Who this is for

  • Growth equity and PE teams underwriting software-heavy targets.
  • Corporate development leads evaluating acquihires or bolt-ons.
  • Search fund principals without a full technical bench but high exposure.
  • Boards requiring an independent view before refinancing or recapitalising.

Typical triggers

  • Red flags emerging during management Q&A or vendor-provided documentation.
  • Auditor, RWI insurer, or lender requesting deeper technical evidence.
  • Critical customer churn tied to reliability incidents or missed SLAs.
  • Founder transition creating uncertainty over IP continuity and leadership bench.
  • Cloud spend doubling without revenue correlation or cost allocation.

Scope

  • Product and architecture: modularity, code ownership, roadmap realism, integration readiness.
  • Security and information systems: identity management, data protection, incident readiness.
  • Delivery and reliability: release cadence, testing maturity, service level objectives.
  • Team and process: leadership bench, hiring pipeline, vendor dependencies.
  • Cost and scale: infrastructure efficiency, FinOps posture, capacity planning horizon.
  • Integration outlook: API strategy, third-party risk, data migration complexity.

Deliverables

  • Investor memo with RAG heatmap across architecture, security, delivery, team, and cost.
  • 90-day stabilization and value-creation plan aligned to your deal thesis.
  • Bill-of-Cloud analysis with savings levers and capex versus opex implications, ready to hand off to Cloud Cost Modeling & FinOps.
  • People and process maturity matrix highlighting succession and hiring gaps.
  • Evidence library citing code samples, log extracts, and policy documents.
  • Optional redacted sample report to support LP or lender communications.

Timeline and cadence

Lite (5-day) track: Day 0 kickoff, Days 1-3 interviews and artifact review, Day 4 synthesis, Day 5 executive readout. Full (10-day) track adds deeper code sampling, security testing, and integration modelling with interim briefings at Days 3 and 7 plus a final close-out on Day 10.

What we need from you

  • Dataroom or VDR access including architecture diagrams and product roadmaps.
  • Introductions to CTO or VP Engineering, lead architect, security owner, and product lead.
  • Representative customer SLAs, incident history, and support backlog.
  • Cloud cost exports for the last 12 months plus major vendor contracts.
  • Compliance documentation (SOC2, ISO, GDPR) or attestation status where available.

Pricing anchors

Lite (5-day) and Full (10-day) tracks are fixed scope. We confirm the investment once we review access, timeline, and deliverable expectations—proposals land within one business day.

Mini-FAQs

Do you test code directly?

We review repositories, CI output, and sample services. Formal penetration tests or invasive code audits require explicit approval and may extend scope; any unknowns are tagged as risks.

Can you brief our lenders or LPs?

Yes. The final readout includes lender-ready materials and we can join follow-up diligence calls to defend findings and walk through mitigations.

What if management is uncooperative?

Access issues are escalated immediately. We document every gap, and the lack of evidence becomes a risk item with impact assessment and mitigation options.

CTA

Secure a defensible view before you wire funds. We translate complex stacks into decision-grade risk and value levers for your deal team.

Book an assessment

Related services & resources

Need a pre-LOI pulse check? Start with the Tech Sanity Check to surface fast red flags. Planning post-close execution? Engage our Fractional CTO program to run the 90-day plan. Stay aligned with founders by sharing the operating cadence we use during diligence.