Due Diligence Checklists › Crypto / Web3 › Pre-Seed
Crypto / Web3 Startup Investment Checklist: Pre-Seed Stage (2026)
This checklist covers 22 due diligence items for Crypto / Web3 startups at the Pre-Seed stage. Each item has been validated against institutional investor practice. DDR automates the majority of these checks from a single pitch deck PDF upload.
22 checklist items · 3 red flags automatically detected · See a sample DDR report
Pre-Seed Requirements
✓
Founding team quality and relevant domain expertise
✓
Problem evidence: clear pain, ideally lived experience
✓
Market size: TAM must justify a venture-scale outcome
✓
Early signal of demand: waitlist, LOIs, or first customers
✓
Founder-market fit: why this team for this problem
✓
Proprietary insight competitors don't have
Crypto / Web3 Sector
✓
Smart contract audits from 2+ reputable firms reviewed
✓
Token legal opinion obtained on securities classification
✓
Founding team KYC completed
✓
Treasury management policy reviewed
✓
On-chain metrics (TVL, DAA, fees) verified independently
✓
OFAC compliance process documented
Deep Dive
✓
Smart contract audit reports from recognized security firms
✓
Token economics and distribution analysis
✓
Regulatory framework: SEC vs. commodity classification
✓
Treasury management: stable vs. crypto-denominated reserves
Regulatory
✓
Verify: SEC Howey test classification: tokens may be deemed securities
✓
Verify: FinCEN money transmission licensing for exchanges
✓
Verify: OFAC compliance: screening for sanctioned entities on-chain
OSINT Signals
✓
Check: On-chain analytics: Dune dashboards, Nansen, Chainalysis
✓
Check: Smart contract audit reports (public on GitHub)
✓
Check: Token holder concentration (top 10 wallets as % of supply)
DDR AUTOMATES THIS CHECKLIST
Upload a Crypto / Web3 startup pitch deck and DDR automatically completes 15+ of these 22 checklist items — sourcing data from 13 OSINT signals, benchmarking against 2 comparable companies, and detecting all 3 critical red flags.
GET YOUR FREE SCAN →