# Investment thesis template for venture funds

> This investment thesis template turns a fund's strategy into nine short sections: a one-sentence summary, hard rules, weighted preferences, beliefs written so evidence could disprove them, exclusions, exceptions, the questions you always ask, what a missing answer means, and a change log. Copy it, fill it with your partners in one sitting, and give it a version number so screening decisions can be traced to the thesis in force.

Source: https://delsivo.com/templates/investment-thesis-template · Updated 2026-11-06

## Key takeaways

- Separate hard rules from preferences; only hard rules should cause a pass.
- Write beliefs you could be wrong about, with what would change your mind.
- Say what a missing fact means: a question, not a rejection.
- Version and date the thesis every time it changes.

## Investment thesis template to copy

Section 8 is short but matters: it stops a screen from rejecting good companies because a deck left something out.

Investment thesis (plain text):

```text
INVESTMENT THESIS
Fund: [name]            Version: [number]            Date: [date]            Approved by: [partners]

1. IN ONE SENTENCE
We back [stage] companies building [what] for [which customers] in [where], because we believe [the change you are betting on].

2. HARD RULES (a deal outside these is a pass unless an exception below applies)
Stage: [e.g. pre-seed and seed only]
Geography: [where the company or its founders are based]
Cheque size: [first cheque range] with [reserve policy for follow-ons]
Ownership target: [range, if you have one]
Instrument: [SAFE / priced / either]
Legal limits from our fund documents: [sectors or structures we cannot invest in]

3. PREFERENCES (how much each counts: high / medium / low)
[Customer type, e.g. sells to businesses]                      Weight: [ ]
[Business model, e.g. recurring revenue]                        Weight: [ ]
[Evidence, e.g. at least one paying customer]                   Weight: [ ]
[Team, e.g. a founder who has worked in the industry]           Weight: [ ]
[Other]                                                         Weight: [ ]

4. WHAT WE BELIEVE (each written so evidence could prove it wrong)
Belief 1: [ ]    What would change our mind: [ ]
Belief 2: [ ]    What would change our mind: [ ]
Belief 3: [ ]    What would change our mind: [ ]

5. EXCLUSIONS
We do not invest in: [sectors, models or practices you rule out]

6. EXCEPTIONS
We will consider a deal outside a hard rule when: [the specific condition, and who must agree]

7. QUESTIONS WE ALWAYS ASK
Before a first meeting: [ ]
Before diligence: [ ]

8. WHAT A MISSING ANSWER MEANS
If the deck doesn't tell us a fact a rule needs, we mark it Unknown and ask the founder. Unknown is not a reason to pass.

9. CHANGE LOG
[date]: [what changed and why]
```

## When to write or rewrite it

- Before raising a new fund, so the thesis matches what you tell limited partners.
- Before opening an inbound form, so the form asks for what the thesis needs.
- When partners notice they keep making exceptions: the thesis may have drifted.
- When a new team member starts screening and needs to apply it the way partners do.

## How to fill it in well

A fictional fund, Harbourline Pre-Seed, first wrote "we back great founders in fintech". After using the template, its one-sentence version read: "We back pre-seed companies building payment and reconciliation software for small European manufacturers, because we believe their banks will not build it." Every word in the second version can be checked against a deck; none in the first can.

Keep preferences few. Five weighted preferences are easier to apply consistently than fifteen.

## What to leave out

- Criteria about founders' age, gender, schools or former employers. They are proxies, not evidence.
- Vague words such as "exceptional" or "world-class" that two partners would read differently.
- Rules you won't actually enforce. If you always bend one, make it a preference.

## Using the thesis with or without Delsivo

The template stands alone, and the free [thesis builder](https://delsivo.com/tools/thesis-builder) turns the same structure into Markdown or JSON. [Delsivo's thesis screening](https://delsivo.com/thesis-screening), planned for the Pilot release, is designed to store a thesis as versioned hard rules, weighted preferences, exceptions and questions, and to return Met, Mismatch or Unknown per criterion with its source. People make the decisions.

## Frequently asked questions

### What should an investment thesis template include?

A one-sentence summary, hard rules, weighted preferences, testable beliefs, exclusions, exceptions, standard questions and a change log.

### Should an emerging manager publish its thesis?

A short public version helps founders decide whether to apply. Keep weightings and detailed exceptions internal.

### How specific should a thesis be?

Specific enough that two partners screening the same deck would reach the same fit result for each criterion.

## Related pages

- [How to write an investment thesis](https://delsivo.com/how-to-write-an-investment-thesis)
- [Investment thesis](https://delsivo.com/glossary/investment-thesis)
- [Deal screening scorecard](https://delsivo.com/templates/deal-screening-scorecard)
- [Thesis screening](https://delsivo.com/thesis-screening)