We've Seen This Movie
After 30+ technical due diligences and 4 acquisition integrations, we recognize patterns others miss.
Most organizations see a major technology transition once every few years. We see them dozens of times. That repetition builds judgment that no checklist can replace.
Due Diligence Patterns
“70% of scale deals fail on velocity, not architecture.”
If commit frequency drops 30%+ while headcount grows, the engine is seizing.
“Acqui-hires collapse when the top contributor has <40% attribution.”
If the best engineer joined after launch, you're buying the wrong team.
“No API = 18-month integration. Every time.”
If you can't get data out programmatically, plan to rebuild.
“Bus factor of 1 + no documentation = 2x maintenance cost within 3 years.”
That "irreplaceable" engineer is actually a liability on the balance sheet.
“GPL in the core means deal restructure or walk.”
License contamination isn't fixable post-close.
“If SSL is expired and job postings stopped, the engineers already left.”
The distressed asset is more distressed than the deck says.
Integration Patterns
“Day 1 breaks on three things: identity (SSO), access (VPN/permissions), and builds (CI/CD).”
Every time. Plan for it.
“Quick wins must be visible to the board or you lose air cover for the hard stuff.”
Politics kills integrations more than technology.
“Integration stalls when you try to merge before you stabilize.”
Secure the base, then combine.
Modernization Patterns
“Lift-and-shift costs 40% more than promised. Re-architecture costs 60% more.”
Budget for reality, not the proposal.
“The codebase everyone's afraid to touch is always the one generating the most revenue.”
That's not a coincidence.
“10x engineers don't exist. 10x blockers do.”
Find and remove them.
How We Work
Pattern Recognition Over Process
Checklists find known issues. Patterns find the issues that kill deals. We bring judgment from repetition, not templates from a methodology.
Speed Over Coverage
Find what kills value. Fast. A red flag in Week 1 is worth 10x a red flag in Week 4. We optimize for early signal, not exhaustive documentation.
Translation Over Jargon
Technical debt → EBITDA impact. Architecture decisions → CAPEX. Code quality → risk premium. If we can't translate it to money, we don't report it.
Direct Access
You work with the principal. No hand-offs to junior staff. No telephone game. The person who's seen the patterns is the person on your call.
What We Don't Do
We don't do "further analysis required." We give you a verdict.
We don't staff teams. You get one senior expert, not five juniors.
We don't create dependency. We leave behind frameworks, not retainers.
We don't tell you what you want to hear. We tell you what the evidence says.