# Should you manage deal flow in a spreadsheet, or use Delsivo?

> Many lean funds manage deal flow in a spreadsheet fed by a form, with decks in a shared folder and follow-ups by email. It costs little and works while inbound is light. Delsivo, now at the design partner stage, is built for steady inbound: a branded portal, deck facts cited to slides, your thesis applied criterion by criterion, and one record per deal. If a sheet still keeps up, keep the sheet.

Source: https://delsivo.com/compare/delsivo-vs-spreadsheets-and-forms · Facts checked 2026-11-06

## Key takeaways

- A form plus a shared sheet is quick to set up, flexible and cheap, and many funds already pay for Google Workspace or a form tool.
- The sheet holds a row per company, but reading each deck, applying the thesis and chasing follow-ups stay manual.
- Delsivo keeps the deck, the facts taken from it, the thesis check, claims, requests and decisions in one deal record. It is at the design partner stage, so nothing is generally available yet.
- Delsivo is not a spreadsheet. If your team likes building its own columns and views, the sheet stays more flexible.

## What each does

Delsivo: Delsivo is an AI investment workspace for venture funds. Founders apply on your branded portal, Delsivo reads the PDF deck and cites every extracted fact to its slide, applies your published thesis criterion by criterion, and keeps claims, follow-up requests, files and decisions in one deal record. AI suggests and cites; your team moves every deal. It is at the design partner stage, with features arriving in a pilot, a first release and later.

Spreadsheets and forms:

- Google describes Sheets as collaborative, AI-powered spreadsheets where several people edit the same file at once, with revision history to go back to earlier versions. ([source](https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/), checked 2026-11-06)
- Google Forms offers several question types and logic that shows questions based on earlier answers, and exports raw responses to Google Sheets. ([source](https://workspace.google.com/products/forms/), checked 2026-11-06)
- Typeform describes itself as a no-code platform for building AI-powered forms and automating follow-up work. ([source](https://www.typeform.com/), checked 2026-11-06)

## Side by side

|  | Delsivo | Spreadsheets and forms |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Main job | Intake, deck reading, thesis screening, claims and diligence requests for each deal, in one record | No deal pipeline or CRM is described on the Google Sheets product page; any pipeline is a sheet the team builds (https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/, 2026-11-06) |
| Founder intake | A branded portal on your fund's subdomain with save and resume, a receipt and a secure founder link (Pilot). Your own domain in the first release | Google Forms offers several question types with logic that shows relevant questions based on earlier answers (https://workspace.google.com/products/forms/, 2026-11-06) |
| Deck uploads | The deck is uploaded to the portal and kept as the original, with each new deck stored as a new version (Pilot) | For a Google Forms file upload question, responders must sign in to a Google Account, and files go to a new folder in the owner's Google Drive (https://support.google.com/docs/answer/7322334?hl=en, 2026-11-06) |
| Reading the deck | PDF decks read with every extracted fact cited to its slide, and weak extraction flagged instead of guessed (Pilot) | The Sheets page describes Gemini working on spreadsheet data. It does not describe reading pitch decks or checking deals against a thesis (https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/, 2026-11-06) |
| Applying your thesis | Your thesis as a versioned rubric. Each criterion shows Met, Mismatch or Unknown with the rule, value and source. Unknown becomes a question (Pilot) | Neither the Sheets nor the Forms product page is aimed at venture funds; both describe general data collection and analysis (https://workspace.google.com/products/forms/, 2026-11-06) |
| Follow-up requests | Follow-up forms and scoped file requests sent through the portal, with states from Draft to Complete and reminders for outstanding items (Pilot) | No data room, document request tracking or diligence checklist is described on the Sheets or Forms product pages (https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/, 2026-11-06) |
| Flexibility | Stages, rubric and forms follow a set structure. You can't add free-form columns or formulas the way a sheet allows | Sheets canvas can create dashboards and Kanban boards with Gemini, and Sheets connects to sources such as Asana, HubSpot and Salesforce (https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/, 2026-11-06) |
| Form limits | Founders sign in with a one-time code sent to their email. No Google Account needed | Typeform's paid plans cap responses per month: 100 on Basic, 1,000 on Plus and 10,000 on Business (https://www.typeform.com/pricing/, 2026-11-06) |

## Pricing

Delsivo: No published prices. Delsivo is at the design partner stage, and each pilot is priced with the fund. Annual workspace pricing, with application and AI usage allowances, is set after real pilot usage is measured. Funds pay; founders never do. See [pricing](https://delsivo.com/pricing).

