Technical Due Diligence & System Audits
Independent technical assessment for investors and acquirers
Fixed-scope technical audits for VC firms, PE funds, and founders preparing for investment rounds or exits. I deliver an honest, detailed report on code quality, security, scalability risks, and team capability — typically within 1-2 weeks.
Project Status
Audit Report #2026-A
Analyzing codebase architecture...
Turnaround Time
Detailed Report
Deals Supported
Common Challenges I Solve
High-growth companies often face these technical hurdles. I provide the architectural oversight to navigate them safely.
Hidden Technical Debt
Identifying code quality issues, architectural shortcuts, and scalability ceilings that aren't visible from product demos.
Security Gaps
Discovering vulnerabilities, GDPR compliance gaps, and data handling risks before they become liabilities post-acquisition.
Team Assessment
Evaluating whether the engineering team has the skills and processes to execute on the business roadmap.
What's Included
Every project is different, but here's what you can typically expect.
Code Quality & Architecture Review
Deep analysis of codebase health — test coverage, dependency risks, tech debt quantification, and architectural patterns. No black-box scoring, just honest assessment.
Security & Compliance Audit
OWASP vulnerability scanning, GDPR data flow mapping, authentication review, secrets management, and third-party dependency risk analysis.
Scalability Assessment
Database performance under load, infrastructure cost projections at 10x/100x scale, bottleneck identification, and horizontal scaling readiness.
Open Source License Risk
Audit of all OSS dependencies for GPL contamination, license compatibility, and commercial use restrictions that could affect acquisition terms.
Team & Process Evaluation
Engineering team structure, CI/CD maturity, code review practices, incident response capability, and knowledge distribution (bus factor).
Executive Summary & Risk Matrix
Board-ready report with categorised findings (critical/major/minor), remediation estimates, and a clear go/no-go recommendation.
Common Use Cases
This service is a good fit if you need:
How We Work Together
Scope & NDA
We define the audit scope, sign NDAs, and I get access to repositories, infrastructure, and team.
Deep Dive
3-5 days of intensive analysis — code review, architecture mapping, security scanning, team interviews.
Report
Detailed written report with risk matrix, remediation roadmap, and cost estimates for each finding.
Debrief
Presentation to stakeholders (investors, board, founders) with Q&A. Optional follow-up support for remediation.
Explore Before You Contact
Not sure where to start? These free tools can help you clarify your needs and come prepared for our conversation.
Related Services
Often combined with due diligence
Ready to Get Started?
Let's discuss your project and see how I can help.
Technical Due Diligence (TDD) is the process of independently evaluating a company's technology before a significant financial event — an investment round, an acquisition, or a merger. It's the technical equivalent of a financial audit, and it's increasingly non-negotiable for deals above £1M in the UK tech market.
What Gets Missed Without TDD
I've seen deals close where the acquirer later discovered the entire product ran on a single developer's laptop cron jobs. I've reviewed codebases with zero test coverage that were presented as "enterprise-grade." I've found AWS bills that would triple at 2x the current user base because nobody had reviewed the architecture. These aren't edge cases — they're common. TDD exists to surface these risks before money changes hands, not after.
My Approach
I bring 18+ years of system architecture experience to every audit. I don't use automated scoring tools and call it a day — I read the code, interview the team, stress-test the infrastructure, and map the data flows. The result is a report that tells you exactly what you're buying, what it will cost to fix, and whether the team can execute on the roadmap.
Based in Manchester, I work with UK-based VC firms, PE funds, and founders across the country. In-person debriefs are available for London and Manchester — remote for everywhere else.