Investor Due Diligence Checklist 2025

Beyond the Pitch Deck: The 7-Point Framework Every Investor Needs

In 2025, investment decisions can’t rely on slick pitch decks or high-level promises. To protect your capital and maximise returns, every deal must be stress-tested across seven key areas. Use this checklist as your framework for deeper, smarter due diligence.

1. Financial Health & Projections

✔ Review underlying assumptions behind revenue forecasts.✔ Calculate burn rate, runway, and cash flow sustainability.✔ Test scalability of the revenue model — are margins shrinking or growing at scale?✔ Key metrics to demand:

• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

• LTV (Lifetime Value)

• Gross Margin %

• Break-even timeline

  
  

  ✔ Are projections stress-tested against downturn scenarios?

2. Team & Leadership

✔ Evaluate the founding team’s background — track record, resilience, complementary skills.✔ Look for cohesion: how do they handle setbacks?✔ Identify any critical skills gaps — is there a plan for strategic hires?✔ Review advisory board or mentors — do they bring credibility, network access, or operational expertise?✔ Assess founder commitment: skin in the game, long-term vision, and execution capability.

3. Market Opportunity & Competitive Landscape

✔ Validate market size: TAM, SAM, SOM (Total, Serviceable, Obtainable).✔ Segment the target audience — is demand real and growing?✔ Competitor analysis: direct, indirect, and future disruptors.✔ What is the company’s defensible edge? (IP, speed, brand, regulation, network effects).✔ Does the opportunity align with macroeconomic or societal trends?

4. Legal & Intellectual Property (IP)

✔ Confirm ownership of all IP: patents, trademarks, copyrights.✔ Scan for ongoing or potential legal disputes.✔ Review corporate structure and shareholder agreements (cap table clarity).✔ Assess compliance with regulations (sector-specific, GDPR/data privacy, FCA, etc.).✔ Check licenses, permits, and contract enforceability.

5. Product/Service & Technology

✔ Assess technical feasibility and scalability of the solution.✔ Review development roadmap: MVP → beta → commercial rollout.✔ Request customer/user adoption data and feedback.✔ Test system architecture — can it handle 10x or 100x growth?✔ Cybersecurity and data protection: are safeguards robust enough for 2025 standards?

6. Traction & Validation

✔ Customer acquisition cost vs. retention — is it sustainable?✔ Growth metrics: revenue CAGR, churn, NPS (Net Promoter Score).✔ Review partnerships, pilots, or alliances with credible players.✔ Look for external validation: press, awards, accelerator programs, independent audits.✔ Are testimonials/data consistent with what’s pitched?

7. Exit Strategy Potential

✔ Map potential acquirers — who is actively buying in this sector?✔ IPO viability: industry, timing, market cycles.✔ Industry consolidation: is the company positioned as an acquirer or target?✔ Realistic valuation expectations for 3–7 years.✔ Alignment check: are founder and investor exit timelines compatible?

Download your complete du-diligence checklist here: Beyond the Pitch Deck.pdf

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• Practical tools like this checklist

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