Due Diligence Checklists › SaaS › Pre-Seed
SaaS Startup Investment Checklist: Pre-Seed Stage (2026)
This checklist covers 28 due diligence items for SaaS 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.
28 checklist items · 7 red flags automatically detected · See a sample DDR report
Pre-Seed Requirements
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Founding team quality and relevant domain expertise
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Problem evidence: clear pain, ideally lived experience
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Market size: TAM must justify a venture-scale outcome
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Early signal of demand: waitlist, LOIs, or first customers
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Founder-market fit: why this team for this problem
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Proprietary insight competitors don't have
SaaS Sector
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MRR and ARR verified with bank statements or Stripe export
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Monthly cohort retention curves reviewed for all customer vintages
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Customer concentration: top 5 customers < 30% of ARR
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NRR above 100% with underlying data verified
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All customer contracts reviewed for cancellation, auto-renewal, and pricing terms
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Competitive landscape documented with 5+ competitors profiled
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CAC payback period calculated from blended S&M spend
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Security posture: SOC 2 status, last pen test, data breach history
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Founder technical and go-to-market backgrounds verified
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Cap table reviewed: no major founder vesting cliffs approaching
Deep Dive
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Request full cohort analysis by signup month — retention curves tell the real PMF story
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Review every customer contract for cancellation clauses, auto-renewal terms, and pricing escalators
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Verify ARR vs. GAAP revenue distinction — multiyear contracts can inflate ARR
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Map all integrations and API dependencies — platform risk if built on one ecosystem
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Check competitor pricing pages and G2/Capterra reviews for positioning intelligence
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Review security posture: SOC 2, penetration testing, data residency for enterprise targets
Regulatory
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Verify: GDPR and CCPA: data residency requirements can add infrastructure cost for EU expansion
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Verify: HIPAA: any healthcare customer requires BAA agreements and strict data controls
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Verify: SOC 2 Type II: now table stakes for mid-market and enterprise buyers
OSINT Signals
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Check: G2/Capterra review count and rating trend (negative reviews signal churn risk)
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Check: LinkedIn headcount growth vs. ARR growth (hiring velocity signals growth trajectory)
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Check: GitHub activity for B2D (developer-facing) products
DDR AUTOMATES THIS CHECKLIST
Upload a SaaS startup pitch deck and DDR automatically completes 20+ of these 28 checklist items — sourcing data from 13 OSINT signals, benchmarking against 4 comparable companies, and detecting all 7 critical red flags.
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