The Reputation Audit: What to Fix Before a Funding Round or Exit

When a transaction enters serious diligence, the search results for the principal — not the company — get scrutinised first. A single off-narrative result on page one can knock a percentage point off the multiple or, in the worst case, kill the deal entirely. The cleanest version of this work begins six months before any process opens.

What we audit

Search-result hygiene for the principal and the brand across the top three engines. Wikipedia or equivalent reference entries — present, accurate, sourceable. Press archive: every article from the last five years categorised by tone and prominence. Social signal: which accounts amplify the brand, which detract, which appear when journalists check a name.

What we fix

We do not delete the past. We outweigh it. New publishable wins, new long-form pieces with the principal as a named source, new podcast appearances on the right shows — all timed so the page-one results six months from now reflect the trajectory the deal needs to tell. By the time the bankers start their independent search, the story is already there to find.