Technical Due Diligence
Before money changes hands, I tell you the truth about the technology: what is real, what is risky, and what it will cost to fix, in language a deal team can act on.
When you are investing in or buying a company, the pitch always sounds great and the technology is a black box. I open the box. I assess whether the product is built the way they claim, how much technical debt and key-person risk is hiding, whether it can scale to the plan, and what it would really cost to fix what is broken. You get a clear report that feeds straight into the deal.
I also run this for founders ahead of a raise or sale, so you find and fix the problems before the other side’s diligence does.
What it covers
- Whether the product is actually built the way it is pitched
- The real state of the codebase: quality, debt, and shortcuts
- Whether the architecture can reach the growth plan
- Key-person risk and how much lives in one person’s head
- Security, data, and compliance exposure
- Third-party and licensing dependencies that could bite later
- The team: can it deliver what the plan requires
- A costed view of what it takes to fix the gaps
Who it’s for
- VCs and investors evaluating a technical investment
- Acquirers who need the truth before they buy
- Founders preparing for diligence who want no surprises
What you get
- A written diligence report pitched at the deal team, not just engineers
- A ranked list of risks with likelihood and impact
- A costed remediation view for the real problems
- A plain read on the team and key-person risk
- A debrief call to walk the deal team through what it means
How it works
- 1
Scope
We agree what the deal hinges on and where the risk tolerance is.
- 2
Access
I review the code, architecture, and documentation, and interview the team under NDA.
- 3
Assess
I separate what is solid from what is risky and quantify the gaps.
- 4
Report
I write it up for decision-makers, with risks ranked and fixes costed.
- 5
Debrief
We talk it through so the findings inform the price, the terms, or the plan.
What a deal team actually needs to know
A good diligence report answers the questions that change the price or the decision, in language a non-engineer on the deal team can act on. Is the product built the way it is pitched. How much of it lives in one person's head. Can the architecture reach the plan the founders are selling. What would it genuinely cost to fix what is broken. The failure mode of technical diligence is a pile of findings with no sense of which ones matter.
Under the hood, diligence draws on the same work I do outside of deals: reading the code the way a code review does and pressure-testing scale the way a architecture review does, then translating all of it into risk and dollars. Founders increasingly have me run this on their own company before a raise, so the problems get found and fixed on their terms rather than across the negotiating table.
Why work with me
I’m Matt George, a fractional CTO for SMBs and early-stage startups and the founder of the venture-backed legal-tech company Injuria.ai. I have built and shipped real products end to end, from scrappy MVPs to data and AI infrastructure running in production, so the advice here comes from doing the work rather than talking about it. You get a senior technical partner with nothing to sell you, no vendor kickbacks, and a bias toward shipping.
FAQ
How fast can you turn this around?
Diligence runs on deal timelines, so I keep these tight, usually three to ten days depending on the size of the system.
Can you work under NDA?
Always. Diligence is confidential by nature and I work under NDA as standard.
Do you run this for the founder side too?
Yes. Running your own diligence before a raise or sale lets you fix problems on your terms instead of discovering them across the table.
Will you give a go or no-go?
I give you the facts and the risks clearly, and my honest read. The decision stays yours, informed rather than guessed.
Related services
Architecture Review
An independent read on whether your system will hold up as you scale, with the risks and fixes ranked.
Code Review
An independent, deep read of your codebase that tells you how healthy it really is and where the risk is buried.
Security & Compliance
Right-sized security and a path to the compliance your customers and auditors ask for, without enterprise theater.
Let’s ship it! 🚀
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