The value
Product readiness for founders selling
A buyer's team is about to look at your product properly for the first time.
You know it better than anyone. They don't, and their job is to notice what you stopped seeing long ago. A product review lets you find those things first.
What a buyer's team will ask
Could you answer each one today, with evidence?
A buyer's team will work through questions like these about your product, and they will want evidence, not confidence. You will know some of the answers cold. Others you may only half know.
If any answer is "I think so", that is where a review starts.
Who uses it
Who actually uses it, and how much of that use is one or two customers?
Why they leave
Why do customers leave?
Time to value
How long does a new customer take to get real value?
AI exposure
What could an AI-native competitor copy first?
Unused features
Which parts of the product does nobody touch?
What a late surprise costs
Diligence is not where you want to learn something new about your own product.
A finding that reaches the buyer's table before it reaches yours costs more than the problem itself.
01
Price.
A problem found by the buyer's team, mid-deal, can turn into a reason to lower the price, at the point where you have the least room to respond.
02
Time.
Most product problems take months to fix. Found early, you have that time. Found in exclusivity (the period when one buyer has the sole right to negotiate), you do not.
03
The next sale.
A stalled deal doesn't just cost you this one. A failed exit is remembered. It can take a year or more before the next credible buyer takes you seriously again, often longer than it would have taken to just fix the thing that killed this one.
The choice
Two ways into the deal room
Option one
Found by the buyer.
The finding arrives mid-deal. You are explaining it for the first time, with no evidence and no time to fix it.
Option two
Found by you first.
You have fixed what you could. You can explain the rest, with evidence, before anyone asks.
Someone will find it.
Make sure it's you.
Book a discovery call
Why Lean Otter
We've seen the gap from both sides
We've worked inside PE-backed companies, assessed the product side of acquisition targets, and helped founders prepare to raise or sell.
We've seen financial, legal, and technical diligence be rigorous, every time. The product read almost never is.
That's the gap we built Lean Otter to close.
Learn more about us →
The full picture
Where this fits in your sale
It runs alongside your adviser, your accountants and lawyers, and technical diligence, and it does not slow your sale down.
Book a discovery call Your M&A adviser
They run the process. Our findings strengthen your position going into their conversations, and the product section of your sale document is built on evidence.
Your accountants and lawyers
They cover the numbers and the contracts. We cover what neither can: whether customers want the product, use it and would miss it.
Technical diligence
They check the code and security in depth, and we don't replace that. We flag the engineering issues that affect the product, so you find them first.
Buyers will ask about AI and engineering. Have your answers ready.
AI. Could AI threaten this product, or make it worth more? We show where it would help your customers, what your data would need to support it, and where it would add nothing.
Engineering. We don't replace a buyer's code and security review. We flag what affects the product so you find it first: technical debt (shortcuts that slow new features), key-person risk (knowledge held by one or two people) and how steadily the team ships.
How it works
Three steps, from scoping to debrief
Step 1
Talk and scope
A working session on what a buyer's diligence team will actually scrutinise, and what to focus on, then we agree access to your data, roadmap, and customers.
Step 2
Assess
We use the product ourselves, dig into the usage data, and talk directly to real customers, not just the ones who will say nice things. Every assessment also covers how exposed you are to AI-native competitors, and where AI could help your customers.
Step 3
Report & debrief
Findings, risks and strengths alike, go into a draft you see first, then your full set of reports, walked through with you once you've read them.
Common questions
What founders preparing to sell usually ask first
How is this different from technical due diligence?
Technical diligence checks the code and security in depth, and we don't replace it. We check whether customers want the product, use it and would miss it, and flag engineering issues that affect it.
What if the review finds major product liabilities?
Finding them now gives you months to fix them or frame them properly in your deal room, rather than having a buyer discover them during exclusivity.
Should we do this before or after appointing an M&A advisor?
Before, ideally. Findings strengthen your position going into advisor conversations and the deal room itself, rather than surfacing after your narrative is already set.
Will this slow down our sale process?
No. It runs in parallel and is designed to strengthen your position, not gate your timeline.
Can I share the report with my M&A adviser?
Yes, the report is yours. Many founders share the findings with their adviser so the product section of the sale document is built on evidence.
Anna Rasmussen
Your product, your product-market fit, and how you land your proposition sit at the heart of any business's value. We brought in Lean Otter to look at our product the way a buyer would, and they found opportunities for growth we'd missed from the inside.
CEO & Founder at OpenBlend & Vokser