Frequently asked questions

Custiligence helps startups run customer diligence during fundraising with more structure. The process can include reference planning, customer coordination, structured interviews, and an investor-ready summary.

This is strongest for B2B SaaS startups from Seed through Series B, especially when a small number of customer accounts matter a lot. It is also useful for investors who want clearer customer proof without creating repeated outreach too early.

The best time is when customer diligence is becoming a real part of the fundraising process, or when the founder expects multiple investor requests and wants a more controlled approach.

It starts with founder intake and account mapping. That helps identify which customers are good reference candidates, which accounts are sensitive, and what kind of customer access makes sense at the current stage.

A typical package includes founder intake, reference planning, customer coordination support, customer interviews, synthesis, and an investor-ready memo.

Most packages are built around 2 to 4 customer interviews. The most natural starting point is often 3 interviews.

A small package can often be completed in about 5 to 10 business days, depending on customer availability, scheduling complexity, and account sensitivity.

The memo typically includes cross-interview themes, strengths, risks or concerns, useful customer language, implementation observations, and guidance on whether direct follow-up would still add value.

Often, yes. This process is not meant to eliminate direct customer access. It is meant to create a clearer first layer of diligence and reduce repeated customer asks early in the process.

No. A better model is structured customer diligence first, a clear summary second, and direct customer conversations later for serious or final-stage diligence.

That risk only goes down if the process feels neutral and balanced. The goal is not to sanitize customer feedback. The goal is to create a more structured and useful workflow.

It is founder-aware, but it should not be founder-edited. Founders help define which accounts are suitable and which are sensitive. That is different from controlling the substance of what customers say.

The process starts with reference planning and permission logic. Strategic and sensitive accounts should be handled more carefully, and repeated outreach should be reduced where possible.

Sensitive accounts should be identified early. In many cases, the right process is to protect those relationships, stage access carefully, or reserve direct calls for a later point in diligence.

Yes. The model is especially relevant in areas like healthcare, fintech, cybersecurity, and public sector, where customer relationships can be more sensitive and more valuable.

The interviews should be structured, balanced, and designed to capture both strengths and concerns. The output should feel like a useful diligence artifact, not a testimonial asset.

Starter packages begin at $4,000. A common starting package is 3 interviews for $5,000. Broader or more sensitive scopes can cost more.

Usually the startup. The buyer is often the founder or operating lead who wants to manage customer diligence more carefully during a live raise.

That depends on the customer base and the fundraising context. This tends to be more valuable when the company has a few meaningful accounts, strategic logos, or several investors moving at once.

This is a weaker fit for companies with almost no live customers, businesses with hundreds of low-touch accounts, or later-stage teams that already have a mature internal process for customer diligence and investor coordination.

The strongest current framing is service-led customer diligence infrastructure. The initial value comes from process design, coordination, interviews, and synthesis. Over time, some parts could evolve into workflow software.

No. Expert networks are usually designed for investor-side research and broad expert sourcing. This model is specifically built around the founder-side customer diligence workflow during fundraising.

Yes. Some teams may use the process earlier to prepare reference strategy, identify customer proof, and reduce surprises before investor diligence begins.

Yes. In many cases that is the point. This process helps create structure first, then supports a more staged path to direct customer access where appropriate.