# Before we invest or acquire, how do we check the technology is real? Tamir Khason · Updated 2026-10-07 Sort the claims into what runs for paying customers, what is built but untested, and what is planned. Get evidence for the first group and price the deal on it. Then check who owns the technology, what it costs to run and change, and which people it depends on. ## Sort the claims by evidence List every technical claim in the pitch and mark each one live, built or planned. For live claims, ask for customer references, the product running real transactions, and test or conformance results. A demo that impressed sales is only a starting point. For accuracy figures, ask how they were measured, on whose data, and whether anyone outside the team scored them. Ask what each pilot became and why. Ask what the product holds beyond calls to model providers, and what each customer costs to serve. ## Risks a presentation won't show Check who owns the code, the data and the rights, including open-source licenses and contributor terms. Read the last external security test and see which findings are still open. A security certificate is evidence only for the systems and period it covers. Ask which people the system cannot be changed without, and check their retention terms. Compare the real infrastructure and software bills with the deal model. In an acquisition, list systems and devices that have lost support, and what it would cost to contain, extend or replace them. ## Where the seats differ If you're on the board, require an independent review with access to repositories, architecture and licenses before you approve. A short technology section written by the target doesn't count as one. Material findings become deal conditions or price adjustments, decided with your counsel and finance advisers. If you run the company and a startup proposes a partnership, run a bounded pilot with your own people and your own measure. Keep the integration shallow until the pilot proves the product. If you're the CIO asked to sign off before closing, fit the checks to the time left. Then map which systems must connect to yours in the first year. ## What to check before you decide - List every technical claim and mark it live, built or planned, with the evidence for each. - Speak to two customers who use the live product about what works and what doesn't. - Ask how accuracy figures were measured, on whose data, and who scored them. - Get read access to the main repositories, and list third-party and open-source licenses with their terms. - Read the last external security test and check which findings are still open. - Compare the real monthly infrastructure and software bills with what the deal model assumes. - Identify the people without whom the system can't be changed, and check their retention terms. ## Questions people ask ### Considering investing in an energy tech company, how do I verify their platform and integration claims before committing? Separate the claims into what runs in production for paying customers, what is built and untested, and what is planned, and get evidence for the first group: customer references, live demonstrations on real integrations, and conformance results. Price the deal on the first group. It depends on how much of the valuation rests on the claims and on what the founders will show. ### Investing in an AI startup with accuracy claims and pilots, what technical due diligence should I do before the round? Check how the accuracy was measured and on whose data, what the pilots produced in revenue and references, what the product holds beyond calls to model providers, and whether the team can deliver the roadmap. A few days with the right questions changes the price or the decision. It depends on how much of the valuation rests on the technical claims. ### Board must approve an acquisition that depends on the target's technology, what technology diligence should we require? Require an independent technology review covering what the product runs on, who owns it, what it costs to run and change, its security state and the people it depends on. The review takes days with access, and its findings become deal conditions. It depends on how much of the price is the technology and on how deep the integration must go. ### Choosing between two charging companies to invest in, one owns its platform and one uses white label, which approach is better? Neither in general; judge each company on whether its approach fits its plan. An owned platform matters when the company competes on product and integrations and can fund it; white-label fits when growth is in sites and operations and the contract gives control of data and exit. It depends on each company's competitive position and on the white-label terms. ### Should software support risks change how we assess infrastructure investments? Assess usable service life rather than hardware condition alone. Any valuation treatment belongs with finance and accounting advisers, informed by support rights, replacement feasibility, and continued operating capability. ### What should investors examine before buying a fragmented charging network? Diligence the operating estate as it exists rather than as a unified brand. Value depends on maintainability, transferable rights, compatible operations, and the cost of leaving justified differences in place. ### Should acquisition oversight reopen when obsolete control systems were omitted from diligence? Reassess the affected investment and integration assumptions without assuming the whole deal is invalid. The response depends on operating criticality, available continuity, and how the omission arose. ### Does a factory's cybersecurity certification justify reducing our acquisition diligence? Use certification as bounded evidence rather than a substitute for transaction-specific diligence. Reliance depends on scope, exceptions, current conditions, and which acquisition assumptions the certificate actually supports. ### What technology diligence matters before investing in a remote-care business? Diligence the complete service behind the software claim. The investment case depends on clinical involvement, escalation, operating permissions, and responsibilities reviewed with qualified health and legal advisers. ### Should we acquire a fintech whose largest customer controls its hosting requirements? Assess customer concentration together with the associated technical commitments. The deal depends on retained infrastructure obligations, change rights, margin assumptions, and terms assessed with transaction advisers. ### What should pre-listing technology diligence examine beyond existing audit reports? Use existing reports as evidence with explicit scope limits. Readiness depends on material systems, manual overrides, control ownership, and requirements interpreted by the company's legal, finance, and assurance advisers. ### What should directors verify before acquiring an overseas software engineering team? Assess the capability that will remain after the transaction, including leadership, product knowledge, and usable intellectual property rights. It depends on retention commitments, demonstrated work quality, and the receiving organization’s ability to use the acquired team effectively. ### How should a board assess unsupported clinical systems in a healthcare acquisition? Require a bounded assessment of support, continuity, and remediation options before relying on the integration budget. Technical findings should inform transaction conditions and financial assumptions; they do not automatically determine a valuation discount or require replacing every legacy system. ### How should investors assess an AI acquisition built around an open-source project? Examine the usable rights, maintained capability, customer value, and commercial obligations that transfer with the business. Open-source code or reliance on external models does not itself make a business indefensible; the case depends on what customers need and what the buyer gains. ### A startup wants to partner on digitising our distribution and the demo impressed sales, how do I check the technology is real? Ask to see the product running for a paying customer, with real transactions, and ask who at the startup built it and how many of them there are. Then define a small pilot with your own agents and a measure you choose. It depends on what the startup actually holds beyond the demo and on how deep the integration into your systems would go. ### How should we verify an AI underwriting asset before buying the company? Assess whether the claimed capability transfers to your intended market and can be operated with the rights and controls you need. It depends on independent validation, data dependencies, support requirements, and the combined business case. ### Asked to sign off on the technology of a company we are acquiring, what should I check before closing? Check what the target's product actually runs on, who owns it and what it costs to keep running, because presentations cover all three thinly. Ask for repository access, license lists and the last security test. It depends on how much of the target's value sits in its technology versus its customers. ## How I can help with this decision - **Ask or talk (Free):** I give my view on which claims carry the valuation and which checks fit the time you have before you commit. - **Review (Pay if it was worth it):** I write an independent technical due diligence opinion on the product, the claims, ownership, running cost and team, in investor language. I recommend what to rely on, what to make a condition and what to price. - **Retain (When it makes sense):** After the deal, I stay available to review the company's technical reports or integration plans against what the diligence found. ## Ask me about your case I'll reply personally within two working days with an initial view. 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