Key takeaways
- Put the recommendation and its reasons at the top, so readers know what they are testing.
- Give every key figure a definition, a source and a status.
- Write the risks and open questions honestly, with an owner for each.
- Keep earlier versions: the committee should see what changed.
Investment memo template to copy
Replace everything in square brackets. Section 6 is the one most memos skip: it is where you show what was checked and what was only reported.
INVESTMENT MEMO Company: [name] Date: [date] Memo version: [1] Deal team: [sponsoring partner], [associate or analyst] Decision requested: [invest / pass / more work] at [meeting and date] 1. RECOMMENDATION [Invest / Pass]. [Amount] in [the company's round] on [a SAFE / a priced round] at [cap or valuation]. Why, in two or three sentences: [the reasons that matter most]. 2. TERMS Round size: [ ] Our cheque: [ ] Instrument: [ ] Valuation or cap: [ ] Discount: [ ] Lead investor: [ ] Other investors: [ ] Our ownership after the round, fully diluted: [ ] Rights: [board seat / observer / pro rata / information rights] Reserves we expect to use later: [ ] 3. THE COMPANY IN ONE PARAGRAPH What they sell, to whom, how they charge, and what has happened so far. 4. THESIS FIT For each criterion: Met, Mismatch or Unknown, with where the answer came from. Stage: [ ] Source: [deck slide / call / document] Customer and sector: [ ] Source: [ ] Geography: [ ] Source: [ ] Cheque size and ownership: [ ] Source: [ ] Exceptions to our thesis, and why we accept them: [ ] 5. TEAM Who the founders are, what they have done that matters for this market, how they work together, and the gaps in the team today. 6. KEY CLAIMS AND EVIDENCE For each claim: the figure, its definition and period, where it came from, and its status (Founder reported / Corroborated / Disputed / Unresolved). Revenue: [figure, definition, month] | Source: [ ] | Status: [ ] Customers: [count, paid or pilot] | Source: [ ] | Status: [ ] Retention or usage: [ ] | Source: [ ] | Status: [ ] Pipeline or other: [ ] | Source: [ ] | Status: [ ] Where a figure changed during our process, give both versions and why. 7. MARKET AND COMPETITION Bottom-up market size with the assumptions stated. Who else solves this problem, and why customers choose this company. 8. RISKS The three to five things most likely to make this investment fail. For each: what we know, what we don't, and what would reduce it. 9. OPEN QUESTIONS Question | Who will answer it | By when 10. WHAT WOULD CHANGE OUR MIND The evidence that would turn this recommendation around. APPENDICES Call and interview notes, reference notes, financial model, cap table, data room index, earlier memo versions.
When to use it
Write the memo once a deal has passed screening and a first meeting, and the team wants a partner or committee decision. Start a draft early: a half-filled section 9 is a good diligence plan. For a quick pass at the screening stage, a short note against your deal screening scorecard is enough.
What to change for your fund
- Match section 4 to the criteria in your written thesis, in the same order.
- If your fund always asks certain questions at committee, add them as headings so the team answers them in advance.
- Small funds deciding by two partners can merge sections 3, 5 and 7 into one page.
- Accelerators can replace section 2 with the programme's standard terms and add a cohort-fit section.
What to leave out
- Copied deck text. The memo is the fund's view, not the founder's pitch again.
- Personal details about founders that have nothing to do with the investment, such as age or family.
- Long appendices nobody will read. Link to the data room instead of pasting documents.
- Unlabelled numbers. If you don't know whether a figure was checked, say so.
Do you need Delsivo for this memo?
No. The template works in a document, a wiki or an email. Delsivo is designed to make section 6 easier: its claim tracker, planned for the Pilot release, keeps each claim with its source and evidence label, and its AI can draft a brief from cited findings for a person to edit and approve. Committee memos and frozen packets are planned for a later release.