What an investor, an auditor, or a bank actually tests, and how to be ready before they look. Written for founders preparing for a raise, a first audit, or a facility, by someone who has sat on the other side of the table.
Every founder approaching a raise says some version of it. The work is turning that uncertainty into a short, honest list before an outside party turns it into a re-trade. Here is what that diligence reality looks like, and where it tends to bite first.
Read the note →Why revenue recognition is the first thing diligence reopens, and the policy questions that decide which way it goes.
Field noteTwo sets of numbers in one company is the fastest way to lose a room. How to make one of them true everywhere.
Field noteThe request list an auditor sends, in plain English, and how far ahead of it most companies need to start.
The documents an auditor will request, ordered by what to gather first and what quietly takes the longest.
PlaybookFolder structure and the handful of documents investors open before anything else.
PlaybookA defensible ASC 606 policy outline you can adapt to your contracts in an afternoon.
A construction-tech company at $7M ARR, one quarter before its first audit, and the sequence that closed the gap.
Case noteHow a vertical SaaS founder walked into diligence with metrics that survived an investor rebuilding them.
Case noteReplacing a three-week month-end scramble with a calendar the board learned to trust.
Start with a focused working session. You leave with the risks most likely to surface next and the sequence to close them.
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