The category
PE growth diligence
Growth diligence for PE teams that need the growth story to hold.
A deal model can look clean while customer acquisition is getting harder. Growth diligence checks the paid growth, buyer, tracking, and operating signals behind that model before the team leans on the next phase of value creation.
Growth diligence read
The growth story needs evidence before it becomes a plan.
Past
Financials
What happened and whether the numbers can be trusted.
Market
Commercial pull
Whether the category, buyers, and competitors support the thesis.
Future
Growth engine
Whether customer acquisition can keep producing quality growth.
Ad Prophet output
A ranked read of what to fix, test, watch, and hold.
Definition
What is growth diligence?
Growth diligence is a forward-looking review of whether a company's customer acquisition engine can keep growing with discipline.
It connects CAC, payback, retention, channel mix, attribution, page fit, and team readiness into one ranked plan for what to fix first and what to test next.
The gap
Traditional diligence can miss how growth actually gets produced.
QoE validates reported financials. Commercial diligence checks market pull. Growth diligence pressure-tests the acquisition engine that has to support the plan after close.
Model risk
The plan assumes acquisition gets easier.
Many models need more new customers, better conversion, or stronger payback than the current engine has proven.
Data risk
Platform reports can hide quality problems.
Clicks, leads, and conversions matter less when tracking, sales fit, or cohort quality is weak.
Operating risk
The engine may rely on too few people or channels.
A plan gets fragile when the knowledge, budget, or performance depends on one narrow path.
What it checks
The signals behind growth quality.
Unit economics
What a customer really costs
CAC, margin, LTV, sales quality, and whether the model still works when spend rises.
Payback
How long cash is tied up
The time it takes for a new customer to pay back acquisition cost.
Channel reliance
Where the engine is exposed
How much growth depends on one channel, one campaign type, or one person.
Attribution
What the data can prove
Where reported results may over-credit marketing or miss demand quality.
Retention
Whether new cohorts hold
How newer customers behave compared with the customers the model was built on.
Operating maturity
Whether the engine can transfer
Documentation, tracking, ownership, and the work needed for a new team to run it.
Where it fits
Different workstreams answer different questions.
Quality of Earnings
Are the historical financials reliable?
Backward-looking
Commercial diligence
Is the market attractive and defensible?
Outside-in
Growth diligence
Can this company acquire customers with discipline as it scales?
Forward-looking
Marketing audit
What needs attention in the current setup?
Snapshot
Red flags
Patterns that deserve a closer look before close.
CAC rising while LTV or customer quality stays flat.
One channel carrying too much of the acquisition plan.
Last-click reporting used as the main proof of efficiency.
Newer cohorts showing weaker retention than older cohorts.
Lead volume improving while sales quality gets harder to explain.
Key-person knowledge sitting outside the operating system.
How Ad Prophet runs it
From loose signals to a first portfolio plan.
The read starts light, then gets deeper when the opportunity is worth more work.
Step 01
Start outside-in
Review the site, offer, category, buyer language, competitor claims, and visible demand signals.
Step 02
Map the acquisition engine
Connect paid growth, page fit, tracking, conversion quality, and team readiness into one view.
Step 03
Separate proof from assumptions
Label what is supported, what needs testing, and what should stay out of the model for now.
Step 04
Rank the first moves
Turn the read into a short list of fixes, tests, and watch items for the first portfolio audit.
Free growth read
Start with the company domain.
The first read uses public context to find the market, page, competitor, and buyer signals worth checking. No card. No Google Ads access for the first read.
PE first portfolio audit
Talk with us about the PE-specific offer.
For PE firms, we can scope a first portfolio audit path that goes beyond the free read. Share your firm and work email, and we can follow up with the right next step.
Screen the first company
Start with the target or portfolio company that needs the clearest growth read.
Fit the operating motion
Map the read to the deal team, operating partner, or portfolio leader who owns the next move.
Keep claims disciplined
Separate supported opportunities from ideas that still need testing.
Use a human handoff
Send enough context for a practical PE conversation instead of a generic demo request.
FAQ
Growth diligence questions, answered plainly.
What is growth diligence?
Growth diligence is a forward-looking review of whether a company's customer acquisition engine can keep growing with discipline. It connects CAC, payback, retention, channel mix, attribution, page fit, and team readiness into one ranked plan.
How is growth diligence different from Quality of Earnings?
Quality of Earnings checks historical financials. Growth diligence checks the acquisition engine behind the future growth plan. The two workstreams answer different questions.
How is growth diligence different from a marketing audit?
A marketing audit usually reviews the current setup. Growth diligence ties the current setup to unit economics, customer quality, scale risk, and a prioritized plan.
Who should run growth diligence?
Growth diligence is most useful for PE deal teams, operating partners, and growth leaders who need to understand whether customer acquisition can support the next phase of the plan.