About 90% of funded startups fail within 3 years. The biggest risks aren’t the pitch or market fit, they’re the hidden flaws in the product or the team.
We help startups, scale-ups and investors with technical due diligence by objectively evaluating the codebase and the technical team to ensure your next funding round is fully technically de-risked. View our FAQ for more details.
What is the audit report? Put simply-it is a highly detailed document, covering all the risks associated with your current technology, codebase, and team-level problems that will eventually prevent your software product from scaling.
Around 90% of SaaS startups fail within 3 years from launching despite having access to sufficient funding. One of the main reasons is their inability to predict what could go wrong with their product, team, or both.
We help you avoid that scenario. Through our unique auditing process and with our experienced team, we will strip back the noise, providing you with the answers to the key questions every CTO, founder, or SaaS technical leader should know :
Our unique methodology is based on 5 pillars, because just analysing the code or exploring documentation is nowehere near enough:
2-hour call with the CTO
We start with a baseline interview, a 2-hour call with the CTO (or other senior leadership). During this time, we cover a lot of ground. Our goal is to know about the key players in the town and the main areas to focus on during our remaining interviews. We prepare for this interview by getting access to an org-chart and deciding on 3 to 5 key questions (from you or an investment team). We also schedule placeholder interviews.
Planning
After the baseline interview, we know who we want to talk to and the important systems to review. We invite other team members to the pre-scheduled calls and ask for access to codebases, ticketing systems, and documentation tools.
Reviewing the codebase and the team
Behind the scenes, our team dives deep, checking for best practices across the various systems. During interviews, we zoom in on specific details in an effort to understand how a team thinks about their work.
Documenting our observations and concerns
After a week or so, it's time to write the report. We document our observations and concerns, then share a draft with the company. We refine the finished version and share it with the recipients
Answering your questions
We debrief the report after people have had a chance to read it. Then we answer questions. We even join board meetings if necessary. From the first interview, it takes 10 business days to complete the audit.
We asked our clients why they decided to hire our team to conduct technology audits for them. Among many reasons, 3 have been mentioned over and over again:
Result: faster delivery, fewer regressions, and a calmer team that can focus on real progress.
You won't see companies like Amazon or Facebook among our past clients. They're already pretty big. You will, however, see the names that will soon rock the SaaS world because we helped them predict risks and avoid failure.
Madewithlove's audit was thorough and fair. They asked insightful questions on both the architecture and purpose of our technology. They quickly understood the value of our vehicle routing and employee scheduling optimisation solutions. They also went through the architecture and some of the source code of our PlanningAI solver. Afterwards, they provided clear and actionable feedback on our weaknesses, which allowed us to fix those going forward.
Geoffrey De Smet
CTO Timefold
The technical dd report that MWL provided was on point and covered our key questions. We appreciated the methodology and efficient way of working. Communication with the team was smooth.
Piet Renson
PMV
They not only helped scale our output but also our strategy, processes and culture. Not by imposing, but by reinforcing the foundations that were already there.
Michelle Dassen
Head of Product, Flexmail
We've conducted technical due diligence for investors and companies looking to understand the true state of their technology investments.
From top-notch development to strategic C-level advice
We helped Teamleader scale their product and engineering organisations by implementing data-driven product strategy, introducing modern development practices, and providing interim CTO leadership that enabled them to hire their own CTO and grow from one product owner to a team of forty engineers.
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We provided technical leadership and React expertise to Combell's engineering team, helping them upgrade their back office management platform. Our React expert delivered presentations, guided a proof-of-concept development, and provided ongoing feedback throughout the project.
Email marketing tools for better audience engagement
We helped Flexmail resolve challenges from merging teams by conducting a product audit, reinforcing the team with UI/UX talent, and implementing improved development processes including user research, prototypes, a PHP7 upgrade, better version control, testing frameworks, and release management.
Read our latest thoughts on software engineering, team leadership, and building better products.
