Tier One · Free

The publication and the diagnostic.

The thinking is the brand. The publication is free and always will be. The diagnostic is a buyer-lens self-assessment, same risk axes a real diligence team would score you on, finished in twelve minutes, no email required.

Quarterly issue · Monthly piece · Email
A quarterly themed issue plus one substantial piece a month. Buyer Lens, The Operator, and Field Notes columns. Read in browser, in email, or in print on request.
Free · always
Subscribe
Diagnostic · 12 minutes · No email gate
A buyer-lens self-assessment scoring your business across customer concentration, key-person dependency, documentation, recurring mix, and decision-rights legibility. Personal to you. Honest with you.
Free · always
Take the scorecard
Tier Two · For Sale

Reports and monographs.

Long-form deep work that lives outside the regular publication. Sold individually, in PDF and (where it earns it) in print. The kind of writing you put on a shelf.

Monograph · 70 pages · PDF + Print
The reference text on how buyers actually price lower-middle-market businesses, what they discount for, and the work that closes the gap before the room. Synthesized from the most-cited research in the field, Cordis Institute's work on 200+ engagements, the academic literature on private-company pricing and discount stacks, practitioner accounts from buyers and bankers, and the diligence frameworks that survive a real transaction.
$97
Buy
Sector Report · 38 pages · PDF
A buyer-side breakdown of the multiple compression and premium drivers in industrial services lower-middle-market deals, 2024 to 2026. Sector-specific. For founders who want the comp data without the analyst report.
$197
Buy
Tier Three · By Application

Subscriptions, cohorts, and the diagnostic engagement.

Membership tiers and engagements that require a fit conversation before access. We open these on a schedule and review applications quarterly. The Cordis MRI is the one you can engage at any time.

Diagnostic engagement · 4 weeks
The diagnostic Cordis uses with its own clients, applied to your business. Five risk axes scored, scored again with documentation, and returned with a written buyer-lens read of how the discount stack is likely to apply and the operational work that closes each discount. The next step when you are ready to act on what you have learned.
By engagement
Begin intake
Monthly subscription · By application
A monthly briefing of buyer-side thinking, comp data, and sector reads, written for active sellers in the 12 to 24 month window. Limited to a few hundred members. Applications open quarterly. Next opening, October 2026.
$97 · monthly
Express interest
Cohort · By invitation
A small-cohort engagement for founders 12 to 36 months from a transition. Playbooks, monthly office hours, and direct access to Cordis senior staff. Cohorts of 12. Run twice a year. Next cohort begins October 2026.
By invitation
Express interest
Annual · In person
An annual gathering of Foundry readers, Cordis clients, and a small number of invited operators. Two days, one venue, no panels. Next Summit, 2027.
By invitation
Express interest
Advisory engagement · By referral
M&A advisory for $5M+ enterprise value businesses, with flexibility for the right fit. Sister firm to Cordis Private Client. The MRI is the typical entry point.
By referral
Learn more
Advisory engagement · By referral
Premium succession and transition advisory for $5M+ EBITDA businesses. Sister firm to Cordis Group. The MRI is the typical entry point.
By referral
Learn more

What we sell

Reading, tools, and access to the same diligence thinking we apply inside Cordis engagements. Nothing more.

What we do not

Courses. Memberships you cannot leave. Coaching certifications. Anything that requires you to think of yourself as someone in need of fixing.

Why the application

Some products work best in small groups of right-fit founders. The application is not gatekeeping. It is sequencing, for both sides.