>_PRODUCT DILIGENCE REVIEW
The Product Diligence Review: find what's costing you growth, a raise, or a deal
A private, fixed-scope review of your product, backed by real evidence, not just opinion. Delivered in three weeks.
- Length
- Three weeks
- Weekly commitment
- 1–2 hours
- Format
- Private advisory review
You'll answer a couple of quick questions before the call, so we can get straight to it.
WHY GET AN OUTSIDE READ
Something in your product is working against you, and you're too close to it to see it clearly. You built it, you use it every day, and you've stopped noticing the things a new user trips over in the first five minutes, or the thing an outside reviewer would flag in the first ten.
Other advisers look at your numbers. I look at the product that's actually making them.
Twenty years ago I was a games tester at Sega, on £6 an hour. The job wasn't really about finding glitches. It was playing through the same section of a game, over and over, tracking exactly where a player got stuck, confused, or wandered off somewhere the designer never intended.
Most of what I logged wasn't broken code. It was places where the game expected one thing and the player did another. My job was to spot that gap and write it down clearly enough that someone else could see it too.
That's the exact skill I've spent the twenty years since refining, just on software instead of games. In 2007 I was founding designer on the multi-award-winning IHG Leaders Lounge, a learning platform I helped build for InterContinental Hotels Group. I built the UX and product function from nothing at Thomas International, reviewed acquisition targets from the buy-side, and now work directly with founders through Lean Otter. Different products, same habit: walk the journey like you've never seen it before, and write down every place it stops making sense.
- It examines the product and user experience gap that advisers focused on numbers, contracts and deal terms don't cover.
- It gives founders the objective view they struggle to reach when they're too close to their own product.
- Its defined 3-week scope and five concrete outputs avoid an open-ended consulting engagement.
- It draws on real evidence: direct product use, customer interviews and usage data, not just an outside opinion.
GROWTH, RAISE, OR SELL
Growth
Your numbers have stalled and you can't work out why. The answer isn't in another dashboard, it's in the product itself.
Raise
You're heading into a raise and don't know what an investor's own product review would turn up. Fix what they'd flag, before they flag it.
Sell
You're getting ready to sell and don't know what a buyer would find first. Fix it before it costs you the deal.
HOW THIS IS DELIVERED
Format
A private one-to-one advisory review, not a cohort or group programme. Product evidence, findings and discussions stay confidential throughout.
Core process
The same review sequence runs for every engagement. What's personalised is which areas get the most depth and how the findings get framed, based on the specific problem you're actually dealing with, whether that's numbers that have stalled, an upcoming raise, or a sale on the horizon.
Feedback
Delivered at agreed milestones, set at the start of the engagement, rather than as standing weekly sessions.
Your role
Focused on providing evidence, context and decisions, not doing the analysis. Designed to fit inside 1-2 hours a week. The review and synthesis itself is mine to do.
THE FIVE OUTPUTS
Strategic Executive Summary
A high-level overview of overall product health, headline strengths, headline liabilities, and the single most critical initiative to act on first, tailored specifically to whatever you're facing: growth, fundraising, or exit.
Product Strengths and Liabilities Report
Full findings evaluated across three specific lenses:
- Experience / UX: Direct evaluation of friction, cognitive load, and navigation complexity.
- Customer Voice: Analysis of support ticket trends, product reviews, and direct user interviews.
- Data & Analytics: Drop-off mapping, feature adoption metrics, and usage telemetry.
ROI-Quantified Priority Roadmap
A ranked matrix categorising every liability by business impact versus engineering effort, complete with estimated financial and valuation return metrics to anchor ROI.
Executive Friction Teardown
An annotated, step-by-step visual map of a first-time walkthrough of your product, highlighting the top conversion drop-off points.
Implementation Handoff & Developer Session
A 60-minute technical briefing call with your CTO or lead engineer to walk through the roadmap.
THE GUARANTEE
If the review doesn't surface at least three high-impact, evidence-backed opportunities your team hadn't already identified, the fee is refunded in full.
THE SHAPE OF THE THREE WEEKS
| Week | Focus | What lands |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Starting point | Kickoff, evidence gathering, and the Executive Friction Teardown, mapped while the product is still genuinely new to me |
| Week 2 | The review itself | Deep work on the product and the experience of using it, talking to your customers, reviewing your data, producing the Strengths and Liabilities Report |
| Week 3 | Delivery | The ROI-Quantified Priority Roadmap and Strategic Executive Summary, walked through at the agreed milestone, followed by the Implementation Handoff Session |
WHO THIS IS FOR
This is for you if
- Founder of a digital product business
- Roughly £1m+ EBITDA or £3m+ ARR
- Dealing with numbers that have stalled and you can't explain why, an approaching raise, or a sale on the horizon, and want to know exactly what's causing it and what to fix first
Not a fit if
- Pre-revenue or early-stage
- Looking for reassurance rather than an honest assessment
- Looking for ongoing hands-on product leadership rather than a fixed-scope review
“Your product, your product-market fit, and how you land your proposition sit at the heart of any business's value. We brought in Brom to look at our product the way a buyer would, and he found opportunities for growth we'd missed from the inside.”
Anna Rasmussen
CEO & Founder at OpenBlend & Vokser
FAQ
Will my product information stay confidential?
Yes. Everything discussed and reviewed stays confidential throughout, including the Executive Friction Teardown, and the Strengths and Liabilities Report goes to you and only you.
Will you actually talk to my customers?
Where possible, yes, this depends on you being able to provide access and introductions, since they're your customers and your relationship with them. Where that access isn't available, the customer voice lens draws on what's already there instead, support tickets and reviews, so the findings are still evidence-based either way.
Do I need to know exactly why I want this before booking a call?
No. Whether your numbers have stalled and you can't work out why, you're heading into a raise, or you're getting ready to sell, the review starts the same way, an honest look at the product itself. You don't need to have decided anything before we talk.
Is three weeks realistic given how busy I am?
The commitment is designed to fit inside 1-2 hours a week on your side. Short calls and quick input, not homework. The bulk of the work is mine to do.
Do you look at my codebase, my finances, or my contracts?
No. This is a product review, not financial, legal or technical due diligence. I stay in my lane so the findings are sharp, not generic.
What if the review doesn't turn anything up?
It will. If it doesn't surface at least three high-impact opportunities your team hadn't already spotted, you get a full refund.
Is this worth the investment?
Compare it to the cost of what it prevents: a raise that stalls because of product-side red flags, a deal that dies in diligence, or months spent hiring and managing an in-house product lead. This is a fixed, one-off cost against a much larger and more permanent risk. And if the review doesn't surface at least three high-impact opportunities your team hadn't already found, you get a full refund.