What Buyers Miss:

01

The data room doesn't match the repo

02

Your diligence team can't evaluate the AI and search claims

03

Key-person risk the seller will never surface

Acquiring a company is a bet on its technology. Most acquirers underestimate what they are actually buying — and overestimate what the seller’s team will tell them about it.

Hidden technical debt, architectural lock-in, phantom security posture, engineering team dysfunction, and AI and data infrastructure that cannot scale — these are the problems that surface six months after close. By then, the deal is done, the price is paid, and the remediation cost falls entirely on you.

PE-grade diligence, run by operators

Grant and the Develomentor team run diligence the way they ran engineering organizations as operators — at Wikimedia, Lucidworks, and beyond. We are retained directly by PE firms and corporate acquirers including Munich RE, Berenson Capital, and Serent Capital to look past the seller’s narrative and tell you what you are actually buying: where the architecture will break under your investment thesis, which engineers carry the institutional knowledge, and what the realistic remediation cost looks like in dollars and quarters.

For a worked example, see our enterprise search due diligence case study — a deal where the team’s relevance and retrieval expertise surfaced platform risk that materially shaped the transaction.

Request a Diligence Engagement

This is a fixed-scope engagement: short timeframe — often two weeks or less — written deliverable, readout call. Use the form below to describe the transaction and timeline, and we will confirm availability and scope within 24 hours.

What's Included

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Architecture & Codebase Review

Structural quality, scalability constraints, dependency risk, and the gap between the data room and the actual repo.

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Engineering Team Assessment

Team structure, tenure, key-person risk, and an honest read on which engineers the target's product actually depends on.

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Security & Compliance Audit

Material vulnerabilities, compliance exposure, and the security practices the team actually follows versus what their policies say.

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AI, Search & Data Infrastructure Evaluation

Deep assessment of AI/ML systems, search architecture, and data infrastructure.

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Written Risk Assessment

Severity-rated, written for a non-technical executive audience, and suitable for board presentation.

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Executive Readout Call

We walk through the findings with your deal team and answer questions directly. One hour, included in scope.

Grant Ingersoll

Grant Ingersoll

  • CTO, Wikimedia Foundation — 18 engineering teams, 150+ people
  • Co-founder & CTO, Lucidworks — scaled to 80+ engineers
  • Author, Taming Text · Apache Lucene committer · Apache Mahout co-founder

"Grant and Vivek helped us at a critical transition time in our business. We were preparing for a high profile new product launch and both our CTO and CPO were transitioning out of the firm. They came in, quickly understood our business, and rolled up their sleeves as true partners to us as we transitioned leadership without missing a beat."

Michael Roth — Co-CEO of Next Street

Rapid turnaround. Written deliverable. Readout call. Fixed price on request.

Technical Due Diligence — FAQ

Common questions from private equity firms, corporate acquirers, and boards.

How long does a technical due diligence engagement take?

Most are fixed-scope and fast — often two weeks or less from kickoff to readout. We design the timeline around your deal calendar: if you need findings before an investment committee date, we tell you on the first call whether that is realistic and scope the work to hit it.

What is in the due diligence deliverable?

A written assessment built to be read by an investment committee or board without translation: architecture and scalability findings, technical debt with remediation cost in dollars and quarters, security posture, the engineering team and where institutional knowledge sits, AI and data infrastructure risk, and a clear read on whether the technology supports the investment thesis. Every engagement closes with a readout call.

Do you work for buyers, sellers, or both?

Primarily buyers — private equity firms, growth equity, and corporate acquirers who need an independent read past the seller’s narrative. We also run sell-side and vendor diligence to help a seller go to market with a clear-eyed picture of their own technology. We are retained directly by funds including Munich RE, Berenson Capital, and Serent Capital.

How much does technical due diligence cost?

It is a fixed-scope engagement, priced to the size and complexity of the target and confirmed in writing before you commit. Set against the size of the transaction and the cost of remediation discovered after close, diligence is among the least expensive line items in the deal. We provide a fixed price on request.

How quickly can you start once we are in LOI?

Usually within days. Diligence is time-sensitive and we staff it that way. Send the transaction details and your timeline through the form and we will confirm availability and scope within 24 hours.

Request a Diligence Engagement

Share some high level details and your desired timeline. We will confirm availability and scope within 24 hours.