Pre-Investment
Technology & Product Due Diligence
In a field often associated with painstakingly tracking relatively insignificant costs – such as MS Office and Salesforce licenses – or meticulously counting the exact number of lines of code, Code & Co. instead prefers to guide our clients towards confident investment decisions by focusing on the issues that count.
Our reports are in-depth and substantial. However, you won’t need a computer science degree to decipher them. They are entirely focused on high-impact technology and product opportunities and risks.
Our tech and product due diligence audits follow our proprietary, tried-and-tested framework. They provide actionable insights into the opportunities and risks that really matter when making an investment decision and attempting to create accelerated value.
Our in-depth audits analyze a target’s technology, product, and engineering capabilities. The insights we deliver help our clients gain a deeper and more complete understanding of the target. While technology is all about “hard facts,” product is about knowing what "not" to build (and "why"). And engineering deals with the team and internal processes. The final piece of the puzzle we offer our clients lays out company specifics, such as a target’s maturity as a company and its domain. Prepared with our assessment and advice on these four key areas, our clients are more than ready to make strong investment decisions.
Our Framework
Our framework covers what matters! That includes (but is not limited to) the following key aspects:
Technology – The Hard Facts
- Architecture and infrastructure
- Scalability and security
- Code quality and test automation
- Domain and database design
- Tech choices and tech debt
- Algorithms and IP
Product – Knowing What Not to Build
- Platform due diligence
- Product roadmap and product vision
- KPI and conversion rate optimization (CRO)
- UX capabilities and brand value
- Digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO)
- Operations and customer support
Engineering – Who & How
- Software development life cycle (SDLC)
- Engineering processes and agile structure
- Certifications and strategy
- Knowledge silos and team structure
- Hiring roadmap and attractiveness
Work Packages
We offer two different technology and product due diligence packages: the streamlined Key Insights Audit and the more comprehensive Tech and Product Due Diligence Audit:
Key Insights Audits
Key Insights audits are concise tech and product due diligence assessments ideal for early investment rounds. They’re what venture capital funds often opt for, and they also help steer startups in the right direction.
Technology and Product Due Diligence
Technology and Product Due Diligence audits assess a target’s tech, product, and team capabilities in greater detail. They also include company and domain-specific data requests. The data provided is then benchmarked against industry best practices and our internal risk-scoring database, which calculates risk probability and potential impact using select threshold values.
Who We Are
Code & Co. is an independent advisory firm that specializes in advising funds in the global alternative investment industry. Code & Co. offers modern and holistic technology and product due diligence across the entire investment life cycle – from outside-in audits and confirmatory due diligence to portfolio audits, exit preparation, and vendor due diligence.