Acquisition Preparation
We run buy-side diligence for PE firms. We know exactly what they look for, and we'll make sure your technology is ready before they find the problems.
Every issue a buyer finds in diligence either reduces your purchase price or becomes an indemnification obligation. We run the same assessments for PE buyers that we'll run on your company, so you can fix the problems before they show up in a bid adjustment.
Starting at $30K | 2-8 weeks
Services
Sell-Side Technology Assessment
The same diligence sprint we run for buyers, run on your own company. Identifies every issue a buy-side team would find before they find it.
2-3 weeks
Technical Debt Remediation Planning
Prioritized remediation plan ranked by impact on deal value. We tell you what to fix, what to document, and what to leave alone.
2-4 weeks
IP & License Compliance Cleanup
Dependency audit, license review, IP chain-of-title verification, and contributor agreement assessment. Clean IP is table stakes in M&A.
2-4 weeks
AI Governance Documentation
Model documentation, training data provenance, vendor AI inventory, and governance policies. Buyers are asking for this now.
2-4 weeks
SBOM Generation & Compliance
CycloneDX/SPDX generation with NTIA/CISA minimum elements. EU Cyber Resilience Act requirements included.
1-2 weeks
Vendor Due Diligence Report
A sell-side tech DD report packaged for auction processes. Gives buyers confidence and accelerates the deal timeline.
3-4 weeks
Why us
We know what buyers find because we find it for them
We run buy-side tech diligence for PE firms. We know what gets flagged, what kills deals, and what reduces purchase prices. When we assess your company, we apply the same lens a buyer would, so you can fix issues before they cost you.
We've been through an exit ourselves
LexPredict: founded, built, exited (acquired 2018). We've sat on your side of the table. We know what it takes to get a technology company ready for sale: the documentation, the cleanup, the compliance work that maximizes enterprise value.
Buyers are asking about AI. Be ready.
Nearly half of recent tech deals involve AI components. Buy-side teams are now asking about training data provenance, model licensing, and vendor AI dependencies. If your company uses AI, even through vendor APIs, we prepare the documentation buyers expect to see.
Why licens.io?
| Big 4 | licens.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Perspective | Sell-side only | Run buy-side DD, know what buyers flag |
| AI readiness | Skip AI entirely | Document AI governance for buyers |
| SBOM | Basic SCA scan | Published ecosystem research, proper SBOMs |
| Exit experience | Advisory only | Founded and exited LexPredict |
| Pricing | % of deal value | Fixed-fee, $30K-$120K |
Perspective
Big 4
Sell-side only
licens.io
Run buy-side DD, know what buyers flag
AI readiness
Big 4
Skip AI entirely
licens.io
Document AI governance for buyers
SBOM
Big 4
Basic SCA scan
licens.io
Published ecosystem research, proper SBOMs
Exit experience
Big 4
Advisory only
licens.io
Founded and exited LexPredict
Pricing
Big 4
% of deal value
licens.io
Fixed-fee, $30K-$120K
Who this is for
- ✓ Founders and CEOs planning a sale in 6-18 months
- ✓ PE portfolio companies being prepared for exit
- ✓ CTOs and CFOs maximizing enterprise value before a sale
- ✓ Companies with AI components needing governance documentation for buyer diligence
- ✓ Software companies needing SBOM and license compliance for EU CRA requirements
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should we start preparing for acquisition?
6-18 months before you plan to go to market. A sell-side assessment takes 2-3 weeks, but remediation takes time. License compliance cleanup, AI governance documentation, and technical debt reduction are not overnight projects. Starting early gives you time to fix issues that would otherwise reduce your valuation or kill the deal.
What do PE buy-side diligence teams actually look for?
Architecture quality and scalability, technical debt severity, security posture, IP ownership and license compliance, dependency risk, AI governance (if applicable), and team retention risk. We run these same assessments for PE buyers, so we know exactly what gets flagged and how it affects the bid.
What is a vendor due diligence report?
A technology assessment commissioned by the seller, packaged for prospective buyers. It gives buyers confidence in the technology stack and can accelerate the deal by weeks. In competitive auctions, a VDD report signals that the seller has nothing to hide and reduces the buyer's diligence burden.
How does open source license risk affect deal value?
Copyleft license violations (GPL, AGPL) can force disclosure of proprietary source code. Undocumented license obligations create legal liability. In M&A, these issues get caught in buy-side diligence and either reduce the purchase price or become indemnification obligations. Cleaning them up before the deal is cheaper than negotiating around them during.
Do I need AI governance documentation before a sale?
If your product uses AI or ML in any form, including vendor APIs like OpenAI or Anthropic, yes. Buy-side teams are now asking about model provenance, training data licensing, vendor dependencies, and governance practices. Missing documentation raises red flags and slows the process.
What SBOM documentation will buyers expect?
At minimum, NTIA minimum elements in CycloneDX or SPDX format. EU Cyber Resilience Act requirements are raising the bar further for any software sold in Europe. Buyers want to see complete dependency inventories, license compliance verification, and known vulnerability status. We generate all of this.
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We'll tell you exactly what a buy-side diligence team would find and help you fix it before the deal is on the table.