What Foundry is, and is not
Foundry does not produce business valuations. Foundry is a publication. It synthesizes how the field thinks about pricing and discounts, and it helps founders prepare for what buyers will actually do. It does not produce opinions of value, appraisals, fair-market-value determinations, or any other formal valuation work product. Founders seeking a formal valuation should engage a certified business appraiser.
The Cordis MRI, the diagnostic engagement Foundry references, is a buyer-readiness diagnostic. It characterizes how buyers in this market are likely to apply the discount stack at the founder's current state of readiness, and it names the operational work that addresses each discount. The MRI is not a valuation. Neither is the Exit Readiness Scorecard. Neither is The Misalignment Tax monograph. Where Foundry cites third-party valuation literature (Damodaran's Investment Valuation, Pratt's Stats, BVR resources), the citation is to those third parties' work, not to a Foundry-produced value opinion.
How Cordis is referenced in pieces
Each Foundry piece carries at most one quiet contextual CTA pointing the reader toward a Cordis product or engagement (the Cordis MRI, the Foundry subscription, the Buyer Lens subscription, one of the paid monographs, or the Exit Readiness Scorecard). The choice of CTA is set by the editor based on the topic of the piece, not by Cordis BD.
The CTA is positioned at the end of the piece, in a discrete box, after the writing is done. We do not interrupt pieces with mid-article CTAs. We do not pop up CTAs on scroll. We do not run sticky banners or exit-intent modals.
The footer of every page contains the full Cordis ladder, naming Cordis Private Client and Cordis Group as sister firms and the MRI as the typical entry point. This is permanent and visible, not hidden.
Sponsorship policy
Foundry does not accept sponsorship of any kind in Phase 1. No sponsored content, no native advertising, no paid placement, no affiliate revenue. If we ever do, the disclosure will be in the masthead, on every relevant piece, and on this page, before the first sponsored unit ships.
Anonymization policy for case studies and Field Notes
Foundry pieces in the Field Notes column and elsewhere often draw on real engagements. The anonymization policy is strict:
- Specific company identities are never named without the company's explicit written permission.
- Geographic detail is reduced to a region or generalized location when the specific city would identify the business.
- Sector detail is preserved at the industry level, but specific sub-sectors that would identify a small set of plausible companies are generalized.
- Founder identities are anonymized via pseudonym (e.g., "Dale," "Maria"), and biographical details are altered when retaining them would identify the founder.
- Financial detail is generalized to bands rather than specific figures, except where the specific figure is essential to the reader's understanding and would not identify the company.
Where a piece draws on Cordis Institute's review of multiple engagements, the synthesis is described as such, with no individual engagement identified.
Editorial independence statement
The Foundry editor reports to Ron Smith as Publisher, not to Cordis BD or Cordis Group leadership. The editorial calendar is set by the editor with input from (but not approval by) Cordis. Sales and BD do not have authority to modify, kill, or pressure editorial decisions.
When a Foundry piece would credibly critique Cordis Group, Cordis Private Client, Cordis Institute, or any of Foundry's commercial partners, the piece is written and shipped with the same editorial discipline as any other piece. Conflicts between editorial and commercial are escalated to the Publisher, who resolves them.
Correction policy
When Foundry makes an error of fact, we correct it. The correction appears on the affected piece, dated, with a brief note explaining what was corrected and when. Significant corrections (e.g., a number that affects the central argument of a piece) are also noted at the head of the piece for 30 days.
We do not silently change pieces. Editorial improvements (typos, light copy edits, link updates) are made without a correction note. Substantive changes that affect meaning carry a dated correction note.
Source citation discipline
Foundry cites widely and visibly. When a claim draws on prior work, we name the prior work. Academic literature, practitioner accounts, trade research, named frameworks, named publications. Cordis Institute's own work is cited the same way as anyone else's, with the same evidentiary discipline.
When Foundry makes a claim that draws on Cordis Institute's review of engagements, the citation is framed as such, with the scope of the underlying work disclosed.
What we will not do
- We will not publish value claims about Cordis or its sources. Most-cited, not best. Most prominent, not leading. Factual claims, never value claims.
- We will not write in marketing-decay vocabulary. No holistic, no tailored, no white-glove, no trusted partner.
- We will not write in hustle-culture vocabulary. No level up, no crush, no unlock, no 8-figure.
- We will not use em dashes. The rule is applied across all surfaces.
- We will not put the founder's name on individual pieces. The byline is institutional.
Signed for Foundry,
Ron Smith, Publisher