Technical Due Diligence
An independent, evidence-based assessment of any technology, so you can invest, acquire, fundraise, or replatform with confidence and without surprises.
What Is Technical Due Diligence?
Technical due diligence is an independent assessment of a company's technology: its codebase, architecture, infrastructure, security posture, engineering team, and processes. The goal is to give decision-makers an honest, evidence-based picture of what they're dealing with: what's solid, what's at risk, and what it will cost to address the gaps.
Unlike a standard code review, technical due diligence is scoped to inform a business decision. Whether that decision is a funding round, an acquisition, a strategic partnership, or an insourcing plan, the findings are framed around risk, cost, and opportunity, not just engineering quality in the abstract.
Most technical due diligence is commissioned by investors and acquirers after a deal is already in motion. But the founders and operators who get the most value from it do it before: before their Series A, before bringing a codebase in-house, before committing to a replatform. A proactive tech audit gives you the same information your investors will find, with time to act on it.
Who Needs Technical Due Diligence
Technical due diligence is valuable any time a significant decision depends on understanding the real state of a technology. These are the situations where it matters most.
Founders Preparing to Fundraise
Investors will conduct their own technical review. Why not find the issues first? A pre-fundraise tech audit lets you fix critical gaps, prepare credible answers, and walk into due diligence with confidence. It's one of the highest-leverage investments a founder can make before a Series A or B.
Investors Evaluating an Acquisition
Before committing capital, you need an honest assessment of what you're buying. Code quality, architectural scalability, security posture, hidden technical debt, and team capability all need scrutiny. An independent technical review surfaces risks that financial due diligence alone will never catch.
Companies Pre-Merger or Pre-Integration
Merging engineering organizations is expensive when surprises emerge after close. A technical review before integration planning reveals incompatibilities, identifies the codebase risks that will slow integration, and gives your teams a shared starting point for the work ahead.
Boards Assessing Technology Risk
Boards increasingly need to understand technology risk, not just financial risk. Whether it's a platform dependency, a compliance gap, or an architecture that can't support the next phase of growth, a technical review gives directors the clarity they need to govern effectively.
Founders Evaluating an Outsourced Codebase
You've been relying on an agency or offshore team and you're considering bringing development in-house. Before you hire or insource, you need an objective assessment of what's been built: quality, maintainability, test coverage, documentation, and the real cost of owning it going forward.
Companies Considering Replatforming
Replatforming decisions are costly if made without a full picture. A technical review helps you understand what's worth keeping, what genuinely needs rebuilding, and what the migration will realistically require, so you can make the decision with evidence, not assumptions.
What's Covered
A thorough technical review spans the full stack, from code to culture. Every engagement is scoped to your specific situation, but these are the core areas assessed.
Codebase Quality
Readability, maintainability, modularity, test coverage, and code hygiene. We assess whether the codebase is a sustainable engineering asset or an accumulating liability.
Architecture & Scalability
System design, service boundaries, data modeling, and the ability of the current architecture to support projected growth without a full rewrite.
Security & Compliance
Authentication, authorization, data handling, dependency vulnerabilities, secrets management, and any compliance gaps relevant to your industry (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI).
Infrastructure & DevOps
Cloud infrastructure, deployment pipelines, observability, disaster recovery posture, environment parity, and operational reliability.
Team & Process Assessment
Engineering team structure, delivery processes, documentation culture, knowledge concentration risks, and bus-factor exposure across critical systems.
Technical Debt Inventory
Catalogue of accumulated shortcuts, deferred decisions, and deprecated dependencies, with an honest assessment of what it will cost to address them and what the risk is if you don't.
The Process
A structured engagement with a clear timeline, defined access requirements, and a written deliverable at the end.
Scope
We begin with a scoping call to understand your goals, timeline, and what decisions this review needs to inform. Together we define the boundaries of the assessment: what systems are in scope, what access is available, and what the final deliverable needs to address.
