If you are reading this, someone probably wants a closer look at your company — an investor before a round, or an acquirer before a sale. Due diligence is that closer look: a structured check that what they are buying is what they think it is. This article walks the road stage by stage, so none of it surprises you.
The road, in order
- A term sheet or letter of intent (LOI). The headline deal is agreed in principle, usually with a diligence condition attached: the terms hold if the closer look confirms the story.
- The request list. The other side's diligence team sends a list of documents and evidence they want to see — architecture, security, the team, the code, the contracts. It looks long because it is meant to be thorough.
- The documents. You gather and share your material against that list. This is the stage most companies underestimate, and the one preparation helps most.
- The meetings. Their team walks your material with the people who built it, and probes wherever the evidence feels thin.
- The analysis. They weigh what they saw: strengths, risks, gaps, and what fixing the gaps would cost.
- The report. Their findings land in a report the deal decision rests on. Significant findings can change the price or the terms — which is why finding them yourself, first, is worth so much.
Why preparation changes the outcome
A diligence team draws conclusions from what is missing as confidently as from what is present. An unanswered request does not read as neutral; it reads as a risk. Preparing means your material is organized before the list arrives, your gaps are known to you first, and every question in the meetings starts from a document you chose to share.
Where to start
The guided preparation in your readiness workspace follows this same road: it sets up your request list, sorts your documents against it, and produces a first readiness report from your own evidence. Everything it does can be changed later in your project.