Build your thesis rubric

A rubric is your investment thesis written down in a form Delsivo can check: hard rules (stage, sector, geography, round size, required facts), weighted preferences (what makes a deal more attractive), exceptions (when a rule can bend) and questions to ask the founder. Each new deck is screened against your fund's default rubric, and the result appears on the deal's Fit tab. A screening never rejects a deal or contacts a founder. A person at your fund decides.

Open Settings → Thesis and rubrics.

The rubrics list#

The first time anyone in your fund opens this page (or the first time a deal is screened), Delsivo adds the Core seed rubric, already published as version 1. It is a starting point for a seed, B2B software thesis, not advice and not any real fund's thesis. Edit it to match yours.

Each row shows:

Click a row to open the rubric.

Create a rubric#

Use a separate rubric for each strategy or stage, for example a pre-seed climate thesis next to your core seed one.

1. Click New rubric.
2. Enter a Name and, if you like, a Strategy or stage (shown under the name).
3. Under Start from, choose The Core seed rubric, Blank, or A copy of another rubric (its live version), then pick the Rubric to copy.
4. Click Create draft.

The new rubric opens as Draft v1. It isn't used for screening until you publish it.

Edit a rubric#

A rubric page shows four sections: Hard rules, Preferences, Exceptions and Questions. See Hard rules, preferences and exceptions for what each one does.

1. Open the rubric and click Edit rubric. You see Draft version 4 started. (or Continuing draft version 4. if a draft already exists).
2. Change what you need. Problems show in red under the item as you type, for example "Pick at least one value."
3. Click Save draft to keep your work. Unsaved changes shows until you do, and Delsivo asks before you leave the page with unsaved edits.

While you edit, screenings keep using the live version. Undo changes puts the draft back to its last save. With nothing unsaved, the same button reads Discard draft and deletes the draft after you confirm in Discard draft version 4?. The live version stays live.

If a teammate saved the same draft after you opened it, you see "Someone saved this draft after you opened it. Reload to see their changes." Click Reload, then make your change again.

Preview against a deal#

Before you publish, check what the rubric would say about a real company.

1. Click Preview.
2. In Preview against a deal, choose a Deal. Deals without facts yet are marked (no facts yet).
3. Click Run preview.

You see each hard rule with Met, Mismatch or Unknown, the value found, why, any exception, and the Questions it would raise. The preview uses your unsaved edits too, and nothing is saved. Preferences aren't part of the preview: they are scored by the AI model only when a real screening runs. Fix any problems in the rubric first, or Run preview stays unavailable.

Try the draft on past deals#

Preview checks one deal's hard rules. To see what the whole draft, preferences included, would say about deals you already decided, click Try on past deals: it runs the draft and the published version side by side on up to 25 deals and changes nothing. See Test a thesis change on past deals.

Publish#

1. Click Publish. If it's greyed out, hover over it for the reason, such as "Nothing changed since the live version." or "Add at least one hard rule or a weighted preference before publishing."
2. Publish version 4? lists the Changes since version 3, for example "Hard rule: Round size (USD 1M to USD 4M → USD 1M to USD 3M)".
3. Add a Note for your team if you like, such as why the thesis changed.
4. Click Publish version 4.

You see Version 4 is live. New screenings use it; past runs keep theirs. Published versions can't be edited. To change the rubric again, click Edit rubric to start the next draft. See Rubric versions and re-runs.

Choose the default rubric#

The Default rubric is the one every new deck is screened with. To change it, open the rubric and click Make default, or use the actions menu (the three dots) on its row in the list. You see New decks are screened with this rubric from now on. A rubric has to be published before it can be the default. If your fund has no default, the first rubric you publish becomes it.

On a deal's Fit tab, people who can edit the deal can also run a screening with any other published rubric.

Rename a rubric#

Open the actions menu (the three dots) on the rubric's row and click Rename, or open the rubric and click Rename at the top. Change the Name or the Strategy or stage line and click Save name. The message has Undo, which puts the old name back.

The new name shows everywhere at once, and the rubric keeps its versions, its live version and whether it's the default. Renaming doesn't make a new version. Fit reports from earlier screenings keep the name they were screened under, so a past report still says exactly what it was checked against.

Archive a rubric#

Archive a rubric you no longer use from the actions menu on its row, then confirm with Archive. It can't be used for new screenings, and past screenings keep pointing at their version. Restore brings it back. The default rubric can't be archived: make another rubric the default first.

Who can do what#

Everyone else sees "Only a fund admin can change rubrics. You are seeing the live version." Creating, publishing, archiving and changing the default are recorded in the activity log.

Frequently asked questions#

Does a mismatch reject the deal?#

No. A mismatch is shown on the fit report for someone to review. Delsivo never moves a deal or writes to a founder because of a screening.

Do old deals get screened again when I publish a new version?#

No. Past screenings keep the version they used. To screen a deal with the new version, open its Fit tab and click Run again. New decks use the new version automatically.

Can I rename a rubric?#

Yes. See Rename a rubric. Renaming doesn't make a new version.