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ENGINEERING · DUE DILIGENCE

Technical due diligence services for investors and founders

Technical due diligence services are an independent review of a company's code, architecture, security, team and scale risk. We write it for the investors, acquirers and founders who have to decide on the deal.

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Led by Thanos GkanasCo-Founder, engineering

The drawing shows the pitch deck an investor sees and, under it, the technical risk register behind its numbers, with one person doing every deploy marked.

Investors use the review to price risk before a round or an acquisition. Founders use it to prepare, so the hard questions arrive with answers already written. Either way you get technology due diligence consulting from senior engineers who read the code themselves, and a report that separates deal-breakers from ordinary engineering debt.

01SOUND FAMILIAR?

Signs you need a technical due diligence review

  • SYMPTOM 01

    We are about to invest and cannot read the code ourselves

    Usually means: You need an independent technical due diligence consultant who reports in business terms, not jargon.

  • SYMPTOM 02

    The term sheet is signed and the data room opens next week

    Usually means: The review has to be scoped tightly and run alongside the legal and financial work.

  • SYMPTOM 03

    Our lead investor wants a technical review before closing

    Usually means: You need to know what they will find, and fix or explain it before they do.

  • SYMPTOM 04

    The product depends on one engineer nobody can replace

    Usually means: Key-person risk that any reviewer will flag, and that a buyer will price into the deal.

  • SYMPTOM 05

    We are buying a SaaS company and its stack is a black box

    Usually means: SaaS due diligence has to cover hosting cost, licences, security and how much of the product depends on people who may leave after the sale.

Led by Thanos GkanasCo-Founder, engineering

Have a deal on the table? Tell us the timeline and the questions, and hear what a review can cover in the time you have.

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02WHAT WE DO

What our technical due diligence services cover

Every review is scoped to the deal. An early investment needs a few sharp questions answered; an acquisition needs the full picture. These are the areas we cover, in the depth the decision needs.

  • Code and architecture

    We read the core of the codebase, map the architecture and judge whether it can carry the business plan. You learn what is sound, what will need rework and roughly what that rework costs.

  • Security and data protection

    We review authentication, access control, secrets, dependency risk and how customer data is stored, shared and deleted. Any gap that could expose customer data is reported as a red flag.

  • Infrastructure, cost and scale

    We check hosting, deployment, monitoring and recovery, and estimate how cost and reliability change if usage grows the way the plan says. A forecast the infrastructure cannot carry is a finding in its own right.

  • Team, process and key-person risk

    We talk to the engineers, review how work is planned, tested and released, and identify the knowledge that lives in one head. A strong team with messy code is a different risk from the reverse.

  • Third-party, licence and end-of-life risk

    We list open source licences, vendor dependencies and components close to end of life, and flag anything that could force unplanned work after the deal.

  • The written report

    A summary for decision makers, findings ranked by severity, the cost to fix each one and the red flags stated plainly. We present it on a call and answer follow-up questions from your partners or board.

Illustration of findings turned into closing conditions

03IN BRIEF

What changes an investor's decision

In technical due diligence, a finding changes the decision only if it threatens the business plan. That means the product cannot scale to the forecast, customer data is exposed, the company does not control its own code, or one person holds knowledge nobody else has. Everything else is normal engineering debt with a price tag.

That distinction is the main value of an outside reviewer. People inside a company get used to the risks they live with every day, and reviewers without startup experience can overrate anything unfamiliar. A good review names the few issues that matter and estimates what fixing them costs. It also says whether they should change the valuation, the terms, the use of funds or nothing at all. Investors get a clear basis for the deal. Founders get a fair hearing, because every issue is put in proportion instead of sitting in a long, unranked list.

Red flags versus ordinary technical debt

A red flag is an issue that could stop the deal or change its terms. Examples are no clear rights to the code, exposed customer data, a system that cannot grow without a rebuild, or a product only one person can run. Technical debt is the ordinary cost of moving fast, and every young company has some.

Reviewers should label each finding as one or the other. Red flags need a plan before closing, such as a fix, a price change or a condition in the agreement. Debt needs a budget and an order of work after the deal. Our technical due diligence checklist lists the areas a full review covers, so founders can see in advance where their own red flags might sit. If you can name your debt and show a plan for it, most reviewers will treat it as a normal part of building a company.

How to choose a technical due diligence consultant

Choose a technical due diligence consultant who is independent of the deal and has built and run products at the target's stage. They should read the code rather than only interview the team. Ask to see the report structure before you hire them, and check that it ranks findings by business impact.

Independence matters most in technical due diligence consulting. A reviewer who hopes to win follow-on engineering work has a reason to find problems, and one tied to the seller has a reason to miss them. Agree up front whether the reviewer may take follow-on work, and keep any such work separate from the review. Seniority matters next: a scale-up architecture looks very different from a pre-seed prototype, and each has to be judged against the right standard. Finally, ask how the consultant handles access to code, credentials and confidential documents, and what happens to any copies once the review ends.

