Tech Due Diligence Interview Questions - Easy

Easy-level technical due diligence interview questions covering fundamental assessment areas.

Q1: What is technical due diligence and why is it important?

Answer:

Definition: Systematic evaluation of a company's technology assets, infrastructure, and capabilities.

Why Important:

  • Identify technical risks
  • Validate claims
  • Assess scalability
  • Evaluate team capability
  • Inform valuation

When Conducted:

  • M&A transactions
  • Investment rounds
  • Partnership decisions
  • Vendor selection

Q2: What are the key areas to assess in tech due diligence?

Answer:

Assessment Framework

Product & Technology:

  • What does it do?
  • How mature is it?
  • What's the tech stack?
  • How scalable?

Team:

  • Size and structure?
  • Key person dependencies?
  • Skill gaps?
  • Turnover rate?

Q3: How do you assess code quality?

Answer:

Code Review Checklist

Red Flags:

  • No version control
  • No tests
  • Spaghetti code
  • Hardcoded secrets
  • No documentation

Q4: How do you evaluate technical debt?

Answer:

Assessment Matrix

Questions to Ask:

  • How old is the codebase?
  • When was last major refactor?
  • What's the bug backlog?
  • How long for new features?

Q5: What security aspects should be reviewed?

Answer:

Security Checklist

Key Questions:

  • How is data encrypted (at rest/in transit)?
  • How are secrets managed?
  • What's the incident response plan?
  • When was last security audit?
  • Any past breaches?

Red Flags:

  • Passwords in code
  • No encryption
  • Admin access for all
  • No audit logs
  • No security updates

Q6: How do you assess scalability?

Answer:

Load Testing

Questions:

  • Current user count?
  • Peak load handled?
  • Database sharding strategy?
  • Caching implemented?
  • Load balancing in place?

Q7: How do you evaluate the development team?

Answer:

Team Structure

Key Metrics:

  • Team size vs. product complexity
  • Senior/junior ratio
  • Turnover rate
  • Key person dependencies
  • Hiring pipeline

Red Flags:

  • Single developer knows everything
  • High turnover
  • No senior engineers
  • Skill gaps in critical areas

Q8: What documentation should exist?

Answer:

Documentation Quality

Essential Documents:

  • System architecture
  • API specifications
  • Database schema
  • Deployment procedures
  • Incident response
  • Onboarding guide

Assessment:

  • Can new developer onboard easily?
  • Can ops team deploy without help?
  • Are APIs documented?
  • Is architecture clear?

Q9: How do you assess infrastructure and DevOps?

Answer:

CI/CD Maturity

Questions:

  • Where is it hosted? (AWS, GCP, Azure, on-prem)
  • How is it deployed? (Manual vs. automated)
  • What's the deployment frequency?
  • How long to rollback?
  • What monitoring is in place?
  • Backup strategy?

Red Flags:

  • Manual deployments
  • No monitoring
  • No backups
  • Single region
  • No disaster recovery plan

Q10: What are common red flags in tech due diligence?

Answer:

Risk Assessment

Critical Issues:

  • No IP ownership
  • Major security breach
  • Unsalvageable codebase
  • Key team leaving
  • Regulatory violations

Manageable Issues:

  • Technical debt (can be fixed)
  • Missing documentation (can be created)
  • Scalability concerns (can be addressed)
  • Process gaps (can be implemented)

Summary

Key tech due diligence areas:

  • Purpose: Assess technology before investment/acquisition
  • Key Areas: Product, architecture, team, security, IP
  • Code Quality: Review, tests, documentation
  • Technical Debt: Identify and quantify
  • Security: Authentication, encryption, compliance
  • Scalability: Load testing, architecture review
  • Team: Size, skills, processes, retention
  • Documentation: Architecture, APIs, operations
  • Infrastructure: Hosting, CI/CD, monitoring
  • Red Flags: Critical issues that affect deal

These fundamentals enable thorough technical assessment.

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