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A one-page companion for pre-close, pre-LOI, and first-100-day technology reads.
Stern Technology Advisory
sterntechadvisory.com
§ 01 Stack inventory
| Category | What is in place | What is unknown |
|---|---|---|
| ERP and finance Platform, version, cloud vs on-prem, last upgrade, named customization count | ||
| Commerce and channels Platforms per channel, OMS, inventory truth, B2B vs DTC split | ||
| Data and BI Warehouse, pipeline tooling, master-data system of record, report latency | ||
| Infrastructure and hosting Cloud mix, contract end dates, run-rate spend, IaC maturity | ||
| Security and identity SSO coverage, privileged-access model, last breach or incident, audit history | ||
| Vendor concentration Top 5 vendors, % of total spend, length of exclusivity, renewal cliffs |
§ 02 Team capability read
Signals (five)
- Release cadence is measured in weeks, not quarters
- Incident postmortems are written, specific, and blameless
- Architecture ownership is clear at the team level, not a committee
- Technology roadmap is tied to business metrics, not vendor releases
- Attrition in senior engineering is below 12% trailing twelve months
Disqualifiers (three)
- No production runbook exists for the ERP or the commerce platform
- Single person is irreplaceable on a critical system
- Security posture is inherited entirely from vendors, not designed
Any one disqualifier present = technology org cannot execute thesis without leadership change.
§ 03 Integration and data debt markers
- Number of systems of record for customer, product, and inventory
- Shape of the last major migration: was it finished, or still running?
- Where master data lives, and who owns its governance
- Count of point-to-point integrations outside the integration platform
- Reporting latency between operational systems and the BI layer
§ 04 First 100 days decision template
| Decision | Default answer | Override condition |
|---|---|---|
| Consolidate or defer on multiple ERPs | Defer consolidation past day 365 unless the thesis requires it sooner | Override if the thesis depends on cost-out at the G&A line |
| Retain or replace the senior technology leader | Retain for the first 90 days and assess against delivery | Override if diligence already identified specific disqualifiers |
| Pause or continue in-flight technology programs | Pause all non-critical programs pending thesis alignment | Override for programs that unblock regulatory or security risk |
| Invest in or starve the BI and data layer | Invest early; most thesis metrics require reporting the stack cannot produce | Override if the thesis is purely operational cost-out |
| Build or buy the next major capability | Buy unless the capability is a genuine differentiator | Override if the market offerings cannot support the operating model |
§ 05 Investment thesis alignment scorecard
| Thesis | Capability the stack must support | In place | Partial | Absent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geographic expansion | Multi-country ERP, tax, localization | |||
| Roll-up / platform | Integration architecture that absorbs targets cleanly | |||
| Margin improvement | Cost and spend visibility; vendor rationalization | |||
| Digital channel growth | Commerce platform and real-time inventory | |||
| Pricing power | Pricing system, elasticity data, rapid change propagation | |||
| Operational turnaround | Reporting cadence, exception handling, audit trail |
Built from post-close execution experience, not from the diligence side of the table.Stern Technology Advisory · sterntechadvisory.com/industries/private-equity