Independent Forensic Technical Due Diligence

Open the Tech Black Box. Independently.

Lahav Advisory delivers forensic technical due diligence for private equity, family offices, and founder-owners who need the real picture.
What's broken, what's at risk, and what the Technology is actually worth.

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100% Conflict-Free.
Fixed fee. No vendor relationships. No implementation work.
No reason to soften a finding.

Problem

Standard due diligence
finds the financials.

It rarely opens the Tech Black Box.

Sub-$25M
Technology acquisitions systematically underserved by the technical due diligence market
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Technical debt with no remediation plan. A codebase that falls over at 3x current load. An architecture that lives entirely inside one engineer's head. Open-source licences that contaminate the IP the acquirer just paid for.
These aren't edge cases. In sub-$25M technology acquisitions, they are the rule.
The firms that could find them aren't interested at that deal size. Those that show up send a graduate with a checklist. By the time what's really inside the black box surfaces post-close, it is no longer negotiating leverage. It is your problem.

Whether you manage a fund with a hard exit mandate or permanent capital with no clock running, the technical risk in a sub $25M acquisition is identical and equally capable of destroying value post-close.

Service

Forensic Technical Due Diligence. Every finding
a Price Chip.

Service A: 1 Day

The Redline Sniff Test

◈Forensic Technical Health Check ◈Pre-LOI Early-Stage Screening

You don't need vendor or inside access to see inside the Tech Black Box. The Redline Sniff Test surfaces what's really there within one business day, without vendor access, without assumptions. Findings are evidenced and graded: Price Chips, escalations, and deal blockers.

What It Surfaces
  • An Independent Read Of The Public Record- What the technology looks like from the outside: what's been built, how it's held together, and what the engineering team's footprint actually says versus what's been claimed.
  • A Forensic Look At The Live Product- What's running in production, what it's connected to, and what it quietly exposes that no one thought to mention.
  • A Structured Challenge Of The People Who Built It- A forensic interview that surfaces what documentation never captures: key person risk, undisclosed decisions, and the assumptions the whole thing is sitting on.
  • A Graded Findings Report- Every finding evidenced and rated. Deal blockers flagged for immediate escalation. Price Chips structured for negotiation. Nothing softened.

The fastest way to find out what's really inside the Tech Black Box.

Service B: 3–5 Days

The Deep-Dive Audit

◈Active Due Diligence- Final Valuation

At final valuation, the Tech Black Box has to be opened fully, forensically, and without compromise. The Deep-Dive Audit delivers the Ground Truth report: Every technical liability quantified, every finding evidenced, nothing softened.

What It Surfaces
  • A Complete Forensic Picture Of What The Technology Is Actually Worth- Every liability quantified in dollars and months, structured for price negotiation, escrow, or earn-out design.
  • An Independent Assessment Of What The Codebase Will Cost To Own- Remediation timelines, architectural risk, and the technical assumptions the valuation is sitting on.
  • A Forensic Read On The People Holding It Together- Who the technology actually depends on, what lives only in their heads, and what that concentration risk is worth in dollar terms.
  • A Verified Chain Of Title On The IP- Forensic confirmation that what the acquirer is paying for is actually owned, cleanly, by the entity selling it.
  • A Dedicated Forensic Assessment Of AI And Cybersecurity Risk- Model provenance, training data exposure, and regulatory surface area assessed as core components of the deal, not afterthoughts.
  • A Signed Ground Truth Report- Every finding evidenced, graded, and investment-committee ready. Deal blockers flagged. Price Chips structured. Nothing softened.

The most complete forensic picture of a technology asset you can get before you sign.

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. Want to see what a finding looks like?
Request an illustrative finding set →

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 engagement proceeds or not. I have no relationship with the vendor and no incentive to soften a finding. I deliver the Ground Truth report and walk away.

03

25+ Years Engineering Depth.

Built on 25 years of hands-on experience across SaaS, Fintech, E-Commerce, Infrastructure, Data and AI. I bring engineering-side pattern recognition to every engagement- the kind that only comes from having built and operated technology at scale, not from having reviewed it.

100% Conflict‑Free Guarantee

Fixed fee. No reason to soften a finding.

The only product is the Ground Truth report. The sole obligation is accuracy.

The Process

How I engage.

Service A - 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 vendor access or documentation.

3

Fieldwork

Independent analysis of the public record, live product, and infrastructure conducted in parallel- no vendor access required. What's visible from the outside is examined in full.

4

Findings Report

Executive brief delivered. Technical liabilities evidenced and graded. Deal blockers flagged for immediate escalation. Go/No-Go recommendation issued.

Service B - The Deep-Dive Audit
1

Scoping Call

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

2

Request List Issued

A structured forensic request list issued to the vendor - including dedicated sections for AI/ML governance and cybersecurity. Response quality and completeness managed throughout.

3

Fieldwork

Codebase reviewed for technical liability and remediation cost. Ownership of core IP verified forensically. 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 and locked forensic report delivered. Every finding evidenced and graded. Deal blockers flagged. Price Chips structured for negotiation, escrow, or SPA warranty schedules. Nothing softened.

About
Ken Lahav - Founder, Lahav Advisory

Ken Lahav

Founder, Lahav Advisory

Ken Lahav has spent 25 years building and operating technology across three continents - Israel, Australia, and the United States. From early-stage startups to global enterprises, across commercial, government, and non-profit sectors, he has worked at every scale and in every condition a technology organisation can find itself in.
That breadth is the foundation of the practice. Across SaaS platforms, fintech infrastructure, e-commerce, marketplaces, and AI, Ken brings the pattern recognition of someone who has built these systems - not just assessed them. He knows what good looks like. He knows what hidden looks like.

Lahav Advisory was founded on a simple observation: the sub-$25M market deserves the same quality of forensic technical scrutiny applied to larger deals. Without the conflicts. Without the junior teams. Without the fee structures designed around deal completion.

Industries
SaaS & Cloud Platforms
AI & Data Businesses
Fintech & Financial Services
Enterprise Software & B2B Platforms
E-commerce & Marketplaces
Government & Non-Profit
Risk Domains
Technical Debt & Architecture
Cybersecurity & Regulatory Exposure
IP Ownership & Licensing
Key Person & Process Risk
AI/ML Governance & Model Provenance
Data Privacy & Compliance
Get in Touch

Ready to talk about an upcoming acquisition?

Fixed-fee, conflict-free engagements.

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