Accelerating deal flow and quantifying value creation opportunities: Introducing the Go-to-Market Maturity Assessor (GMA)

In today’s hyper-competitive investment landscape, private equity firms and financial buyers face mounting pressure to move quickly and decisively. The market rewards speed—but punishes missteps. Whether it’s deal sourcing, evaluating a target’s commercial potential, or charting a clear post-acquisition growth path, the demands on investment teams have never been greater.

At MAST, we’ve seen these pressures firsthand across countless client engagements. That’s why we developed the Go-to-Market Maturity Assessor (GMA)—a proprietary tool designed to give investors a strategic edge both before and after the deal closes. The tool is designed to address some of the industries top challenges.

The Challenges Facing Private Equity and Financial Buyers

Deal Sourcing Speed

In today’s hyper-competitive private equity (PE) landscape, deal sourcing is more challenging than ever. Firms are under pressure to identify and pursue high-quality opportunities quickly, but the sheer volume of potential targets and the need for thorough due diligence slow the process. The number of PE firms has nearly doubled over the past decade, intensifying competition and making it harder to find proprietary deals before rivals do. Traditional deal sourcing methods—relying heavily on networks, cold outreach, and manual research—struggle to keep pace with the market’s speed and complexity.

Target Selection Challenges

Selecting the right targets is another major hurdle. Limited market visibility, information silos, and fragmented intelligence make it difficult for firms—especially mid-sized players—to access a diverse and high-quality pipeline. Even with access to large databases, distinguishing the most promising companies from the noise requires significant resources and expertise. Evaluating early-stage or less transparent companies is particularly difficult, as data gaps and limited performance history increase risk and uncertainty.

Quantifying Value Creation Opportunities

Perhaps the most critical—and complex—challenge is accurately quantifying value creation opportunities at a target company. PE firms need to identify not just where value can be unlocked, but also to measure and prioritize these opportunities with data-driven rigor. This is essential for both pre-deal valuation and post-deal planning. However, many firms lack the integrated analytics and structured frameworks required to move beyond high-level assumptions to actionable, quantified value creation plans. As a result, value creation potential is often underestimated, overlooked, or left unrealized.

How GMA Solves These Challenges

Accelerates Deal Sourcing and Screening

GMA leverages advanced analytics and a structured assessment framework to rapidly evaluate a large pool of targets against key go-to-market criteria. By automating core elements of the screening process, GMA enables deal teams to focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities—reducing time-to-decision and increasing the quality and quantity of leads.

Enhances Target Selection

The tool provides a holistic, data-driven view of each target’s go-to-market maturity, consolidating disparate data sources and eliminating information silos. This comprehensive approach helps firms see beyond surface-level indicators, uncover hidden gems, and make more informed choices—regardless of network limitations or market visibility.

Quantifies Value Creation Opportunities

GMA’s proprietary methodology goes beyond qualitative assessments to deliver quantified, actionable insights into where and how value can be created at each target. Whether pre- or post-deal, the tool identifies specific levers—such as sales effectiveness, market expansion, and pricing optimization—along with estimated financial impact. This empowers deal teams to build robust investment cases, bridge valuation gaps, and accelerate post-close value capture.

Why GMA is a Game-Changer for Private Equity

In a market where speed, accuracy, and differentiation are paramount, the Go-to-Market Maturity Assessor provides a decisive edge. It enables private equity and financial buyers to:

• Move faster from deal origination to close, without sacrificing rigor

• Select better targets with confidence, even in unfamiliar sectors

• Quantify and prioritize value creation opportunities with data-driven precision

With GMA, firms can transform their approach to M&A and value creation—unlocking new growth and outperforming the competition.

Ready to accelerate your deal process and capture more value? Contact us to learn more about the Go-to-Market Maturity Assessor and how it can power your next investment.

Contact us to learn more