Direct answers to the concerns that stop a deal team from commissioning a pre-close intelligence brief. No marketing — what we do, what it costs, what changes when you commission us.
Standard diligence reviews the documents the seller hands you. Clearstake investigates what is outside the data room: behavioral signals, off-record source commentary, undisclosed conflicts, and reputation vectors that the seller's attorneys curated out of the disclosure schedule.
The question is not diligence versus no diligence. It is what the documented diligence cannot reach, and whether a missed signal in that blind spot is worth six figures in deal price or post-close write-downs.
An internal team reads what is in front of them. A Clearstake investigator makes cold calls to former colleagues, ex-countersignatories, market counterparties, and adjacent operators — people who will not take your call because they are not on your side of the table.
We do this without the target's name attached to the inquiry, which is the difference between a source who speaks and a source who goes silent. Records aggregation tools can index filings; only a human source can tell you which counterparty is currently nervous about a side arrangement.
Three tiers. Standard returns in seven calendar days for $3,000. Priority in 72 hours for $6,000. Executive in 48 hours for $10,000.
Tier selection matches your deal velocity — a Series B nearing close where the term sheet is signed is a different timeline from a strategic acquirer running a pre-LOI sanity check. Expedited tiers lock an investigator immediately on intake and run in parallel with the legal team's process, not after it.
You get a brief that says so, and that is the brief. A clean report is a useful artifact — it locks in the post-close indemnification position, gives the board a defensible record of diligence performed, and short-circuits the buyer's second-guessing when the deal starts to wobble six months in.
If we cannot deliver a brief that meets the tier's depth specification, we redo the engagement or refund in full. The fee is for the investigation, not for a positive finding.
The target is not informed, contacted, or aware of the engagement at any point. Briefs are delivered to a single recipient email you provide. There is no end-user application login, no shared dashboard, and no broad distribution channel that increases the surface for leaks.
Investigators do not reference your name or the target's name in source outreach — inquiries are run on adjacent facts only, so a contacted source cannot reconstruct that an M&A transaction is in motion.
Submit an investigation request. Brief in 48–72 hours. Engagements confidential from the target end-to-end.
Submit an Intelligence Request