Technical due diligence
Technical due diligence for buyers of web-based businesses.
The gap
Most technical due diligence is written for enterprise SaaS. Web-based business acquisitions aren't that.
The deals you close through Acquire.com, Flippa, and quiet broker channels don't come with dedicated engineering teams to interview or data rooms full of documentation. What you're buying is a founder's or a lean team's decade of accumulated decisions: a CMS layered with plugins that solved specific problems, a checkout flow customized in ways nobody wrote down, a set of automation workflows that only the seller understands, and a GA4 property whose reported numbers may or may not match what the payment processor recorded.
The risk isn't concentrated in the code. It's distributed across analytics, platform, payments, hosting, security, SEO, compliance, and automation, and every layer is held together by working knowledge that leaves at close.
Enterprise-focused technical due diligence firms don't cover this profile of business. They're built to review modern SaaS codebases with defined engineering practices. They aren't built to assess page builder layers, plugin sprawl, custom code buried in theme files, WooCommerce subscription drift, undocumented Zapier flows, or GA4 event architecture that inflates reported conversions. That's the gap Veritech Diligence fills.
Stack coverage
Every stack a web-based business actually runs.
WordPress (including multi-site networks, headless implementations, custom theme and plugin architecture, ACF field systems, Gutenberg block development, and every major page builder including Elementor, Divi, WPBakery, Breakdance, and Astra Pro), Drupal 8, 9, and 10 (including custom module development, Views configuration, and platform migrations), Shopify, Webflow, Squarespace, Contentful, Storyblok, Sanity, Bloomreach, and Sitecore.
WooCommerce (including Subscriptions, custom checkout, and multi-location inventory), Shopify, and Stripe integrations, along with custom checkout builds and PCI configuration review.
PHP 8+, JavaScript and TypeScript (ES6+), Python, React, Next.js, Node.js, Django, Vue.js, GraphQL (including Graphene-Django), REST APIs, jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
GA4 event architecture and property configuration, Google Tag Manager (both web and server-side), Consent Mode v2, data layer design, cross-domain tracking, Meta Pixel, Meta Conversions API with server-side deduplication, Google Ads conversion imports, HubSpot tracking, and Looker Studio.
Vercel, Fly.io, Neon, AWS, Linux server administration, Apache and Nginx, PHP-FPM, Redis, OPCache, CDN configuration, and SSL/TLS.
Zapier, Make, n8n, custom PHP API clients, RESTful API integrations, Salesforce, HubSpot, Cloudinary, SAML SSO patterns (Okta and Azure AD), and SFTP workflow management.
Technical SEO (schema markup, structured data, XML sitemaps, canonical URLs), Answer Engine Optimization, WCAG 2.1 and Section 508 accessibility, OWASP Top 10 mitigation, malware remediation, and vulnerability assessment.
What the review covers
Nine layers of technical risk, assessed on every engagement.
Analytics and Data Integrity
Whether the traffic, conversion, and revenue numbers in the deal deck reflect what the underlying tracking actually recorded. GA4 property age and configuration checks, event stream deduplication, server-side and client-side event reconciliation, and revenue reconciliation against Stripe, Shopify, or the payment processor of record. This is where inflated deal-deck numbers most often surface, and it's the module competitor firms cover least well.
Platform and Codebase Architecture
What's actually running the site. Custom code inventory across whichever platform is in use (WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, headless React or Next.js, custom PHP or Django), plugin and module audit, staging and deployment maturity, update history, and how much technical debt is hiding in theme files, page builders, or custom modules.
Ecommerce and Payment Infrastructure
Whether subscription billing, refund handling, PCI configuration, and custom checkout code are stable and transferable. Reconciliation of reported MRR against the payment processor. Applies to WooCommerce, Shopify, and custom Stripe or gateway builds.
Infrastructure, Deployment, and Performance
Hosting, caching, CDN, SSL, and monitoring, across shared hosting, managed WordPress hosts, AWS, Vercel, Fly.io, or custom Linux server setups. Core Web Vitals assessed at root cause rather than surface level.
