# Ask This Deal, the AI deal assistant scoped to one record

> Ask This Deal is an AI deal assistant planned for Delsivo's first release. You ask a question inside a deal and it answers only from material you are allowed to see on that deal: the deck, interview transcript, forms, room files and research, citing each source. It can draft follow-up questions and propose changes to the brief, but a person approves anything sent or saved.

Source: https://delsivo.com/features/ask-this-deal · Updated 2026-11-06 · Planned, not available yet

## Key takeaways

- Planned for the first release.
- Answers come from one deal's record and cite the slide, timestamp, file page or source.
- It sees only what the person asking is allowed to see, using the same permission check as every page.
- Drafts and proposed brief edits wait for a person to approve them.

## What you can ask the AI deal assistant

The assistant is for questions you would otherwise answer by opening five tabs. Examples:

- What did the founder say about churn, and does it match the deck?
- Which thesis criteria are still Unknown, and what would answer them?
- List every revenue figure in this deal with its period and source.
- Draft three follow-up questions about the pilot customers.
- What changed between deck version 1 and version 2?

Every answer cites where each statement came from, so you can open the slide, play the interview moment or read the file page.

## What it can and can't reach

| Source | Used by the assistant | Condition |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Deck versions and extracted facts | Yes | Always on the deal |
| Interview transcripts | Yes | If you can view the interview |
| Form answers and room files | Yes | Only scanned files you are permitted to open |
| Saved research findings | Yes | With their dates and sources |
| Other deals in your fund | No | Scoped to one deal by design |
| Other funds' data | Never | Tenant separation in the database |
| Restricted files | No | A file you can't open never appears in an answer, snippet or citation |

## How a suggestion becomes part of the record

1. You ask a question in the deal.
2. The assistant retrieves only permitted material and drafts an answer with citations. Quotes not found in a source are removed.
3. If it proposes a brief change or a new claim, the proposal appears as a labelled AI suggestion.
4. You accept, edit or dismiss it. Accepted changes are logged with your name.
5. A drafted founder message goes to the normal approval step. Nothing reaches a founder on the assistant's say-so.

## Limits worth knowing

The assistant only knows what is in the deal. If the deck never mentioned gross margin, it says the record doesn't show it rather than estimating one. Text inside uploaded documents and web pages is treated as data, not instructions, so a line in a deck that tries to steer the AI is ignored.

When the AI service is unavailable or failing its checks, the assistant is switched off and the deal stays fully usable by hand. Planned scope may change after design partner pilots.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can Ask This Deal search across all our deals?

Not in the first release design. It is scoped to one deal so its answers are traceable and its access is easy to reason about.

### Can a guest expert use Ask This Deal?

Only over the items explicitly shared with them. The assistant uses the same permission check as pages, search and exports.

### Does it send emails to founders?

No. It can draft a follow-up, which then needs approval from your team, and a partner if your fund requires it, before anything is sent.

### Is our deal content used to train AI models?

Delsivo uses AI providers under terms that don't train on submitted content, confirmed per provider before any fund content is processed.

## Related pages

- [AI startup research with citations](https://delsivo.com/features/research-with-sources)
- [Founder call preparation](https://delsivo.com/features/call-prep-briefs)
- [Pitch deck citations](https://delsivo.com/features/slide-citations)
- [Security](https://delsivo.com/security)