A CTO’s Strategic Take: How Inconsistent Grading Impacts Tech Leadership and Budget Decisions
September 22, 2025How I Solved the AU58+ Capped Bust Coin Grading and Photo Display Challenge: A Step-by-Step Guide
September 22, 2025
The Hidden Risks of Inconsistent Technical Assessments in M&A
When buying a tech company, many acquirers focus on revenue and growth metrics – but the real surprises often lurk in the technical details. Let me show you how inconsistent tech evaluations can sabotage deals, using a surprising example from the coin collecting world that perfectly illustrates this problem.
The $190,000 Lesson in Grading Variability
A 1922 Peace Dollar recently swung from “altered surfaces” to PR63-CAC grade – a 300% value difference based solely on expert interpretation. Sound familiar? We see the same wild valuation gaps in tech acquisitions when different teams examine:
- Code quality (different tools give different grades)
- Infrastructure readiness (optimistic vs. realistic projections)
- Security posture (findings that mysteriously disappear on retest)
Technical Due Diligence Red Flags
1. When Code Has “Altered Surfaces”
Just like that controversial coin, some codebases tell different stories under different lights:
// Warning signs we frequently uncover:
// - "Temporary" credentials that became permanent
// - Inheritance chains held together with duct tape
// - Critical fixes with zero documentation
Pro Tip: Always run multiple scanning tools (like SonarQube, Checkmarx, and Snyk together) – their combined results paint the truest picture.
2. The Disappearing Issues Trick
Remember how our coin got upgraded on resubmission? Tech deals see similar magic:
- First security scan reports 47 critical vulnerabilities
- Second scan (with relaxed parameters) shows just 3
- No documentation explaining the discrepancy
Building Your Due Diligence Framework
Stress Test Like You Mean It
- Don’t just test current loads – simulate 2x, 5x, and 10x traffic spikes
- Demand proof of sharding capabilities before signing
- Verify auto-scaling actually works (many setups fail when needed most)
Tech Risk Scorecard
| What to Measure | Importance | Red Flags |
|---|---|---|
| Code Changes | 20% | More than 30% recent churn |
| Outside Code | 25% | Abandoned dependencies |
Final Thought: Consistency Creates Confidence
The coin market’s valuation whiplash happens daily in tech deals. Protect yourself by:
- Using multiple assessment methods to verify findings
- Documenting every assumption about the tech stack
- Seeing inconsistencies as negotiation opportunities, not obstacles
Just as collectors debate a coin’s true grade, smart buyers know technical due diligence isn’t about getting one perfect answer – it’s about understanding the range of possible truths before writing the check.
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