is more than a risk flag. We show where pricing could lift EBITDA after close, so diligence feeds the value creation plan instead of sitting in a data room.
What a commercial due diligence engagement covers
- Revenue quality and discount dependence assessed across the customer base and its segments
- Pricing power and monetization headroom measured against what customers will actually pay
- How the target sets b2b pricing across segments, channels, and products, and where that logic breaks down
- A clear read on how much of the growth thesis rests on pricing the buyer can defend
Who we work with
- Deal teams and operating partners commissioning diligence under exclusivity
- Senior operators who have set prices and owned a P&L, not a junior research team
- Experience across SaaS, services, and manufacturing commercial models
- Findings written to stand up at the investment committee
How we fit the deal process
- Scoped to the exclusivity window so the view lands before the decision, not after
- Run alongside the broader commercial and financial diligence already underway
- Built on the target's own data rather than a months-long research program
- A pricing read that sharpens a full commercial due diligence or stands on its own
How PricePro turns diligence into post-close value
• Carries the pricing upside found in diligence into day-one execution
• Keeps pricing, margin, and deal data in one place from close onward
• Connects to the CRM and ERP systems the company already runs
• Applies pricing and approval rules at the point of quote
• Gives the operating partner and board a live view of pricing behavior after close
• Holds the upside the thesis counted on, so it gets realized and not just identified
What we usually find first
Our commercial due diligence approach
We start from the deal model and find where pricing and revenue quality could make or break the return, so diligence targets the questions the investment actually turns on.
We work the target's pricing, discount, and deal data alongside market and willingness-to-pay signals, to see whether the revenue is as durable as the model assumes.
We quantify where pricing could lift margin after close and where it could disappoint, so the committee sees both the case and its soft spots.
The findings convert into a pricing-led value creation plan, so the work you paid for in diligence keeps paying once the deal closes.
What a standard diligence covers, and what a pricing lens adds
A typical commercial due diligence
• Market size and growth estimated from the outside in
• Competitive position mapped at a high level
• Pricing noted briefly and rarely tested
• Revenue largely taken at face value
• A verdict on the thesis, with little for the first 100 days
A pricing-led commercial due diligence
• Revenue quality and discount dependence tested directly
• Pricing power and monetization headroom measured, not assumed
• The growth thesis stress-tested against what customers will pay
• Soft spots in the revenue surfaced before the money goes in
• A view that converts straight into the value creation plan
FAQ
It tests the part of the thesis most diligence skips: whether the revenue is real and what the company could actually charge. You get a read on revenue quality and pricing upside, not just a market map.
It can stand alone or sharpen a broader process. Where another team sizes the market and maps competition, we test pricing power and revenue quality, the dimensions that decide whether the growth holds.
We scope to the exclusivity window. The work runs on the target's own data and a focused set of questions, so the view reaches the investment committee inside the timeline the deal allows.
The target's pricing, discounts, and deal data, its packaging and segmentation, and the signals of willingness to pay. We look for where revenue depends on concessions and where pricing leaves money uncollected.
That is normal in diligence. We work with what exists, flag what is missing, and stay clear about where a finding is firm and where it is directional, so you are never handed false precision.
The same analysis that tests the thesis shows where pricing can lift EBITDA once you own the asset. The diligence output becomes the first draft of the value creation plan.
Most often the buyer, during exclusivity. We are comfortable being led by the deal team, with findings written to inform the investment decision rather than to sell it.
No. The approach works across SaaS, services, and manufacturing. Wherever a target sets prices and grants discounts, there is revenue quality to test and pricing upside to size.
