Due Diligence Checklists › E-Commerce › Growth / Pre-IPO
E-Commerce Startup Investment Checklist: Growth / Pre-IPO Stage (2026)
This checklist covers 23 due diligence items for E-Commerce startups at the Growth / Pre-IPO stage. Each item has been validated against institutional investor practice. DDR automates the majority of these checks from a single pitch deck PDF upload.
23 checklist items · 4 red flags automatically detected · See a sample DDR report
Growth / Pre-IPO Requirements
✓
$10M+ ARR with clear path to $100M+
✓
Profitability or credible path to profitability within 24 months
✓
Category leadership: top 1–2 in defined market
✓
CFO and board ready for public market scrutiny
✓
Revenue quality: multi-year contracts, low churn, high NRR
✓
Institutional governance: audit committee, independent board majority
E-Commerce Sector
✓
Unit economics by acquisition channel verified
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12-month cohort repurchase rates documented
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Gross margin by SKU reviewed and blended margin confirmed
✓
Supplier concentration: no single supplier >50% of COGS
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Trademark registered in US and key international markets
✓
Inventory analysis: no excess slow-moving inventory
Deep Dive
✓
Blended CAC vs. channel-specific CAC: ensure no single platform dependency
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Review 12-month cohort repurchase rates by acquisition channel
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Supplier agreements: review terms, exclusivity, pricing stability
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Inventory management and working capital cycles
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Brand protection: trademark status in key markets
Regulatory
✓
Verify: FTC truth-in-advertising requirements: health and performance claims require substantiation
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Verify: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for physical goods
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Verify: Import duties and tariffs: significant exposure for China-manufactured goods
OSINT Signals
✓
Check: SimilarWeb: paid vs. organic traffic breakdown
✓
Check: Facebook Ad Library: active ad count and creative freshness (stale ads = declining performance)
✓
Check: Reddit and TikTok: organic brand mentions and sentiment
DDR AUTOMATES THIS CHECKLIST
Upload an E-Commerce startup pitch deck and DDR automatically completes 16+ of these 23 checklist items — sourcing data from 13 OSINT signals, benchmarking against 3 comparable companies, and detecting all 4 critical red flags.
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