Due Diligence
Findings you can defend, line by line
Every observation in Lens traces back to a document, a request response or a note. When the investment committee challenges a conclusion, the evidence is one click away rather than one email chain away.
The method
Six steps, run the same way every time
Lens carries the Beyond M&A diligence method — refined across 200+ technology due diligence engagements — so the process is repeatable whoever is running the deal.
- 01
Outside-in assessment
Independent read of the target's technology, products, cyber posture and external risk before a single document is requested.
- 02
Information requests
Documentation, architecture, security, operations, product and financial information raised and tracked through the digital IRL.
- 03
Management interviews
Meet the leadership team to validate strategy, delivery capability and the assumptions behind the plan.
- 04
Tech & product assessment
Architecture, scalability, cybersecurity, engineering practice, AI and product maturity assessed against the workstream spine.
- 05
Commercial challenge
Findings are tested against the investment thesis, linking technology reality to commercial value and growth.
- 06
Report & present
A clear, actionable report with risks, opportunities and recommendations — assembled from evidence already in the system.
Typical scope
- /Team
- /Commercial model
- /Product & tech roadmap
- /AI use & defensibility
- /Technology & architecture
- /Cybersecurity
- /Operations
- /Development processes
- /Customer onboarding
- /Back-office IT
Workstream taxonomy
The same spine on every deal
A fixed workstream structure means findings, requests and documents land in comparable places across engagements — and a new analyst knows where to look on day one.
- IT01Strategy & roadmap
- IT02Organisation & team
- IT03Architecture
- IT04Applications
- IT05Infrastructure & cloud
- IT06Data & analytics
- IT07Engineering practice
- IT08Product & delivery
- IT09Security
- IT10Security governance
- IT11Resilience & continuity
- IT12Compliance & privacy
- IT13Third parties & contracts
- IT14Cost & licensing
- IT15Service management
- IT16Integration readiness
Extend or rename workstreams per engagement type — technology DD, vendor DD, advisory or combined diligence and integration.
Digital IRL
Information requests that close themselves out
Raise requests from a stock library or from scratch, tag them to a workstream, set priority and owner, and capture responses inline. Completion is visible to both sides without a chasing spreadsheet.
Evidence trail
From document to finding and back again
- 01
Collect
Documents arrive into the workstream dataroom, or bridge in from the target's external VDR. Nothing needs downloading to be read.
- 02
Interrogate
Dataroom analytics profile how the target's team actually documents its work — authorship, creation dates, keyword usage, read activity.
- 03
Observe
Observations are raised against a workstream and linked to the source that prompted them, with materiality set by a human.
- 04
Report
The report is assembled from observations that already carry their evidence, so review is verification rather than reconstruction.
Index scoring
Comparable scores, not adjectives
Tech maturity, security, security governance and team analyser scores are produced from structured assessment rather than freehand judgement, so one target can be read against another and against itself over time.
4
Index scores per target
16+
Workstreams assessed
Output
Ready for the committee
Management summary
Generated from project evidence, versioned, and reviewed by the lead before it leaves the system.
Key findings and risks
Each finding carries its workstream, materiality and the sources that support it.
Appendices
Full information-request log and evidence index exported alongside the report.
What the buyer receives
Beyond the red flags
Diligence should improve the investment decision, not simply catalogue problems. Lens structures both sides of the output.
Risks
- —Technology red flags
- —Investment requirements
- —Cyber assessment
- —Architecture assessment
- —Product assessment
- —Management assessment
- —AI assessment
Opportunities
- —100-day priorities
- —Product opportunities
- —AI opportunities
- —Value creation ideas
- —Post-merger approach
Run your next diligence in Lens
A 30-minute walkthrough of diligence, integration and value creation in one system.