To me, the Big Ball of Mud might be the most useful architecture to understand, because that is the architecture that usually gets built. Either sooner or later

To me, the Big Ball of Mud might be the most useful architecture to understand, because that is the architecture that usually gets built. Either sooner or later. Quick version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_ball_of_mud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_ball_of_mud Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_ball_of_mud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_ball_of_mud It's probably what your company has. And would have been an honest answer to the potential investor -- they're not an actual investor until they invest. Whether or not an honest answer to the potential investor would have been what your employer wanted from you is another matter. Anyway, Wikipedia is a pretty good starting point for software architecture types. Good luck.