Technical Due Diligence Checklist

Technical due diligence is a comprehensive assessment of a company's technology assets, architecture, team capability, and processes. It identifies risks, hidden liabilities, and opportunities before M&A transactions, investments, or significant partnerships. The goal is to verify that technology claims match reality and to understand the true state of the technology organisation.

You should conduct technical due diligence before any significant financial commitment involving technology: acquisitions, major investments, partnership agreements, or when joining a company at board or executive level. Early-stage investors may conduct lighter assessments, while later-stage or acquisition scenarios typically require comprehensive reviews covering all 96 items.

A thorough technical due diligence typically takes 3-5 days of active assessment time, depending on system complexity and access to documentation, code, and team members. The elapsed time is usually 2-4 weeks to allow for scheduling interviews, reviewing materials, and producing the final report with recommendations.

Internal teams can use this checklist for self-assessment or preliminary reviews. However, for high-stakes transactions, external consultants bring objectivity, cross-industry benchmarking, and established frameworks. Independent assessment is often expected by investors and boards, and external consultants can identify issues that internal teams may overlook or downplay.

Discovering issues during due diligence is valuable - it allows you to renegotiate terms, request remediation before completion, or make an informed decision to proceed, delay, or walk away. The checklist includes a findings template to document red flags (immediate concerns), amber flags (areas requiring attention), and positive findings to give a balanced view.