- Spreadsheets and forms: Google Workspace Business plans served for India: Base ₹99.00 and Starter ₹270 per user per month, excluding tax. Prices in other currencies were not read. ([source](https://workspace.google.com/intl/en/pricing.html), checked 2026-11-06)
- Spreadsheets and forms: Typeform Basic is 39 USD / mo billed monthly, or 28 USD / mo billed yearly, for 100 responses a month and 1 seat. A Free plan has a limited number of responses. ([source](https://www.typeform.com/pricing/), checked 2026-11-06)

## How funds manage deal flow in a spreadsheet

The usual pattern, described in general terms rather than from a survey: an application form on the fund's website, a row per company in a shared sheet, decks saved to a folder and linked from the row, and a summary and fit judgement typed in by whoever read the deck. Follow-up questions go out by email, and the answers come back as threads and attachments someone files by hand.

It works, and for a fund seeing a handful of applications a week it may be all you need. The strain shows when inbound grows: the thesis lives in a separate document or in people's heads, reasons for passing are recorded only if someone remembers, and the history of a deal is split across the sheet, the folder and several inboxes.

## What changes with Delsivo

The deal record replaces the row, the folder and the thread. The deck stays attached as the original, each fact taken from it links to its slide, and your thesis is applied as a published rubric, so two analysts read the same criteria. A missing value shows as Unknown and becomes a question for the founder instead of a silent gap. See [the deck analyzer](https://delsivo.com/deck-analyzer) and [thesis screening](https://delsivo.com/thesis-screening).

Requests to founders go through your portal, and their uploads land in the deal. Every stage change and pass is made by a person and kept in the audit history with its reason.

## Where Delsivo is weaker

- Delsivo is at the design partner stage. Nothing is generally available, while a sheet and a form work today.
- A sheet is more flexible: any column, formula or view you like. Delsivo follows a set structure of stages, rubric and forms.
- There are no published prices for Delsivo. Pilots are priced with each fund, and many funds already pay for Google Workspace or a form tool.
- Delsivo has no import from your existing sheet yet. CSV and CRM import and export are planned for a later release.
- Delsivo reads PDF decks first and works in English first. PowerPoint follows once extraction quality is measured.

## Which to choose

- A spreadsheet and a form: Inbound is light, one or two people read every deck, and the team values a flexible sheet it can change any time.
- Delsivo: Inbound is steady, decks pile up in a folder, and you want each deck read with slide citations, screened against a written thesis and kept in one record, and you can join a design partner pilot.
- Both, for a while: Keep the sheet as your list while a pilot runs on new applications, then decide from what you measured.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is a spreadsheet good enough for deal flow?

For light inbound, often yes. A form feeding a shared sheet is cheap and flexible. It starts to strain when decks pile up, when several people apply the thesis differently, and when follow-ups and reasons for passing live in inboxes instead of the record.

### Can founders apply without a Google Account?

Google's help page says a Forms file upload question requires responders to sign in to a Google Account. Delsivo's portal signs founders in with a one-time code sent to their email.

### Can Delsivo import our existing deal sheet?

Not yet. CSV and CRM import and export are planned for a later release. During a pilot, new applications come in through your portal while the sheet stays your list of earlier deals.

### Does Delsivo decide which deals to pass on?

No. AI extracts facts, applies your rubric and drafts questions, always with citations. A person makes every stage change and pass, and overrides need a recorded reason.

## Related pages

- [VC deal flow software](https://delsivo.com/venture-capital-deal-flow-software)
- [Startup application portal](https://delsivo.com/startup-application-portal)
- [How Delsivo works](https://delsivo.com/how-it-works)
- [Best VC deal flow tools](https://delsivo.com/best-vc-deal-flow-tools)
- [Delsivo vs Airtable](https://delsivo.com/compare/delsivo-vs-airtable)