Services
Technical Due Diligence by Someone Who Has Operated the Assets You Are Evaluating
SproutVest delivers product and technology assessments for investors and acquirers evaluating deep tech deals. Built for a seed through Series B decision rather than a buyout: an operator's judgment on whether the claimed moat survives contact with the market, delivered inside the window a term sheet actually leaves you.
30-min call · No commitment · Or send the deal brief confidentially →
What you receive
One written assessment in one to three weeks, from document review, founder interviews, and market analysis. Written to be forwarded: your IC reads a conclusion, not a hedge.
- Product-market fit evidence, and what it does not cover.
- Technical defensibility against the claimed moat.
- Team capability at the stage the deal assumes.
- Key risks, named rather than gestured at.
- Opportunity upside and a clear recommendation.
Who this is for
Family offices evaluating AI, blockchain, or SaaS investments without deep technical staff in-house. VCs running pre-investment technical diligence. Strategic acquirers assessing deep tech targets where the data room says one thing and the demo says another.
Why an operator, not an audit firm
The firms built for this work are built for a different deal. A PE-grade diligence process is scoped and priced against a check carrying a control premium, and on a seed through Series B round it costs more than the risk it retires while landing after the term sheet has gone stale. What an early check needs is a read on whether the technology does what the deck says and whether the team can sell it, inside the window you actually have.
Erick Watson has sat on every side of this table: diligence lead for angel-conference funds, founder of an acquired company (Trensant, by Interos.ai), board director through a $15M debt financing at G.A.E.M.S., and the operator who commercialized research assets at Protocol Labs and Google. Pattern recognition from 15+ years of operating is the product; the report is the packaging.
Frequently asked questions
What stage is this built for?
Seed through Series B. The process is scoped for a decision at that stage rather than for a buyout, which carries a different price and a different timeline. If your deal sits outside that band, raise it on the call and we will tell you whether a useful read is possible.
How fast can you turn a deal around?
Standard delivery is one to three weeks depending on scope. Flag the timeline on the discovery call; compressed reads are sometimes possible on a reduced scope.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes, mutual NDA before any material is shared.
What do you need from the target?
Typically data room access, two to four founder and technical-lead interviews, and product access. A useful read is possible with less; the report states its evidence limits explicitly.
Do you invest or take success fees?
No. The assessment fee is flat and independent of the deal outcome, which is precisely what makes the recommendation worth reading.
Have a deal on the table?
Bring the timeline and the thesis; we will tell you on the call whether a useful read is possible in your window.
Advisory relationships for funds and family offices also available · Industries we serve →