Assess
I conduct a structured review of the codebase, architecture, infrastructure, and documentation. This typically involves repository access, architecture walkthroughs with the engineering team, and review of technical documentation, deployment configurations, and incident history.
Analyze
Findings are synthesized into a coherent picture: where the risks are, how severe they are, what's causing them, and what they'll cost to address. Every finding is grounded in evidence and prioritized by business impact, not engineering preference.
Deliver
You receive a written report with an executive summary, detailed findings, a risk matrix, and a prioritized set of recommendations. I walk through the report with you and any relevant stakeholders, answer questions, and make sure the findings are actionable.
Deliverables
Every engagement concludes with a written report and a live walkthrough. Here's exactly what you'll receive.
Executive Summary
A concise overview written for non-technical stakeholders: overall technology health, top risks, and the key decisions the review informs. Readable in under 10 minutes.
Detailed Findings Report
A thorough written assessment covering each area of the review with specific findings, evidence, and context. Includes both strengths and risks, not just a list of problems.
Risk Matrix
A structured breakdown of identified risks by severity, likelihood, and business impact. Designed to support investment decisions, negotiation, and post-close planning.
Prioritized Recommendations
Actionable recommendations ranked by urgency and impact, not a generic checklist. Each recommendation includes what to do, why it matters, and a rough effort estimate.
Presentation & Walkthrough
A live session to walk through the findings with your team, investors, or board. I answer questions, clarify technical context, and make sure the report lands clearly with every audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about technical due diligence engagements.
Timelines vary based on scope and access. A focused review of a single product or codebase typically takes one to two weeks from access to delivered report. More complex assessments covering multiple systems, integrations, or a larger engineering organization may take two to four weeks. For time-sensitive deals, expedited timelines are available. We'll scope the timeline clearly at the start of the engagement.
At minimum, I need read access to the code repositories, architecture documentation, and a walkthrough with someone who knows the systems (typically a senior engineer or CTO). For a more thorough review, access to infrastructure configuration, deployment pipelines, monitoring dashboards, and incident records is helpful. I work within whatever access constraints exist, and I'm comfortable with NDA arrangements before any access is granted.
A code review is a line-by-line examination of code quality in a narrow scope. Technical due diligence is a business-oriented assessment of the entire technology function. Codebase quality is one input, but the review also covers architecture, infrastructure, security, team, processes, and organizational risk. The output is designed to inform decisions at the executive or investor level, not just improve the code.
That depends on who commissioned the engagement. In investor-commissioned reviews, the report is delivered to the investor, though I'm happy to share findings with the target company's technical team afterward, as this often leads to a productive conversation. In founder-commissioned reviews, the report belongs entirely to the founder. I can also produce tailored versions of the report for different audiences if needed.
Yes, and this is one of the most common requests I receive. Outsourced codebases often have specific patterns: inconsistent quality across contractors, sparse documentation, tightly coupled architecture, and test coverage gaps. I'm experienced in assessing these environments objectively, without preconceived assumptions, and delivering findings that give you a clear picture of what you actually own and what it will take to maintain or improve it.
The report is designed to be self-contained and actionable. After delivery, I'm available for follow-up questions and clarification sessions. If you need ongoing support to act on the recommendations (whether that's architectural guidance, engineering leadership, or a structured improvement plan) I can help with that too, either directly or through a follow-on engagement. Many clients use the findings as the starting point for a broader technical advisory relationship.
Related Services
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Senior technical leadership on a part-time basis, setting architectural direction, leading your engineering team, and driving technology strategy without the overhead of a full-time hire.
Software Architecture Consulting
Architecture design, system design review, and technical decision-making support for teams building new systems or evaluating whether their current architecture can support the next phase of growth.
Ready to Know What You're Really Dealing With?
Whether you're preparing to raise, evaluating an acquisition, or simply need an honest picture of your technology before making a major decision, I can help. Let's talk through what you need and whether a technical review is the right next step.