Investment Due Diligence

The Challenge:

A venture capital firm needs reliable intelligence to make wise investment decisions and to safeguard those investments through the due diligence process and beyond.

Prior to investing, this firm needs an unbiased assessment of the competitiveness, functionality, usability, performance and overall quality of an investment prospect’s software.

After investing, this firm needs independent verification and validation of the investment recipient’s progress against development milestones and quality objectives tied to the investment.

The Solution:

Shasta QA’s seasoned team of experts conducts side-by-side competitive analysis, independent validation of software functionality, usability, and performance. In addition, Shasta QA performs an in-depth assessment of the investment prospect’s software development process and QA methodologies against best practices.

The Keys to Success:

First, Shasta QA develops the testing strategy, action plan, progress metrics and resource requirements. Next, Shasta QA and the investment firm agree upon the software performance and quality objectives that must be achieved in order to obtain an investment.

Shasta QA reviews all project documentation and requirements, then tests the software to independently verify and validate functionality, usability and performance against the agreed upon objectives. All identified gaps are reported to the investment firm as part of the due diligence report.

Shasta QA reviews and assesses the investment prospect’s software development process, project management and QA methodologies (if any) to identify gaps between best practices and the prospect’s existing methodologies. As part of the due diligence report delivered to the investment firm, Shasta QA proposes modifications to streamline the investment prospect’s current software development process, project management and QA methodologies and align them with best practices. Additionally, Shasta QA proposes metrics that the investment firm can use to monitor the investment recipient’s progress against goals.

The Result:

By developing a due diligence strategy and action plan, the investment firm:

• Defines the criteria by which it will make an investment decision

By completing a comprehensiveness analysis of the investment prospect’s software, the investment firm:

• Ensures that the core processes and methodologies impacting time to market and customer satisfaction are reliable and mature
• Accelerates time to market by implementing best practices and streamlining the software development process