For Brands Preparing to Exit

Buyers will find everything.
Find it first.

Every Amazon brand that goes to market gets scrutinized by buyers who know exactly what to look for. The brands that command premium multiples are the ones that resolved issues before the process started — not during it when leverage has shifted entirely to the buyer.

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Principal-led by Shabbir Sharaf. Supported by a curated associate network of ex-Amazon, ex-Microsoft, ex-Boeing, and ex-Starbucks operators for specialist depth.

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All brand and financial information is handled under NDA. What we discover in the diagnostic remains strictly confidential.

60–90

Day Engagement

4 Phases

Diagnose · Fix · Optimize · Document

CIM

Amazon Section Included

What Kills Amazon Multiples

The issues buyers find that cost you at the table

Amazon due diligence is now standard practice in consumer brand M&A. Sophisticated buyers know exactly where to look. I know exactly where they look — because I have been on both sides of this process.

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Account Health Warnings

Policy violations, IP complaints, and performance warnings in your account history do not disappear. Buyers find them. Every unresolved warning is a negotiating point that reduces your multiple — or terminates the deal.

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Margin Gap Discovery

Your reported margin and your true Amazon contribution margin are different numbers. Buyers who run proper due diligence will find the gap. Knowing it before they do lets you frame it on your terms and fix what is fixable.

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PPC Dependency Flag

If removing PPC spend causes significant revenue decline, buyers discount the multiple significantly. Improving the organic/paid ratio before exit is one of the highest-ROI pre-sale investments you can make.

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Weak CIM Amazon Section

Most CIMs treat Amazon as a revenue line. PE buyers want to see channel economics, account health, catalog composition, and competitive positioning. A weak CIM Amazon section signals the seller does not understand their own channel.

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IP and Brand Registry Gaps

Incomplete trademark coverage and Brand Registry issues invite hijackers and counterfeiters the moment an acquisition is announced. These are straightforward to resolve with lead time — and catastrophic to discover during closing.

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Inventory Position Risk

Excess inventory, stranded ASINs, and long-term storage exposure all affect the working capital calculation at close. Going to market with a clean inventory position commands a cleaner deal structure.

The Process

What we do in 60 to 90 days

Full Pre-Sale Diagnostic

We run the same analysis a sophisticated buyer would run on your brand — account health, true economics, catalog performance, IP status, supply chain exposure — and produce a complete picture of what buyers will find. This diagnostic becomes the work plan for the engagement.

Complete account health review

True SKU-level economics reconstruction

IP and Brand Registry gap analysis

PPC dependency assessment

Account Remediation & Risk Resolution

Every resolvable issue gets addressed. Policy violations appealed. Performance warnings resolved. IP complaints cleared. Brand Registry gaps closed. We work through the risk register systematically so nothing remains for a buyer to find and use against you at the negotiating table.

Channel Economics Optimization

With risk items resolved, we focus on improving the metrics buyers pay premiums for. PPC efficiency improvements that strengthen the organic/paid ratio. Catalog rationalization that improves blended margin. Inventory normalization that cleans up the working capital picture.

Exit Documentation

We produce the Amazon section of your CIM — a professional, PE-grade document that presents your channel economics, account health, catalog composition, and competitive positioning in the language buyers and their advisors expect. We also prepare a data room package that answers every standard due diligence question before buyers ask it.

Complete CIM Amazon section

Data room document package

Pre-prepared DD response package

Illustrative Engagement Outcome

What brands discover before going to market.

The Situation

A founder preparing to go to market on a brand doing $4.5M annually on Amazon. M&A advisor engaged. CIM in draft. Expected to command a 4.5x–5x multiple. Engaged LWA for acquisition prep 14 months before planned go-to-market date.

What the Diagnostic Found

Three unresolved policy warnings in account history. Brand Registry active but trademark coverage missing for two of the top five ASINs. PPC dependency ratio flagged — 62% of revenue attributable to paid traffic with weak organic foundations. A single supplier in Shenzhen representing 80% of product cost with no alternative sourced.

What Was Fixed

Policy warnings appealed and resolved over 90 days. Trademark applications filed — two approved before go-to-market. Organic ranking rebuild began immediately — PPC dependency reduced to 41% over 11 months. Backup supplier qualified in Vietnam. The CIM Amazon section was rewritten entirely around the improved metrics.

The Result

The brand went to market with a clean account, protected IP, improving organic metrics, and a CIM that pre-answered every standard Amazon DD question. No material issues surfaced in buyer due diligence. Final multiple: 5.2x — above original expectation, attributable in part to the reduced platform risk profile and clean account history.

Names and specific financials are illustrative. Engagement structure and finding types are representative of real assessments.

The best time to start is before you need to.

Brands that begin acquisition prep 6–12 months before go-to-market consistently command higher multiples than brands that start during the process. If a sale is in your 12-month horizon, the conversation starts now.