Security
Vulnerability scan against known CVE databases, review of admin access and authentication, check for indicators of prior compromise, backup strategy verification, firewall configuration.
SEO and Organic Channel Value
Whether organic traffic is real, defensible, and unlikely to break when new ownership takes the keys. Technical SEO audit, backlink profile, ranking concentration, and mapping of organic traffic to revenue.
Accessibility and Compliance
WCAG 2.1 conformance, cookie consent configuration, privacy policy and terms of service against actual site behavior. Inherited legal exposure quantified.
Automation, Integration, and Operational Fragility
Every third-party service, every Zapier, Make, or n8n workflow, every API key, and every credential ownership relationship, mapped and documented for handoff.
Concentrated Knowledge Risk
The layer no checklist review captures: how much of the operating knowledge lives in the seller's head, and how much of it walks out the door at close. Documentation quality assessed, and a prioritized list of what needs to be extracted during the transition window.
How it works
Three to four business days from access to report. Confidential throughout.
Day 0
Scoping call
Twenty to thirty minutes. You describe the deal and the target. Scope and price are confirmed, and I send an engagement agreement, access request checklist, and mutual NDA. Every engagement is covered by a written confidentiality agreement, and deal details are never discussed outside the engagement.
Days 1–3
Review
I work through all nine layers with the access provided. Substantive findings surface within 48 hours; the full review takes the balance of the window.
Day 4
Report and deal impact memo delivered
Full technical report plus a separate one-page deal impact memo written for offer negotiation. Followed by a 30-minute call to walk through the findings and answer questions.
Deliverables
Findings translated into deal math.
Deal impact memo
One page. What the review found, what it means for the offer, and what needs attention post-close. Includes recommended valuation adjustments, escrow or holdback recommendations, and a summary of highest-priority risks. Written to be handed directly to a broker, lender, or investment committee.
Full technical report
Detailed assessment of all nine risk layers, with findings ranked green, yellow, or red. Every yellow or red finding includes a dollar impact estimate (either a remediation cost range or a revenue-at-risk figure), a 30/60/90 day placement for when the fix should happen, and specific evidence for the finding.
Prioritized remediation roadmap
Every fix estimated for effort (hours, days, or weeks), cost range, and recommended timing: pre-close condition, day-one priority, first 90 days, or first year.
Integration and credential map
A written inventory of every third-party service, API integration, and automation workflow the business depends on, with account ownership and transfer requirements noted. This is often the single most useful post-close artifact, since it's the map a new owner needs on day one that the seller cannot produce.
Walkthrough call
Thirty minutes after delivery to answer questions and discuss how findings should translate to offer adjustments or transition-period requirements.
Pricing
Flat fee, starting at $1,500.
Base fee
Content sites, simple ecommerce, standard CMS or Shopify builds.
Higher complexity
WooCommerce with subscriptions, multi-location inventory, custom checkout code, headless or decoupled architecture, multi-site networks, custom Drupal, or heavy custom PHP or Django.
Resources
Free resources for buyers and their advisors.
What to Check Before You Buy a Web-Based Business
A nine-layer pre-close technical risk inventory covering the specific ways web-based businesses hide risk from non-technical acquirers. Ungated PDF, free to share.
Sample report
A redacted example of a completed Veritech Diligence engagement, showing report structure, finding formatting, and remediation roadmap style. Available on request during the scoping call.
About the practice
Fifteen years of full-stack work across the platforms these acquisitions actually run on.
Veritech Diligence is run by [Author Name], a technical consultant with fifteen years of full-stack work across the exact range of platforms and infrastructure web-based businesses run on: CMS platforms including WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, and headless builds on Sanity, Contentful, and Storyblok, custom checkout and subscription systems on WooCommerce and Stripe, GA4 and Google Tag Manager with server-side implementation, framework work in React, Next.js, Node.js, Django, and Vue.js, and the automation and integration surface that connects everything.
Prior work includes serving as sole web lead for the Bank of America Newsroom, authoring two published books on GA4 implementation, and leading technical audits, migrations, and remediations across enterprise and independent business clients. Academic background in economics and statistics, with prior teaching experience in statistics and macroeconomics at the college level.