Interview templates and questions

An interview template is the plan for a founder interview: how long the call lasts, how long the founder pitches, which questions the AI interviewer asks and in what order, and which criteria your team reviews afterwards. You pick a template when you invite a founder from a deal. See Invite a founder to an interview.

Open Settings → Interview templates. Fund admins change templates. Everyone else can read them and use them from a deal.

The default template#

The first time anyone opens this page or the invite sheet, your fund gets Preliminary interview, already published and marked Default:

The nine criteria are Problem and customer insight, Solution and differentiation, Traction and metrics evidence, Market understanding, Go-to-market, Moat and defensibility, Financials and unit economics, Team and execution and Ask and use of funds.

The list shows each template with Default, Version 2 live (or Not published), Unpublished changes when a draft is waiting, and Second approver when invitations need one, followed by the call length, pitch length, number of questions and criteria, and how many interviews used it.

Create a template#

1. Click New template.
2. In New interview template, enter a Name and choose Start from: The default questions and criteria or A copy of another template.
3. Click Create template.

You see Template created as a draft. and the editor opens.

Edit a template#

The editor has four tabs. The Time plan card beside them shows the pitch, the questions and the closing minute as a bar, and how many questions fit.

Time and format#

• Template name: your team sees it when inviting. Founders don't.
• Call length: 10 to 30 minutes. 15 to 20 suits most funds.
• Part 1, the pitch: 3 to 10 minutes. At least 5 minutes must be left for questions.
• Ask for screen sharing in the pitch and Ask for the camera. Screen sharing needs a desktop browser. The AI never sees video or the screen.
• Offer a written interview is always on: a founder who declines recording answers the same questions in writing, assessed the same way.
• A second approver for each invitation: another admin or partner approves every invitation before it goes out, even one a partner prepared.
• Invitation stays open for: 1 to 30 days.
• Retries after a technical failure: none, 1 or 2. A retry is only allowed after a failure the system recorded, never to improve answers.
• Note for your team: when to use this template.

Questions#

Core questions are asked in the order listed, after the pitch. Every founder invited from one version gets the same ones. Drag a question by its handle to reorder it, or use the keyboard (Space to pick up, arrow keys, Space to drop). Click the pencil to edit:

• Question: one question, said out loud. Ask about the business and the evidence.
• Priority: Always ask, Ask if time allows or Only with time to spare.
• Criteria it informs: up to 4. The assessment cites the answer under these criteria.

A template holds up to 20 questions. A question marked May be skipped doesn't fit at the current call length: raise its priority or lengthen the call.

How time decides which questions are asked#

The interviewer keeps time in code, not by guessing. Each core question is given about 90 seconds of the questions part. Questions are chosen by priority, then asked in your order. When the time left can't fit a question, it is skipped, never rushed. Follow-ups come from the pitch, the deck and open claims, at most one per core question and only while the next core question still fits.

Criteria#

The interview rubric: what the AI assessment scores from the transcript, with quotes it cites. Edit a criterion's name and what it covers, add one with Add a criterion (up to 12), or remove one that no question uses.

Criteria about delivery or the person are refused with "Not allowed: interviews never assess delivery, appearance or personal characteristics." That covers clarity, composure, speaking pace, filler words, accent, fluency, appearance, background, negotiation style and personal characteristics. The recordings are for people reviewing the interview; the AI assesses only what was said.

Interviewer#

• Persona: one neutral interviewer, the same for every founder. Fixed rules always apply on top: polite, one question at a time, no advice, no opinions, no comments on delivery, never reveals scores.
• Voice: Alloy, Sage, Coral, Ash or Verse. Founders also see live captions.
• Follow-up questions: none, or up to 10 in one interview.

Save and publish#

• Save draft keeps your changes without affecting anything. You see Draft saved. Publish it when it is ready.
• Publish version 3 asks Publish version 3? and lists what changed, such as "Call length 20 → 15 minutes" or "2 questions added", then makes it live. You see Version 3 is live. Interviews already sent keep their version.
• Discard draft throws the draft away and keeps the live version.

Versions lists every version with its date, number of questions, call length and how many interviews used it.

Default and archive#

Open a template's menu on the list:

• Make default: new invitations start from this template. Only a published template can be the default. You can Undo.
• Archive: hides the template from the list and the invite sheet. Interviews sent from it keep their version. You can Undo. The default template can't be archived; make another one the default first.

Frequently asked questions#

If I change a template, does it change interviews already sent?#

No. An interview keeps the version it was sent with, so every founder on that version gets the same questions, interviewer and time plan.

Can I see the questions as the founder hears them?#

The founder hears each question read by the interviewer's voice, with captions. They don't see the list before the call.

Why can't I add "Communication skills" as a criterion?#

Interviews assess what founders say and the evidence they give, never how they say it. This keeps the assessment fair for founders who speak with an accent, in a second language, or use the written interview.