Little traction to check, so the questions matter more
When there is little traction to check, unknowns stay unknown and turn into questions, and a live AI interview shows how founders think.
- StageMet
Rule: Pre-seed · Found: Raising a first round · Slide 2
- GeographyMet
Rule: Operates in your regions · Found: Team and first users in region · Slide 1
- Paying customersUnknown
Rule: Preferred, weighted 2 · Found: Not stated
- Early usageUnknown
Rule: Preferred, weighted 2 · Found: Not stated
Sample data. Companies, funds and people are made up.
Judging a company before it has numbers
At pre-seed, a deck is a plan and a team. Screening tools built for later rounds treat every missing metric as a red flag. Delsivo treats it as something you don't know yet.
- Unknown is not a no
A two-month-old company can't show retention or revenue. Delsivo marks those criteria Unknown and turns each into a question, instead of failing the deal for data that doesn't exist yet.
- Hear how founders think
A live AI interview built from your questions and the deck's open points, taken whenever the founder chooses, shows how a founder reasons about the problem before anyone books a call.
- Requests sized for two people
Founders get short forms for what is actually missing, can save and come back, and are reminded only about items still outstanding.
4 of 6 criteria unknown, and nothing failed
A sample pre-seed application. Stage and geography are clear from the deck. Paying customers, usage, founder insight and round size are not, so each is marked Unknown and comes with the question that would settle it.
- Met means the deal satisfies the rule, with the slide shown.
- Mismatch means it explicitly falls outside a rule. A person reviews it; nothing is rejected automatically.
- Unknown means the value isn't known yet. It becomes a question, never a failure.
- StageMet
Rule: Pre-seed · Found: Raising a first round · Slide 2
- GeographyMet
Rule: Operates in your regions · Found: Team and first users in region · Slide 1
- Paying customersUnknown
Rule: Preferred, weighted 2 · Found: Not stated
AI suggestion: Question for the founder: Is anyone paying today, and on what terms?
- Early usageUnknown
Rule: Preferred, weighted 2 · Found: Not stated
AI suggestion: Question for the founder: How many people used it last month, and how do you count them?
- Founder insightUnknown
Rule: Preferred, weighted 3 · Found: Partly on slide 3
AI suggestion: Question for the founder: What did you see in your last job that convinced you this problem is worth solving?
- Round sizeUnknown
Rule: Up to USD 1M · Found: Not stated
AI suggestion: Question for the founder: How much are you raising, and what will it pay for?
Sample data. Companies, funds and people are made up.
Hear how a founder thinks before you book the call
Founders start a live AI interview when it suits them: they pitch with their screen shared for about 5 minutes, then an AI interviewer asks your fixed questions plus follow-ups drawn from the unknowns, within the 15 to 20 minutes you set. A text interview is always available under the same rubric. Interviews arrive in the first release.
- The substance of the pitch and each answer, from the transcript
- The evidence behind it
- How the answer relates to the deck and open questions
- Accent
- Fluency
- Presentation polish
- Appearance and background
- The video and screen images
From a thin deck to a fair first look
What happens to a pre-seed application, step by step, with the release each step arrives in.
- Pilot
The founder applies, and can stop and come back
Your branded form with save and resume, a receipt and a secure link back to the application.
- Pilot
The deck is read, gaps included
Facts are extracted with slide citations. Where a deck says nothing about revenue or users, the gap is recorded as missing, not filled in.
- Pilot
Your rubric marks most things Unknown, and that is fine
Hard rules such as stage and geography are usually clear. Everything else is Met, Mismatch or Unknown, and every Unknown carries the question it raises.
- First release
The interview asks those questions
After a short screen-share pitch, the AI asks your fixed questions plus follow-ups drawn from the unknowns, within 15 to 20 minutes you set, or in a text interview.
- Pilot
Short follow-ups when something matters
A basic form with text, number, select and file fields. Conditional questions and repeating rows come later.
- Pilot
A partner decides, with a reason
Advance, pass or ask for more. Overrides of any assessment need a recorded reason.
Delsivo is at the design partner stage. Pilot features come first, first release features follow, and later features are on the roadmap. AI suggests and cites its sources; your team makes every decision.
Ask a two-person company only for what you need
Pre-seed founders are building, not preparing data rooms. Requests through your portal stay short and respectful of their time.
Ask only what is missing
Requests come from the unknowns on the deal, so founders aren't asked for a data room they don't have.
Corrections are welcome
Founders see the facts taken from their deck and can correct them. The original stays, and you see both.
Never internal notes
Founders see their application, interview and requests. Ratings and notes stay inside your team.
Free for founders, always
Funds pay. Founders never pay and never need more than an email address to sign in.
A week for a two-partner pre-seed fund
Sample week. Interviews are a first release feature.
- Monday
Nine new applications. Most have four or five Unknown criteria, and each Unknown already shows the question it raises.
- Tuesday
You invite four founders to the interview with one click each, after reading their questions. The other five get a pass with a reason recorded on the deal.
- Wednesday
One founder takes the text interview from a train, another pitches and answers live in the evening. Both get the same questions under the same rubric.
- Thursday
You read two interviews against the deck. One founder's account of the problem is specific and backed by the pilots she describes. You book a call.
- Friday
A founder flags a transcription error in one answer. The correction sits next to the original line, and your notes on the deal stay as they were.
What pre-seed partners ask us
Design partner pilot
Pre-seed funds with steady inbound and a partner or two doing first reviews fit the pilot: your portal, deck analysis, a rubric that keeps unknowns open, and short follow-up forms. Interviews come with the first release. Prices are agreed with each design partner.
Review more founders, fairly, with a small team
Design partner pilots start with your past applications, so you can see how your rubric treats early companies before live intake begins.