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Technical Due Diligence Practice
Every technology decision has a hidden ledger. We read it before you sign.
Sphere's diligence practice serves two audiences with one discipline: investors evaluating a target, and operators evaluating their own stack. Six practice areas. One methodology. Findings in weeks, not quarters.
Organizations around the world trust us
What a Sphere TDD™ engagement typically surfaces
Illustrative. Based on 200+ real Sphere TDD engagements. Individual findings vary by company size and complexity.
What is technical due diligence?
Technical due diligence is a structured, independent assessment of a company's software, infrastructure, security, engineering organization, and product — used to quantify risk, validate value, and plan remediation before a transaction, investment, or major operating decision. Sphere delivers it across six practice areas, for both investors and operators, in four weeks or less.
Sphere Inc. — enterprise AI, data & digital engineering consultancy since 2005 · 300+ client organizations · 28 countries · NPS 75 · $2B+ revenue impacted
The Stakes
Diligence used to mean “check the code before the deal closes.” That definition is now dangerously narrow.
Technical debt compounds silently between funding rounds. AI systems are writing production code faster than anyone is reviewing it. Enterprise infrastructure decisions made a decade ago are quietly capping growth today. The question is no longer whether to look — it's which lens to look through.
Average risk exposure Sphere surfaces per diligence engagement — before it reaches the closing table or the board deck.
Deal diligence, IT, technical debt, AI, AI-built systems, and product — because a single checklist can't see six kinds of risk.
From kickoff to a defensible findings report with a costed remediation roadmap — built for deal timelines and board calendars.
The Practice
One methodology. Six practice areas.
Every engagement runs on Sphere TDD™ — the same evidence-driven method — scoped to the decision you're actually making. Start where your risk lives.
Software & Tech-Enabled Diligence
Comprehensive diligence for software and tech-enabled targets. Core focus areas: infrastructure, SDLC, information security, engineering organization, business continuity, software architecture, customer support, product management, and enterprise systems. Mix and depth calibrated to industry, target, and investment strategy.
IT Diligence
Technical diligence on critical business systems and infrastructure — for carve-outs, non-software targets, and operators who run on technology without selling it. Focused on infrastructure, information security, organization, and enterprise systems (ERP, CRM, core platforms).
Technical Debt Diligence
A quantified inventory of what's been deferred: aging architecture, blocked migrations, brittle integrations, and the compounding interest they charge against your roadmap. Delivered as a costed register your board and buyers can act on.
AI Diligence
Independent assessment of AI products, models, and AI-first companies: model provenance and data rights, evaluation rigor, cost-to-serve economics, guardrails and governance, and whether the "AI" in the deck matches the AI in production.
Diligence on AI-Built Systems
Codebases increasingly written by AI agents with humans in the loop carry a new risk profile: uneven review coverage, license and provenance gaps, and hidden fragility under change. We assess how the system was built — not just what was built.
Product Diligence & Growth
Beyond "does the code work" to "will the product win": product management maturity, roadmap credibility, customer support signals, retention mechanics, and whether the technology can carry the growth plan the deal is priced on.
Who We Serve
Two audiences. The same need for technical truth.
Before the wire goes out
- →PE and growth equity funds validating a platform or add-on thesis
- →Corporate development teams pricing integration risk into the deal
- →VCs assessing AI-first companies where the model is the moat
- →Lenders and LPs who need independent technical assurance
- →Sell-side teams preparing for buyer scrutiny before going to market
Before the risk becomes the headline
- →CEOs who need an independent read on their own technology organization
- →CTOs quantifying technical debt to win the remediation budget
- →Boards asking what AI-generated code has entered production, and how
- →Leadership teams stress-testing critical systems before a scaling push
- →Founders preparing for a future transaction, years before they need to
Sphere TDD™ Methodology
Weeks, not quarters. Evidence, not opinions.
The same four-phase discipline powers every practice area — scoped to the decision, the industry, and the timeline in front of you.
Scope & Access
Define the decision at stake, agree the focus-area mix, and establish secure access to code, systems, and the people who run them. NDA executed within 48 hours of first contact.
Deep Assessment
Hands-on analysis across the agreed lenses — architecture, security, SDLC, AI systems, organization — driven by evidence and direct code review, not interviews alone.
Quantify & Validate
Findings are costed, risk-ranked, and pressure-tested with the target or internal team. No surprises in the final read-out — every issue is validated before it's reported.
Report & Roadmap
A defensible findings report plus a sequenced remediation roadmap — including a 100-day post-close execution plan when a transaction closes.
What Deal Teams Say
Diligence is only as credible as the engineers behind it.
Sphere is a 21-year enterprise AI, data, and digital engineering consultancy. Our diligence teams are the same engineers who build and rescue production systems — which is why our findings survive scrutiny.
“Sphere caught $3.2M in infrastructure remediation costs our financial team had no visibility into. That single finding changed our valuation offer and saved us from a costly post-close surprise.
