For family offices and angel investors
Before you invest in a tech company, our fractional CTOs check whether the technology does what the pitch says, and whether the team can deliver what your investment is meant to achieve. Every issue we find comes with a prioritised plan to fix it.
Under NDA. Fixed quote. Report in 2 to 4 weeks.
Technical due diligence is an independent review of a company’s code, infrastructure, security, AI claims and engineering team before you invest. It answers two questions. Is the technology what the founders say it is? And can this team deliver the scale and goals your investment is meant to achieve? Where the answer is no, you get a concrete, prioritised plan for what has to change so that it becomes yes.
Family offices are writing direct cheques into technology companies, often with small teams and no one technical in-house. Angels mostly check deals themselves, in a few hours.
64%
of single family offices expect six or more direct investments in the next 12 months1
58%
of single family offices have fewer than 20 employees1
5–10 hrs
of due diligence per deal for most members of a UK angel group, with no outside experts3
40%
of European startups classed as “AI” showed no evidence of using machine learning (2019)5
“Not all family offices have yet built up the familiarity or institutional experience required to identify potential investees or evaluate deals effectively and at pace.”
“I don’t have time to do due diligence, so I want to go in with a group of people … if everyone likes it and they’re all intelligent people I’ll go in on the back of them.”
“He was doing some direct stuff in spaces where he had no expertise.”
Families, banks and leading funds have lost money on technology that was not what it seemed. For each case below: what was claimed, what turned out to be true, and what a technical review checks.
The Walton, DeVos, Cox and Murdoch families were among investors who lost over $600m in total.
Bought by JPMorgan for $175m in 2021.
London-based. Raised over $450m from backers including Microsoft and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
Sequoia wrote its $213.5m stake down to zero. Equity investors had put in more than $1.8bn.
An AI shopping app that raised over $50m from venture investors.
A venture-backed fintech platform serving other fintech apps.
Talk to a CTO about the company you are looking at, before the money moves.
The questions a technical co-investor would ask, answered with evidence.
Is it built to grow with the business, or will it need rebuilding after your money goes in?
What runs in production, what is a third-party service, and what is done by people behind the scenes.
Security weaknesses in the architecture, code and deployments, data leaking where it shouldn’t, and gaps against the regulations that apply to the business, such as UK GDPR. Penetration testing can be arranged separately through our security specialist partners.
Whether the company owns its code, cloud accounts and app store listings, or an agency or one employee does.
Who really understands the system, and what happens if they leave.
Whether the technology and team can reach the scale and goals the investment is meant to fund, what it costs to run today, and what it would take to get there.
Written for the person making the decision, with the detail behind it for anyone who wants it.
Two pages, in plain English. The technical risks, how serious each one is, and what it would take to fix.
A detailed report with screenshots of the code, infrastructure and configuration, for your advisers or the company’s team.
Every issue is concrete and prioritised, with the steps to resolve it: what to require before completion, and what to do in the first 100 days.
We go through the findings with you, and with the founders if you want us to.
An anonymised, shortened sample report, based on a real engagement for an investor. It covers who controls the systems, the cost of the current setup, performance, the AI claims, security, and what to require before completion.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
A proper NDA and services agreement are signed before the company shares anything.
Copies of the company’s code, documents and data are deleted once the report is delivered.
A fixed price, agreed before we start.
£5,000 to £25,000
Depends on the size of the codebase, team and project. Fixed quote after a free call. Typically 2 to 4 weeks.
£500 a month
Optional. We attend two board meetings a month (up to two hours in total), oversee what has to change and guide the team. Flexible monthly retainer.
Prices exclude VAT. Need more hands-on support for a portfolio company? See our fractional CTO service.
Talk it through with a CTO before you commit, or see exactly what a report looks like first.
See what our clients have to say.
“Lev was able to tailor his service offer to the specific needs we had at the time. His advice was invaluable and provided a good "second pair of eyes" to validate and enhance our proposed approach to our IT development and structure. We look forward to working with Lev again”
Max Pell
Chief Administrative Officer, Fennech
“We've worked with Lev and Metamindz for several months, both in a fractional CTO role and on recruitment. They've been excellent throughout, responsive, easy to work with, and highly capable. I couldn't recommend them enough” source
Jacob Hinson
Google review
“I would highly recommend Lev as a fractional CTO. What truly sets him apart is his rare combination of deep technical expertise and business acumen, coupled with a genuine investment in seeing others succeed. His ability to assess technical challenges and architect solutions while considering the broader business context has been invaluable. One of Lev's standout qualities is how he meets you exactly where you are - whether discussing early-stage challenges or complex architectural decisions, he tailors his guidance to your specific business stage and needs. What's particularly impressive is his commitment to giving honest, practical advice, even when it doesn't directly benefit him - a testament to his integrity and long-term perspective. His talent for translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders is remarkable. In every interaction, Lev brings clarity and strategic direction that helps navigate both immediate technical decisions and long-term architectural planning.” source
Aeva Health
Google review
Hear directly from Tanya Mulesa, Founder of CICON.app, about her experience working with Metamindz.
Hi, my name is Tanya Mulesa, and I'm the founder of tech startup Cicon App. And we have been working with Metamindz and Lev Perlman, and we're absolutely happy with the service. Um, we have worked with him on the technical setup of the app, technical due diligence. Lev was mentoring our team and helped to quickly implement all the necessary changes and debugging. We are very happy. The service was quick, actionable, effective, and we're very grateful for it. Thank you very much.
Tanya Mulesa
Founder, CICON.app
An anonymised example of what you receive.
For acquirers, founders and investors.
Hands-on technical leadership for a portfolio company.
What should make you look twice.
What changes when much of the code was written by AI.
No. We give you the technical facts your decision depends on: what we found, how serious it is and what it would cost to fix. Whether to invest, and on what terms, is your decision with your financial and legal advisers.
An NDA is in place before anything is shared, and our copies of the company’s code, documents and data are deleted once the report is delivered.
Typically £5,000 to £25,000, depending on the size of the codebase, team and project. We give you a fixed quote after a free call, so the price doesn’t move once we start.
Typically 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the company’s technology. We agree the timeline with you before we start.
Both. Every issue in the report is concrete and prioritised, with an action plan for resolving it. We can walk the founders and their team through the plan, and stay involved after you invest if you want us to.
Sometimes not, and we’ll say so on the first call. It makes most sense for larger direct investments, for follow-on rounds, or when several angels in a syndicate share the cost of one review.
Yes. We look at what actually runs in production: whether there is a model the company owns, a third-party AI service, a set of rules, or people doing the work behind the scenes. We also check how personal data is passed to any AI service.
We can still assess a lot from live systems, documents, interviews and the way the product behaves. Anything we can’t verify is written as an open question rather than a finding, so you can see exactly what is unknown. A refusal to share code is itself worth knowing before you invest.
Ask to see the lead investor’s technical due diligence first. If it covered the code, security and team in depth, you may only need a short review of the gaps. If there wasn’t one, you are relying on nobody having checked.
Our team of fractional CTOs and developers, chosen for expertise in the specific technology the company uses.
Yes, as an optional extra at £500 a month. We attend two board meetings a month (up to two hours in total), oversee the changes the report recommends and guide the team. It is a flexible monthly retainer. For more hands-on support, see our fractional CTO service.
Tell us about the company and the deal. Everything you share stays confidential.
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Technical assessment only. Not financial, legal or investment advice. Case summaries are drawn from public reporting; some matters are allegations not proven in court.