Key takeaways
- Write it on the day of the pass, while the reasons are fresh.
- Make each milestone measurable, with its definition.
- Record exactly what you told the founder, so you keep your word.
- Give the revisit an owner and a date.
Revisit milestones note to copy
Fill the top half at the pass and the bottom half at the revisit.
REVISIT MILESTONES NOTE (internal) Company: [ ] Date of pass: [ ] Decided by: [ ] Stage at pass: [ ] WHY WE PASSED The main reason, in one or two sentences: [ ] Other factors: [ ] WHAT WE LIKED [What would make us want to look again] WHAT WOULD CHANGE OUR MIND Write each milestone so it can be measured, with its definition. 1. [Metric, definition, threshold, e.g. paid ARR of [amount], excluding pilots, by [month]] 2. [Product or team milestone, e.g. a technical co-founder joins full time] 3. [Evidence, e.g. two customers renew at full price] WHAT WE TOLD THE FOUNDER [Copy of the pass email, or a summary of the call] Did we invite them to come back? [yes / no] On what condition: [ ] REVISIT Revisit on or after: [date] Owner: [ ] Signal to watch for: [new round announced / founder update / milestone reported] Source of the original deal: [ ] AT THE REVISIT Milestones met: [which, with evidence] Milestones not met: [which] What has changed in our thesis since the pass: [ ] Next step: [first meeting / no action / revisit again on [date]]
When to write one
Only for passes where the team would genuinely look again: a good company at the wrong time, or a strong team without enough evidence yet. For clear thesis mismatches, the pass email is enough. Pair it with version 4 of the pass email template, which tells the founder the milestone.
Writing milestones that work
- Name the metric and its definition: "paid ARR excluding pilots", not "more traction".
- Set a level and an approximate date.
- Choose milestones that answer the reason you passed, not general progress.
- Limit it to three. More turns a revisit into a fresh diligence process.
What to leave out
Leave out confidential documents from the founder; link to where they are held, or note that they were deleted as promised. Leave out personal remarks about the founders. If the note is later shared inside the fund, it should read as a fair record of the business and the evidence.
Keeping revisit notes with or without Delsivo
A shared folder or a column in your pipeline spreadsheet works. Pass and revisit tracking in Delsivo is planned for a later release; the Pilot release is designed to keep each deal's claims and audit history, so a revisit can compare what the founder reports now with what was recorded at the pass. See claims and evidence.