04STEP BY STEP

How a technical due diligence review works

  1. 01

    Audit

    We agree the questions the review must answer, the deadline and the access. Then we read the code, the infrastructure and the technical documents in the data room, and interview the engineering team.

  2. 02

    Build

    We write the report: a summary for decision makers, ranked findings with the cost to fix each one, and the red flags stated plainly at the top.

  3. 03

    Ship

    We present the findings to your partners, board or founders and answer follow-up questions. If you want, we turn the findings into a fix plan for the months after the deal.

05ENGAGEMENT OPTIONS

Ways to work with us on due diligence

  • Red-flag review

    A short, tightly scoped review for early rounds and tight deadlines.

    You get

    • Answers to the questions that decide the deal
    • A short written summary
    • A call with the investment team

    Typical shape

    Thanos with your deal lead, to a fixed scope

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Full due diligence

    The complete review of code, architecture, security, team and scale risk.

    You get

    • A full written report with ranked findings
    • Cost estimates for each fix
    • A presentation and follow-up questions

    Typical shape

    Scoped to the deal

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Pre-raise readiness

    We review the company as an investor's reviewer would, then work with your team to fix and document what we find.

    You get

    • A mock due diligence report
    • Fixes for the red flags
    • The technical section of your data room

    Typical shape

    Alongside your team, for as long as you need

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

06WHO IT IS FOR

Who technical due diligence is for

  • Venture investors and angels

    You need an independent read of the technology before you commit, in terms your partners can act on.

  • Founders preparing to raise

    You want to see your company the way a reviewer will, with time left to fix what matters.

  • Acquirers of software companies

    You are buying a product and need to know what it really costs to own, run and grow.

Thanos Gkanas

07LED BY

Who leads the review

Every review is led by Thanos Gkanas, our Head of Engineering. He reads the code himself and presents the findings to the people making the decision.

Due diligence is not a hunt for perfect code. I look for the risks that would change the decision, and I say so plainly.

Thanos GkanasCO-FOUNDER · ENGINEERING
Thanos Gkanas
Co-Founder & Head of Engineering
Thanos's profileLinkedIn

08

Related services

When the question is mainly about code quality, code audit services are a smaller, faster option. After the deal, a fractional chief technology officer can close leadership gaps, and cloud infrastructure consulting can fix the hosting and cost findings. Due diligence is part of our custom software development for startups practice.

09

Insights on due diligence

A reviewer may also ask about AI rules and aging components. See EU AI Act enforcement: what startups calling model APIs must do and the Software end-of-life tracker for startup stacks.

10FAQ

Technical due diligence questions

What do technical due diligence services cover?

Technical due diligence services cover the code, the architecture, security and data protection, infrastructure and cost, the engineering team and its processes, and third-party and licence risk. The output is a report that ranks findings by business impact and separates the red flags that affect the deal from ordinary technical debt.

Who orders technical due diligence, the investor or the startup?

Usually the investor or acquirer orders it, and the startup gives the reviewer access to code, systems and people. Founders also commission their own review before a raise, so they can fix or explain issues before an outside reviewer finds them. Either way, the report is written for whoever commissioned it.

How long does a technical due diligence review take?

It depends on the scope and the deal timeline. A focused review that answers a few deciding questions is short. A full review of a larger platform takes longer, because it includes code reading, interviews and a written report. We agree the deadline with you before the review starts.

What is in your technical due diligence report?

The report opens with a summary for decision makers, then lists findings by area, each ranked by severity with its business impact and the cost to fix it. Red flags are stated plainly at the top. Our guide to the technical due diligence report explains what a full report covers.

How should a startup prepare for technical due diligence?

Write down the architecture, list your dependencies and licences, confirm the company owns all code and accounts, and make sure more than one person can deploy and recover the product. Fix obvious security gaps first. Then prepare access to the repository and cloud accounts, so the reviewer can begin on the first day.

Do you review SaaS businesses before an acquisition?

Yes. SaaS due diligence before an acquisition covers the code and architecture, hosting cost per customer, security and data handling, licences and uptime history. It also checks how dependent the product is on the seller's team. We focus on what the product will cost to own and grow after the deal closes.

Is technical due diligence the same as a code audit?

No. A code audit examines the code itself: quality, security, tests and what to fix. Technical due diligence includes a code review but also judges the architecture, team, processes, costs and risks against a business plan. Its purpose is to support an investment or acquisition decision.

Led by Thanos GkanasCo-Founder, engineering

Talk to Thanos about technical due diligence

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NEXT STEP

Know the key risks

Book a 20-minute call, or tell us about the deal, the timeline and what you need answered. We will propose a scope that fits the deadline.

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