What the work looks like.

Independent analysis of market dynamics, operating structure, and valuation — built from what companies actually file and disclose. The analysis stays within what the disclosure supports, because that discipline is what makes the conclusions worth relying on.

The method is register-based: each company's filings produce a body of structural observation that builds over time. The NVIDIA register now spans twelve analytical elements across multiple quarters. The SpaceX register includes fifteen pieces tracking the company from pre-IPO disclosure through its record-breaking public offering. CoreWeave's register began with its first post-IPO financials.

This work is available for institutional research, media background, and commissioned analysis. MarketWatch and other outlets have cited the structural analysis in their coverage. The engagement can be a single commissioned piece, a retained research relationship, or background briefing for journalists covering companies in the registers.

View the published structural analysis →

Ongoing advisory for boards, special committees, or institutional investors who need an independent structural perspective on market dynamics, operating performance, or valuation questions — from someone whose only obligation is to the accuracy of the read.

The value is the disposition as much as the skill. The analysis stays within what the document supports. The perspective builds quarter over quarter. And the independence of the read is the point of the engagement — a structural view that follows the facts wherever they lead.

This is a retained relationship, not a one-off project. The advisory builds context over time — tracking market shifts, operating changes, and valuation dynamics across reporting periods — so the perspective deepens rather than starting from scratch each quarter.

Revenue acceleration, pricing, sales management, competitive positioning, and strategic planning — from start-up stage through $2 billion in revenue. The engagement produces clear objectives, financial models, and measurable milestones that connect strategy to shareholder value.

We build growth-oriented strategic plans that survive contact with the market — grounded in honest assessment of where the company actually stands, what the market will actually bear, and what the organization can actually execute.

Where near-term revenue is within reach but not being captured — pricing misalignment, sales process drift, messaging that sells features instead of results — we identify those gaps and help close them within current markets and customers, without waiting years for a transformation to pay off.

Full-cycle M&A from initial planning through post-close integration. Over 70 completed transactions — from $1 million technology acquisitions to $200 million acquisitions and $300 million divestitures — across buy-side M&A, sell-side advisory, and corporate investing roles, totaling more than $2.4 billion in aggregate value.

The track record reflects something beyond volume. One technology company made three acquisitions in the same period: we planned and executed two; they handled the third internally. The two CFA-led deals exceeded their Year 1 EBITDA targets — one by roughly four times plan. The internal deal fell short. Same company, same era, same resources. Different process, different outcome. Read the case study →

The engagement covers target identification and prioritization, synergy and risk analysis, negotiation advisory, third-party coordination, and integration planning and management from due diligence through close and beyond. We identify risks and opportunities early enough to manage them in the deal structure, not after close.

Comprehensive operating advisory for PE-backed software and services companies — spanning pre-close diligence through integration, growth, and exit readiness. The engagement covers the full range of operating disciplines: strategic planning, growth acceleration, M&A advisory, post-transaction integration, pricing and sales programming, vendor and procurement management, and corporate strategy.

Most of those disciplines already have their chapter in the operating group playbook. One doesn't. Marketing and media spend is commonly the second or third largest discretionary cost line in consumer-facing portfolio companies — and unlike headcount, real estate, IT, and procurement, it has almost never been independently reviewed. The agencies and platforms measuring it are paid to spend it. Every major ad platform reports its own return on ad spend; add them together and they routinely exceed total company revenue, because they cannot all be right simultaneously.

Through Cape Fear Advisors, Greg Collins brings both the operating group perspective and the measurement infrastructure to address that gap. The analytical engine behind every review is C3 Metrics — an AI-powered independent attribution platform with zero channel affiliations, attributing 2.49 billion advertising touchpoints monthly. Greg serves as CEO of C3 Metrics alongside his advisory work at Cape Fear Advisors, making this a single engagement that combines operating group experience, finance fluency, and proprietary measurement infrastructure.

Programs with no prior independent measurement typically show 15%+ efficiency improvement in year one. The average return on measurement investment is 6×. Portfolio companies that begin independent measurement during the hold period exit with a documented efficiency trajectory — auditable, defensible, and valuable to acquirers in ways platform-reported metrics are not.