--A fellow techie that has done a wide variety of freelancing and consulting the past decade or so; your transition comment caught my eye...
There are two articles on the blog regarding this:
https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide
https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide-par...
Those are already more than 6 years old but they aged quite well.
>Know your business (from a legal, technical and financial point of view)
>If there is bad news get it out of the way as soon as possible, well before the due diligence process starts
>Be truthful and honest
>Don’t fall into the trap of ‘dressing up’ the company, it will come back to bite you during due diligence
>Make sure that those that talk to the people doing due diligence know their stuff to avoid miscommunication
It's surprising to me how few projects - even ones going well - can meet these criteria with a high degree of fidelity.