Invite a founder to an interview
Invite a founder to an interview from a deal, with partner approval when needed, reminders and an expiry you can extend or cancel.
An interview invitation asks a founder to take a recorded interview on your portal: they pitch with their screen shared, then the AI interviewer asks your template's questions out loud. Nobody from your fund needs to be on the call. Nothing goes to the founder until a person at your fund sends or approves it.
Compose an invitation
- Open the deal, click Interview, then Invite.
- Under Template, the fund's default is picked. Choose another if you like. The invitation keeps that version, whatever changes later. See Interview templates and questions.
- Choose the Founder. Only founders of this company with a portal account are listed. A founder who already has an interview open or waiting for approval on this deal shows interview open and can't be picked.
- Add a Message to the founder: why you'd like to talk and what happens next.
What the founder does shows the steps (Invitation, Consent and check, Pitch, Questions, Your review) with the template's time plan, the questions and follow-ups, what the pitch needs and how long the invitation stays open.
Open the Email preview tab to see the subject and the email exactly as the founder gets it, from your fund and in your portal's brand.
Send it, ask for approval, or save a draft
- Send to founder (Admins and Partners): confirm in Send this interview to [founder]? with Send invitation. You see Invitation sent. The founder has an email with a link to your portal.
- Send for approval (Analysts, or anyone when the template asks for a second approver): the invitation waits as Waiting for approval. You see Sent for approval. An admin or partner approves it from the deal's Interview tab.
- Save draft: only your team sees it. Delete draft removes it; the founder never saw it.
Sending is refused, with the reason, when no founder is picked, the founder already has an interview open on the deal, your portal has no active address, or the founder has no email address Delsivo can use.
Approve an invitation
Open an invitation marked Waiting for approval on the deal's Interview tab and click Approve and send, then Send invitation. Admins and Partners approve. When the template asks for a second approver, the person who prepared it can't approve their own and sees "This template asks for a second approver, so another admin or partner approves it."
What the founder gets
An email from your fund, [Your fund] invited you to a short interview, with your message and how it works: the pitch and its length, the AI interviewer asking questions out loud, that they choose what is recorded and can answer in writing instead, and what they need (a desktop browser with a camera, a microphone and screen sharing, and a quiet place). It says the team reviews what they say and the evidence they give, never their accent, fluency or appearance. Start your interview opens the interview on your portal after they sign in.
While the invitation is open, their application status shows Interview invited. After the interview it shows Interview completed. If a request is also waiting on them, Information requested shows first.
Reminders and expiry
If the founder hasn't started, Delsivo emails Reminder: your interview with [your fund] is still open two days after the invitation (when more than a day is left) and again in the last day. A reminder never goes twice for the same window, and never after the interview starts, is cancelled or expires.
When the invitation's time runs out before the founder starts, it becomes Expired and the founder's link stops working. Send a new invitation to try again.
Open an invitation
Click an invitation on the deal's Interview tab to see its status, the steps so far, the founder, the template and version, the plan, who prepared and approved it, when it was sent, the reminders sent, and your message.
- Copy link copies the founder's link. It only opens after they sign in to your portal.
- Keep it open for 3, 7 or 14 more days from now, then Extend. A new last-day reminder follows.
- Cancel invitation asks Cancel this invitation? The founder's link stops working and no more reminders go out. They aren't emailed about it. You see Invitation cancelled. The founder's link no longer works. An interview in progress can't be cancelled.
When the deal moves to Passed or Closed, every invitation the founder hasn't started (drafts and ones waiting for approval too) is cancelled in the same step, and its reminders stop. A call already running finishes. The founder's status stays on the decision, and no new invitation can be sent until someone reopens the deal. See Telling the founder your decision.
Who can do what
| Action | Who |
|---|---|
| Compose, save a draft, send for approval | Anyone who can edit the deal (Admins, Partners, the Analyst who owns it) |
| Send to founder, approve | Admins and Partners |
| Extend, cancel | Anyone who can edit the deal |
| See invitations | Anyone who can see the deal |
Frequently asked questions
Can I invite two founders of the same company?
Yes, one invitation each. A founder can have only one interview open or waiting for approval on a deal at a time.
Does the founder see scores?
No. Founders never see scores, ratings or the assessment.
What if the founder doesn't want to be recorded?
They can answer the same questions in writing on your portal, assessed against the same criteria.
Why can't I send an interview right now?
If the message says Your fund has used this month's AI credits, your fund is out of AI credits and new interviews wait until credits are added. Interviews already sent still run to the end, and a founder in an interview is never cut off. A fund Admin can buy a credit pack in Settings → Billing or switch to the fund's own AI key in Settings → AI. See AI credits.
Something unclear or missing? Tell us