Technology is often the least examined part of a deal and one of the most expensive to get wrong. Custom software nobody else can maintain, data that does not reconcile, one person holding every password: none of it appears in the financials until after closing.
I review technology the way an owner would, because I have been one. I have founded, co-founded or helped lead more than 20 companies, raised capital, and taken Set Jet from a standing start to the doorstep of a NASDAQ listing. I know what investors ask, and what a founder would rather they did not find.
What you get
- A written assessment of the platform, infrastructure, data, security and team, in language owners and investors can act on.
- A risk register: what could fail, what depends on a single person or vendor, and what is undocumented.
- A view on scalability: whether the systems can carry the growth the deal assumes.
- Ownership and access review: who controls the code, the accounts, the domains and the data.
- A remediation plan, ordered by what affects value most.
How the engagement runs
- Scope. We agree what the review must answer and the timeline the deal allows.
- Review. I examine the systems, architecture, data, security practices and documentation, and speak with the people who run them.
- Report. You receive written findings, a risk register and a prioritized list of fixes.
- Follow-through. For owners, I can lead the remediation before going to market. For buyers, I can stay on to stabilize and integrate what you acquired.
Proof
The best evidence is the acquisition work itself. At Profit Streams, a technology rollup in restaurant point of sale, online reservations, reviews and loyalty, I was the product architect. I worked with the CEO on M&A diligence to identify and evaluate acquisition targets, carried out the technical assessments of prospective acquisitions, and then led the integration of the companies we bought into one product suite. I oversaw millions in monthly spend and acquisitions.
That means I have had to live with my own findings. Whatever a review missed before closing became my problem to integrate afterwards.
I also know what a review should surface, because I have been brought in to repair it. At SottoPelle Therapy, I found ten disconnected offices, infected PCs, paper charts and a failing EMR. At Epic Golf Club, member data lived in three databases that never agreed. Those are the conditions a review is meant to find before they become the buyer's problem.
Frequently asked questions
Who is this for?
Acquirers and investors evaluating a company, and owners preparing for a sale, a raise or a succession who want an honest picture first.
What do you look at?
The software and who can maintain it, the infrastructure and its age, the quality and consistency of the data, security and access, vendor and license dependencies, and how much of the operation lives in one person's head.
We are selling in the next year or two. When should we start?
Early enough to fix what the review finds. Consolidating systems and documenting them takes time, and it is far better done on your schedule than a buyer's. The scorecard is a quick first read on where you stand.
Can you stay involved after the review?
Yes. Many reviews lead into a fractional CTO engagement to carry out the plan.