Due diligence will find your data problems before you do. One company found out the hard way.
The CTO called me in a panic. Series B due diligence in 12 weeks. Their data platform was - and this is a direct quote - “held together with duct tape and prayers.”
The investors would ask: “What’s your data strategy?” They didn’t have one.
I’ll be honest: I wasn’t sure we’d make it in time. Ten weeks is tight for this kind of work.
Weeks 1-3: We didn’t touch anything. We documented the current state and built a data strategy aligned with actual business goals. No tools. No migrations. Just a clear picture of where they were and where they needed to go.
Weeks 4-7: Core governance in place. Critical quality issues fixed. SLAs established for the datasets investors would look at.
Weeks 8-10: Investor-facing documentation. A demo of platform capabilities that actually held up under questioning.
They passed due diligence. Raised EUR15M.
The data platform didn’t transform. It became legible. That’s a different thing, and it was enough.
If your data platform couldn’t survive investor questions today, what would break first?