Walk into technical due diligence with nothing to hide.
Investors now ask harder technical questions, especially about AI: what is genuinely yours, what depends on a model provider, and whether code written with AI tools will hold up. We help founders get the product, codebase and technical story ready before a round, so diligence confirms your pitch instead of rewriting it.
Getting technology investor-ready, stage by stage
Start earlier than feels necessary. Issues found by an investor's technical reviewer cost more time, and sometimes valuation, than issues you find and fix yourself.
Honest self-assessment
3 to 6 months beforeA senior review of architecture, code quality, security and team. You learn what a diligence reviewer would find while there is still time to act on it.
Fix what matters
1 to 3 months beforeClose serious security gaps, document the architecture, tidy up ownership of code, domains and cloud accounts, and write down how AI is used in the product and in development.
Tell a credible technical story
During the raiseDeck slides on technology and AI, a data room with architecture and security documents, and preparation for technical calls with investors or their advisors.
Spend the new capital well
After the closeA hiring plan, technology roadmap and delivery approach that turns funding into product progress, often with a lean AI-native team shape that helps stretch runway.
How technical scrutiny changes from pre-seed to Series A
Expectations vary by investor and sector, but the depth of technical questioning generally grows with the size of the cheque.
| Pre-seed | Seed | Series A | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | A prototype or early MVP | A live product with early users | Proven usage and growth |
| Core technical question | Can this team build it? | Will the architecture survive the next stage? | Is it scalable, secure and maintainable? |
| AI scrutiny | Is AI core, or a thin wrapper? | What is defensible beyond the model provider? | Inference costs, data rights, evaluation, vendor risk |
| Typical diligence | Founder conversations | Calls with a technical advisor | Formal review of code, security and team |
| Common red flag | No credible plan for who builds it | A prototype nobody can maintain | Key-person risk and undocumented systems |
Questions to answer before an investor asks them
These come up in most technical due diligence conversations. Any answer that makes you uncomfortable is where preparation should start.
Does the company own its code, IP and accounts?
Repositories, cloud accounts and domains held by the company, with IP properly assigned from founders, contractors and agencies.
How much of the product was written with AI tools, and who reviewed it?
Investors increasingly ask. A clear account of review, testing and licence checks lands far better than an awkward pause.
What happens if your model provider changes prices or terms?
Show that you know inference cost per customer, have considered alternatives and are not one API change away from a broken business model.
Is customer data handled responsibly?
Access controls, encryption, backups, and a straight answer on whether customer data is sent to third-party AI services.
Could the product handle ten times the users?
Not a perfect architecture, just a credible view of where it would strain and what fixing that would involve.
What would happen if your lead engineer left?
Documentation, shared knowledge and access arrangements that do not depend on a single person.
Independent technical help for founders preparing a round
Founders tend to come to us in one of three situations: a first raise without a technical co-founder, a seed or Series A round where an investor has asked for technical due diligence, or a product built fast (often with AI tools) that the founder suspects will not survive a close look. In every case, the work starts with an honest review rather than a polish.
Our founder, Irwan Setiawan, has more than 18 years in technology, has founded, built and exited his own ventures, and has led technology at startups and global enterprises. That background helps separate the issues that genuinely worry investors from the ones that are noise. We help you fix what matters and explain, with confidence, the trade-offs you made on purpose.
Most founders use a two to four week Advisory Sprint ahead of a raise. Some keep us on monthly through the round and into their first post-funding hires. If a rebuild is genuinely needed, we will say so plainly and help you decide whether it should happen before or after the money lands.
Questions we often hear
What is technical due diligence for startups?
Technical due diligence is an investor's review of a startup's technology before investing. It typically covers architecture, code quality, security, scalability, intellectual property, the team and the technology roadmap. Depth ranges from a single call at seed stage to a detailed review of code and infrastructure at Series A and beyond.
How do I prepare for investor technical due diligence?
Make sure the company owns all code, accounts and IP, document the architecture and key decisions, fix obvious security gaps and be ready to explain your technical trade-offs honestly. An independent review a few months before the raise shows you what an investor's advisor is likely to find.
What do investors look for in AI startups?
Investors want to know what is defensible beyond the underlying model, such as proprietary data, workflow integration, evaluation quality and distribution. They also look at inference cost per customer, dependence on a single model provider, rights to training and customer data, and whether AI-generated code in the product has been properly reviewed.
Will investors worry that our code was written with AI tools?
Not simply because AI tools were used, since most engineering teams now use them. Concern arises when nobody can explain the code, tests are missing or security basics were skipped. Being able to describe how AI-generated code is reviewed and tested is becoming part of a strong technical story.
Do I need a CTO before raising a seed round?
Not necessarily. Many seed-stage companies raise with a fractional CTO, a senior technical advisor or a strong lead engineer, as long as there is a credible plan for technical leadership. Our CTO readiness assessment can help you judge what your stage actually requires.
Related reading and tools
Tell us about your raise.
Share your stage, timeline and what you are building, including how AI is used. We will reply within 24 hours with the technical questions we expect investors to ask and where to start.
Working with companies globally · Response within 24 hours