When auditing software companies, we don't only look at the codebase. The value of an audit lies in understanding the broader context of the company. By interviewing, we uncover the real issues.
Andreas Creten
Founder & CEO
Technical due diligence (TDD) helps investors and companies uncover the tech strengths and weaknesses of startups. TDD plays a crucial role in revealing risks and opportunities tied to technology, allowing for a thorough assessment that aids in making better business decisions.
Yannick De Pauw
People & Marketing
At madewithlove, we join teams when things aren’t so stable. Maybe a key non-replaceable employee has left or a new investment is fueling growth. I join these companies as a CTO ad interim, someone to captain the ship through troubled waters. It’s hard at times since I’m expected to lead the team to a better way of working, something that can feel threatening to existing team members. Psychological safety is a key trait of high-performance teams so I need to do everything I can to seamlessly in
Steve Tauber
Steve is an American living in Zagreb. He has experience as a CTO, senior programmer, project and product manager, and trainer.
In Pulse, a madewithlove podcast, Andreas talks with leaders from the tech startup and scale-up ecosystem. There are also some podcast episodes where Andreas talks with his own colleagues about everything he comes across when working as a CTO in residence for various clients. Sit back and enjoy Pulse! Read: The Ultimate guide to Tech DD Episode description On this episode of madewithlove’s Pulse podcast, we’ve invited Johann Romefort (Technology Due Diligence Consultant) to discuss the impor
Yannick De Pauw
People & Marketing
A technical moat is often seen as a product's defensive edge, but does every product really need one? For AI products, the choice between building proprietary tech or leveraging existing solutions like OpenAI is complex. True value lies in solving customer problems—not just in owning the technology.
Mike Veerman
CTO in residence
A big part of closing a new investment round is the technical due diligence report that informs all parties involved of the current state of technology and the engineering team. Usually, a contracted team arrives to interview and analyze a codebase, determine weaknesses, and create a briefing that communicates their findings. At madewithlove, we’ve been remotely auditing companies for the last couple of years. We want to address some myths we’ve encountered along the way. Myth 1: Cons
Steve Tauber
Steve is an American living in Zagreb. He has experience as a CTO, senior programmer, project and product manager, and trainer.
What is due diligence or a technical audit The goal of due diligence is simple: figure out the hidden secrets of the target company that may hurt its value or even kill the deal. But that’s a massive challenge. For investments into technical companies, there is an added challenge. It’s especially difficult to determine what problems a startup has if you are non-technical. That’s where a technical, software audit comes in. My experience is in evaluating venture capital investment as a part of s
Steve Tauber
Steve is an American living in Zagreb. He has experience as a CTO, senior programmer, project and product manager, and trainer.
Should startups test everything before shipping? We break down how to balance testing with product velocity—and why 100% coverage is often the wrong goal.
Yannick De Pauw
People & Marketing
What do investors and VCs care about when they ask for your roadmap? How do you gain their trust while presenting them? How manage expectations?
Mike Veerman
CTO in residence
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: board members can’t delegate accountability. Not for budgets. Not for legal compliance. And no longer for cybersecurity.
Andreas Creten
Founder & CEO
Our standard process is designed to be completed within 10 business days, from the initial interview to the delivery of the final report.
No. A code review is only one part of our comprehensive audit. We also examine the structure of your team, development processes, architecture, infrastructure, security, and scalability to provide a comprehensive view of your technical health.
Our service is designed for both investors seeking to de-risk an investment and for SaaS startups or scale-ups preparing for a funding round, merger, or acquisition. A self-initiated audit can be powerful to prepare for future scrutiny.
We operate under strict NDAs and handle all client information with the utmost confidentiality. Any access you provide us with is revoked immediately upon completion of the process.
We deliver a detailed report and conduct a debrief session to ensure all stakeholders understand our findings.
Building startups is tough, we know. We've been helping SaaS products and teams for over 15 years. Tell us about your product, whether it's for engineering power, technical leadership, de-risking an investment or just for fun. We love to listen. No strings attached.
