Structural Performance Audit
A 21-day diagnostic that defines enforceable capital boundaries before additional exposure compounds.
RiverHouse works from supplied data and planning output for 21 days. No system access required. No software. No implementation project.
The output is an executive-ready stabilization blueprint with documented thresholds, a forward commitment risk map, and a prioritized 30/60/90 corrective sequence. If capital behavior corrects once thresholds are defined, no further engagement is required.
What the Audit Examines
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On-hand, on-order, and in-transit evaluated together against validated demand. Forward exposure across two to three quarters mapped before it becomes a liquidity event.
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Margin, velocity, and capital weight analyzed to test whether expansion supports profitable growth or dilutes working capital.
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Channel margin pressure tested against capital investment to confirm whether return is aligned with exposure.
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Buying rhythm, OTB logic, override patterns, and vendor minimum pressures evaluated to isolate where optimism becomes liability.
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Decision rights across product, finance, and operations mapped to identify gaps, duplication, and silent overrides.
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Demand signal evaluated for accuracy, bias, and structural gaps. Where forecast optimism is systematically converting to fixed liability, the mechanism is identified.
Seven signals your buy is trapping capital
A short diagnostic you can run against your own book. No call required.
Who This Is For
Revenue is growing but cash feels tighter than the P&L suggests.
High-velocity SKUs go out of stock while slow-movers accumulate.
Capital is being committed 120 to 180 days out without defined thresholds.
The buy does not reflect the forecast.
Finance, operations, and product are making inventory decisions on different timelines.
If any of that is familiar, this is the entry point.
A specialty brand growing revenue at 70% year-over-year was committing capital across the full size range at launch before demand by size was validated. 80% of revenue was concentrated in three of seven sizes.
The audit identified the sequencing failure and defined a restructured procurement approach: launch-to-test instead of launch-to-live. Forward capital exposure was concentrated into validated sizes before commitment.
No further engagement was required.
If 21 days is more than you need right now
Some brands know something is wrong in the buy and are not ready to commit three weeks of their team's data and attention to finding out what.
The Inventory Capital Exposure Review is the shorter version. Five to seven days, $4,000, fixed scope. A point-in-time read on the capital currently committed to inventory: what is productive, what is stuck, and what is dead. It stops at the read and does not go to thresholds, corrective sequence, or governance.
If it surfaces enough to act on and you continue to the audit within 30 days, the fee applies in full toward it.
If thresholds alone are not enough
The audit tells you whether defined thresholds will restore discipline on their own. Sometimes they do, and the engagement ends there.
When they do not, the next step is Infrastructure Build: 60 to 90 days installing the structure the buy runs on.
The first phase establishes control.
The gate is defined, the cadence is installed, and the first full commit cycle runs through the new authorization structure.
The second enforces and calibrates.
The gate operates under real conditions, threshold gaps get tightened, and RiverHouse is present at every decision point.
The third validates durability.
If the cadence holds, intensity steps down. If it does not, the engagement moves to Embedded Inventory Leadership.