Independent Forensic TDD

Don’t let Technical Ghosts
follow you through close.

Lahav Advisory delivers independent forensic technical due diligence for private equity and family offices — with no deal fee, no conflicts, and no stake in the outcome.

Book a Call Email Ken

100% Conflict-Free. I do not accept implementation, rescue, or development work. I deliver the Ground Truth report and walk away.

Problem

Standard due diligence
finds the financials.

It rarely finds what’s buried in the code.

Sub-$25M
Technology acquisitions — systematically underserved by the TDD market

Technical debt with no remediation plan. A codebase that falls over at 3× current load. An architecture that lives entirely inside one engineer’s head. Open-source licences that contaminate IP the acquirer just paid for.

These aren’t edge cases. In sub-$25M technology acquisitions, they are the rule.

The big advisory firms aren’t interested at that deal size — or they send a junior team with a checklist. By the time the real risks surface post-close, they are no longer negotiating leverage. They are your problem.

Service

Forensic TDD. Every finding
a Price Chip.

Service 1 — 1 Day

The Redline
Sniff Test

Pre-LOI — Early-Stage Screening

A forensic practitioner doesn’t need a data room to spot a broken foundation. The Redline Sniff Test combines public footprint analysis, live product inspection, infrastructure reconnaissance, and a structured CTO interview to surface Grave Risks within one business day — with or without vendor documentation.

Key Outputs
  • Public Footprint Analysis — GitHub repos, npm/PyPI packages, job postings, and LinkedIn engineering headcount cross-referenced against claimed team size.
  • Infrastructure Reconnaissance — DNS records, SSL certificates, hosting provider, CDN usage, and subdomain enumeration — all without vendor access.
  • Live Product Inspection — Front-end framework fingerprinting, API response headers, error message analysis, and third-party script inventory for data leakage risk.
  • Structured CTO Interview — Forensic questioning surfaces key person risk, undisclosed rewrites, licensing issues, and scalability assumptions without documentation.
  • Price Chip Executive Summary — A 2-page brief identifying the top 3–5 technical liabilities and any Grave Risks requiring immediate escalation.

The cheapest way to avoid the most expensive mistake in the deal.

Service 2 — 3–5 Days

The Deep-Dive
Audit

Active Due Diligence — Final Valuation

A comprehensive forensic quantification of technical debt and structural risk. Delivers the Ground Truth report your Investment Committee needs to proceed with confidence.

Key Outputs
  • Full Redline Report — Technical Debt Ratio (TDR) and full remediation timeline in dollars and months.
  • AI & Cybersecurity Due Diligence — Dedicated forensic assessment of AI/ML model provenance, training data risk, and regulatory exposure alongside a structured cybersecurity review — built into the IRL, not bolted on.
  • Key Person & Process Audit — Valuation discount quantified for Tribal Knowledge and documentation risk.
  • IP Provenance Verification — Forensic Chain of Title check for all core proprietary software.
  • Remediation Roadmap — An indicative cost-and-timeline estimate for resolving identified technical liabilities, structured for use in price negotiation and earn-out design.

Every finding a Price Chip — structured to drive purchase price adjustment, escrow negotiations, or SPA warranty schedules.

The Lahav Advisory IRL includes dedicated sections for AI/ML governance and cybersecurity — reflecting the risk surface of every modern technology acquisition, not just the codebase.

All findings are quantified in $$$, evidenced, and structured to directly support price adjustment, escrow negotiations, or SPA warranty schedules.

Approach

No deal fee. No conflicts.
No stake in the outcome.

01

Senior Practitioner. Every File.

Every engagement is led and delivered personally by Ken Lahav. The person who reads the code, interviews the CTO, and runs the analysis is the same person who signs the report. No graduates. No delegation. No account management layer.

02

Structurally Independent.

My fee does not change whether the deal proceeds or not. I have no relationship with the vendor, no hope of integration work post-close, and no incentive to soften a finding. I deliver the Ground Truth report and walk away.

03

25+ Years Engineering Depth.

Built on two decades of hands-on experience across SaaS, fintech, e-commerce, infrastructure, and AI. Ken brings engineering-side pattern recognition to the buy-side — the kind that only comes from having built and operated technology at scale.

100% Conflict‑Free Guarantee

I do not accept implementation, rescue, or software development work.

Not from targets. Not from acquirers. Not from anyone connected to a transaction I assess. My only product is the Ground Truth report — and my only obligation is to the accuracy of its findings.

The Process

How I engage.

Service 1 — The Redline Sniff Test
1

Scoping Call

Engagement scope confirmed, independence declared, engagement letter issued. Access requirements agreed.

2

CTO Interview

Structured forensic interview surfaces key person risk, undisclosed rewrites, licensing decisions, scalability assumptions, and team concentration — without requiring a data room.

3

Fieldwork

Public footprint analysis, infrastructure reconnaissance, and live product inspection conducted in parallel. GitHub repos, DNS records, SSL certificates, API headers, and third-party script inventory reviewed.

4

Price Chip Summary

2-page executive brief delivered. Top 3–5 technical liabilities quantified. Grave Risks flagged with immediate escalation notes. Go/No-Go recommendation issued.

Service 2 — The Deep-Dive Audit
1

Scoping Call

Engagement scope confirmed, independence declared, engagement letter issued. IRL categories agreed based on target technology profile.

2

IRL Issued

Forensic Initial Request List issued to vendor — including dedicated sections for AI/ML governance and cybersecurity. Response quality and completeness managed throughout.

3

Fieldwork

Codebase reviewed for Technical Debt Ratio and remediation timelines. IP Chain of Title verified. Key person and process dependencies mapped. AI/ML model provenance and cybersecurity posture assessed. CTO interview conducted.

4

Findings Validated

All material findings reviewed with client before the report is finalised. Each finding confirmed as evidenced, quantified, and investment-committee ready.

5

Ground Truth Report

Signed, locked forensic TDD report delivered. Every finding a Price Chip — quantified in $$$, evidenced, and structured for price negotiation, escrow, or SPA warranty schedules.

About
Ken Lahav — Founder, Lahav Advisory

Ken Lahav

Founder, Lahav Advisory

With over 25 years of hands-on experience building and operating technology across SaaS, fintech, e-commerce, infrastructure, and AI, Ken brings engineering-side pattern recognition to the buy-side of technology acquisitions.

Lahav Advisory was founded on a simple observation: the sub-$25M technology acquisition market deserves the same quality of technical scrutiny applied to larger deals — without the conflicts, the junior teams, and the fee structures that come with them.

Ken personally leads and delivers every engagement. There is no team behind the name.

25+ years hands-on engineering
SaaS & Fintech
E-commerce & Marketplaces
Infrastructure & DevOps
AI & Data Platforms
Cybersecurity & Regulatory Compliance
Get in Touch

Ready to talk about an upcoming acquisition?

Fixed-fee, conflict-free engagements.

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