Guardian Due Diligence
Diligence & QoEA quality-of-earnings boutique focused specifically on searcher-sized deals (typically under $5M enterprise value), offering QoE, QoE Lite, proof-of-cash, and deal advisory — founded in 2017 by Elliott Holland, now a 17-person team with $600M+ in transactions reviewed.
- Pricing
- Custom pricing — Pricing not published — quote-based via a scheduling call. Third-party reviews report roughly $20–40k engagements; we could not verify those figures against a primary source, so treat them as directional only.
- Best for
- Self-funded searchers who want a QoE shop that lives in sub-$5M deals rather than a regional CPA firm fitting them in
- Last verified
- Jul 10, 2026 — pricing and status checked against primary sources
- Roadmap stages
- 7. Diligence & financing
Pros
- Specialization is the pitch: QoE for searcher-sized, often SBA-financed deals is the entire practice
- Scale and track record: 17-person team, $600M+ in transactions since 2017
- Claims to surface most deal-breaking issues within about a week — materially faster than typical CPA-firm timelines
- Founder is visible and reachable in the searcher community
Cons
- No published pricing — and third-party figures ($20–40k) are significant against a sub-$2M purchase
- Marketing-forward brand (the founder styles himself 'King of QoE') — calibrate marketing claims against references
- Testimonial-heavy public reputation; ask for recent client references on deals your size
What searchers say
Widely known in the self-funded searcher world; testimonials cite renegotiations from QoE findings (one claims a $1.5M price reduction). Positive third-party writeups exist (GoSBA Loans review; ThinkSBA podcast appearance), though most detailed accounts trace to the firm's own materials.