The Tech Due Diligence Checklist

Diligence finds the shortcuts. Better you find them first, while there's time to fix them or explain them.

Whether it's an acquisition, a funding round or a big customer's security review, the technology questions are much the same. Who owns the code? What happens if a key person leaves? When were the backups last tested? Which contracts end if the company is sold? Surprises in the answers cost more than the gaps themselves: in price, in time, and sometimes in the deal.

This checklist works from either side of the table.

What's in it

• 33 questions in eight areas: systems and architecture, security, data and privacy, people and knowledge, software and intellectual property, contracts and costs, technical debt and scale, and operations and resilience. Each one shows what a good answer looks like, the red flag to watch for, and boxes to tick Ready, Partly or Gap.
• The data room: the 14 documents reviewers will ask to see.
• The score: a summary by area, and the five red flags that change deals.
• If you're the one being reviewed: a three-month plan to get ready, how to handle the meetings, and a page for your gaps and the plan for each.

Who it's for

Owners and CEOs preparing to raise money, sell the company or pass a big customer's review, and the investors, buyers and advisers asking the questions.

It draws on The "Later" Tax, Every Organization Has a Sarah and The Security Questions Every Executive Should Be Able to Answer.

It's a practical checklist, not legal, financial or security advice. For a transaction, have specialists review what it surfaces.

It's a 5-page PDF, made to print and write on.