“The 100-day plan delivered with the TDD Assessment was more actionable than anything our integration team had produced internally. We've used Sphere on three deals now.
“As a founder preparing for a sale, having Sphere on our side gave us credibility with every buyer's technical team. It shortened the due diligence phase by weeks.
TDD in Action
Real clients. Real findings. Real decisions changed.
Three recent Sphere TDD engagements. Every finding was quantified, every risk costed, every deal team entered closing with a clearer picture.
Betr — Real-Time Micro-Betting Platform
Betr needed a binary answer before closing: could this platform handle 5× load without a ground-up rewrite? Sphere's 5-specialist team delivered a clear scalability verdict, technical debt register, and CI/CD maturity score — in 3 days from report to Q&A.
Marble Financial & Inverite
Cybersecurity-first diligence on a regulated open-banking platform. 15+ security domains reviewed — PIPEDA compliance, open-banking API security, consumer data protection, AI/ML data readiness — over 3 weeks. Findings provided quantified risk position for closing negotiations.
Careismatic Brands & SellersCommerce
Cross-border acquisition diligence for Careismatic Brands (India-based target). 3 critical risk areas found — architecture fragility, onboarding friction, infrastructure scaling costs. Deal renegotiated with enhanced warranties and tech escrow, avoiding an estimated 6–12 months of post-acquisition rework.
Why Sphere TDD
Deployed inside your deal process.
Sphere TDD integrates into your existing deal workflow — from LOI to close. Every assessment runs under NDA with the same specialist team from kickoff to 100-day plan delivery.
Fully independent
No portfolio companies. No vendor relationships. We don't sell implementation services to companies we assess — which means our only obligation is to give you a complete, unbiased picture of technical risk.
Dollar-denominated findings
Every finding comes with a remediation cost estimate and timeline — not a vague concern or a compliance checkbox. Your deal committee and board can act on numbers, not engineering opinions.
NDA in 48 hours
We mobilize fast. NDA executed and engagement scoped within two business days of first contact. Our process is built for deal timelines, not consulting pipelines.
100-day plan included
The same specialists who found the risk deliver the post-close execution plan. No handoff, no re-learning curve. Every TDD Assessment includes a sequenced remediation roadmap.
Ready to protect your deal with Sphere TDD™?
Most engagements scope and NDA within 48 hours. Dollar-denominated findings in 4 weeks or less.
Talk to a TDD Specialist →Fixed price quoted at the call · No deck required · NDA within 48 hours
Questions
Technical due diligence, answered directly.
What's included in a Sphere TDD Assessment?
Every Sphere TDD Assessment includes: a full written findings report covering code quality, architecture, security, compliance, AI/ML readiness, and engineering organization risk; a dollar-denominated risk register with remediation cost estimates; a 100-day post-close execution plan; and an executive read-out for your investment committee or board. All delivered within 4 weeks under NDA.
How long does technical due diligence take?
A standard Sphere TDD™ engagement runs four weeks from kickoff to final report. Narrow-scope assessments — a single practice area such as technical debt or AI diligence — can complete in two to three weeks. Expanded multi-entity or carve-out engagements may run slightly longer. Timelines are fixed at the scoping call, before work begins.
What's the difference between software diligence and IT diligence?
Software and tech-enabled diligence assesses companies whose product is technology: architecture, SDLC, product management, and the full engineering organization. IT diligence assesses companies that run on technology — focused on infrastructure, information security, organization, and enterprise systems like ERP and CRM. IT diligence is common in carve-outs, non-software acquisitions, and operator situations.
What is AI due diligence?
AI diligence independently verifies an AI product or AI-first company: model provenance, training-data rights, evaluation rigor, cost-to-serve economics, and governance. It answers whether the AI capability being priced into the deal actually exists, performs as described, and can be legally and economically sustained post-close.
Why does AI-generated code need its own diligence practice?
Codebases built by AI agents with human-in-the-loop review carry a distinct risk profile: inconsistent review coverage, unclear code provenance and licensing, and fragility that only appears under change. Traditional code audits were designed to assess what was built — Sphere's AI-built systems diligence also assesses how it was built, and what that means for maintainability, compliance, and post-close velocity.
Do you do sell-side TDD for founders?
Yes. Many founders engage us 60–90 days before launching a sale process. A sell-side TDD Assessment identifies issues before a buyer's team finds them — resulting in fewer price chips, cleaner LOI terms, and often meaningful valuation uplift. In one recent engagement, we found $1.9M in tech debt across 4 systems, resolved 70% in 8 weeks, and the buyer's technical team raised zero objections.
Is Sphere TDD truly independent?
Yes. Sphere TDD has no financial relationship with target companies or their investors. We do not sell implementation services to companies we assess — before, during, or after the engagement. Our only obligation is to give the deal team an unbiased picture of technical risk.