# Guardian Due Diligence

Quality of earnings for searcher-sized deals.

A quality-of-earnings boutique for searcher-sized deals, naming $1M to $10M purchase prices on its front door. It offers a full QoE, a QoE Light delivered in Excel without the report, Cash Proof, and an Advised QoE with founder hours, plus a Deal Closer's Society membership for part-time searchers and Guardian Grow, a post-close program priced with an equity earn-in. Founded in 2017 by Elliott Holland, with $600M+ in transactions and 1,500+ deals evaluated.

- Category: Diligence & Earnings Review
- Pricing model: One-Time
- Where it fits: Diligence & Close the Deal
- Website: https://www.guardianduediligence.com

## At a Glance

Shortlist them for [QoE](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/qoe) on [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher)-sized deals; with the tiers published, the first call is a scoping call rather than a pricing discovery.

## What It Costs

Publishes exact tiers on its services page: QoE Light $20k, full QoE $25k, Advised QoE $40k, with the caveat that pricing is for deals under $2 million in purchase price and larger deals are slightly more. Deal Closer's Society runs $24k one time or $3k per month for up to 18 months; Guardian Grow is $1k per month plus a 1 to 5 percent equity earn-in on a 3 year vesting schedule.

## Best For

[Self-funded searchers](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/self-funded-search) who want a QoE shop that lives in sub-$5M deals rather than a regional CPA firm fitting them in

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Specialization is the pitch: QoE for searcher-sized, often SBA-financed deals is the entire practice
- Pro: Publishes exact engagement pricing, which most QoE shops still make you call for
- Pro: Claims to find 85% of major deal-breaking issues within 7 days, materially faster than typical CPA-firm timelines
- Pro: Founder is visible and reachable in the searcher community
- Con: The published tiers hold only under $2 million of purchase price; larger deals are quoted slightly more without saying how much
- Con: Marketing-forward brand (the founder styles himself 'King of QoE'); calibrate marketing claims against references
- Con: Testimonial-heavy public reputation; ask for recent client references on deals your size
- Con: Guardian Grow's 1 to 5 percent equity earn-in is a real cost of capital, not a $1k subscription

## 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.

## Compared With

- Which searcher-focused QoE shop gets your deal? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/guardian-vs-rapid-diligence.md)
- One QoE shop, or a marketplace of providers? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/guardian-due-diligence-vs-duedilio.md)
- A fixed-price report, or the shop that lives in deals this size? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/buy-scale-sell-vs-guardian-due-diligence.md)

## Sources

- https://www.guardianduediligence.com/
- https://resources.guardianduediligence.com/services
- https://resources.guardianduediligence.com/deal-closers-society
- https://resources.guardianduediligence.com/guardian-grow
- https://resources.guardianduediligence.com/about
- https://gosbaloans.com/blog/guardian-due-diligence-review/

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/diligence.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/guardian-due-diligence
Last checked: 2026-09-04

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt