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Delsivo
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VC application form builder

Start from a pre-seed, seed or accelerator preset, choose fields and required answers, and copy a form spec. The checker flags privacy gaps and sensitive questions.

Updated 5 min read
Summarise

Short answer: A VC application form builder helps you choose what a startup application should ask and turns your choices into a spec you can rebuild in any form tool. Start from a pre-seed, seed or accelerator preset, add or remove fields, mark which are required and add your own questions. A checker flags a missing privacy notice, too many required fields and questions about sensitive personal data. It all runs in your browser.

Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Start from

Picking a preset replaces your field choices. Your own questions stay.

Company
Short text. Finds the company and spots duplicate applications.
Link (URL). A quick look at the product and how the company describes itself.
Long text. Lets a reviewer sort the application in seconds and checks the founder can say it plainly.
Short text. Geography is a hard rule for many funds and programmes.
Choice list. Affects which instruments and structures the fund can use.
Choice list. Sector is a common thesis rule and routes the application to the right reviewer.
Date. Puts traction in context: six months of progress reads differently from three years.
Founders
Short text. Who to contact about the application.
Email. Receipt, follow-up questions and the decision.
Link (URL). Background checks without asking founders to retype a CV.
Long text. Most early-stage theses weigh the team heavily, and this is the first evidence of it.
Choice list. Many funds invest only once the core team is full time.
Long text. Founder-market fit, in the founders' own words.
Problem and product
Long text. The core of the screening read, and the first claim a reviewer will want evidence for.
Choice list. Sets which questions and weights apply to the rest of the application.
Link (URL). Seeing the product answers questions a description can't.
Long text. Shows whether the founders know the alternatives their customers actually choose.
Traction
Long text. The most common traction claim, and the one most often defined loosely.
Currency amount. A single, dated number a reviewer can compare with the deck.
Long text. Direction over time says more than one month's figure.
Long text. A number without a definition can't be checked or compared.
The round
Currency amount. Round size is a common hard rule and sets the ownership a fund could reach.
Choice list. SAFEs, notes and priced rounds change ownership and paperwork.
Currency amount. Shows momentum and whether a lead is in place.
Long text. Links the ask to a measurable next step.
Long text. Earlier rounds affect the cap table and the terms a new investor can offer.
File upload. Most funds read the deck first; asking for it here saves an email.
Fit with the fund
Short text. Tracks which sources bring the applications that progress.
Long text. Shows whether the founder has read the thesis.
Choice list. Accelerators need founders available for the whole cohort.
Privacy and consent
Tick box. Founders should know how their data is used before they send it.
Tick box. Keeps marketing consent separate from the application itself.

Your own questions

Add up to 5. The checker flags questions that ask for sensitive personal data.

17 fields12 required

No problems found. Read the questions once more as a founder would.

Form spec (plain text)

Startup application
17 fields, 12 required

COMPANY
1. Company name (Short text, required, max 100 characters)
   Help text: The name you trade under. Add the legal name later if it differs.
2. What does the company do, in one sentence? (Long text, required, max 200 characters)
   Help text: Say who it is for and what it does for them.
3. Where is the company based? (Short text, required, max 100 characters)
   Help text: City and country where most of the team works.
4. Sector (Choice list, required)
   Options: B2B software / Fintech / Health / Climate / Consumer / Marketplace / Hardware / Other
   Help text: Pick the closest one. You can explain more below.

FOUNDERS
5. Your name (Short text, required, max 100 characters)
   Help text: The person we should reply to.
6. Email (Email, required)
   Help text: We send the receipt and any follow-up questions here.
7. A profile link for each founder (Link (URL), optional)
   Help text: LinkedIn, GitHub or a personal site. One per line.
8. Who are the founders, and what has each worked on before? (Long text, required, max 800 characters)
   Help text: Roles in the company and the relevant work each founder has done.
9. Are all founders full time? (Choice list, optional)
   Options: All full time / Some part time / All part time
   Help text: Tell us when part-time founders plan to join full time in the next answer.

PROBLEM AND PRODUCT
10. What problem are you solving, and for whom? (Long text, required, max 600 characters)
   Help text: A specific customer and what the problem costs them today.
11. Product stage (Choice list, required)
   Options: Idea / Prototype / In pilots / Launched / Generating revenue
   Help text: Pick the stage that is true today.

THE ROUND
12. How much are you raising? (Currency amount, required)
   Help text: The total round size, not only what you would like from us.
13. Instrument (Choice list, optional)
   Options: SAFE / Priced equity round / Convertible note / Not decided
   Help text: Pick Not decided if you are still choosing.
14. What will the round pay for, and what milestone will it reach? (Long text, optional, max 600 characters)
   Help text: The main costs, the months of runway and the result you expect by then.
15. Pitch deck (File upload, required)
   Help text: PDF, up to 50 MB.

FIT WITH THE FUND
16. How did you hear about us, or who referred you? (Short text, optional, max 150 characters)
   Help text: A name helps us thank the person who sent you.

PRIVACY AND CONSENT
17. I have read the privacy notice (Tick box, required)
   Help text: Link the notice: who sees the application, how long it is kept and how to ask for deletion.
2,667 characters

Delsivo note: portal forms in the pilot support text, number, choice, file and required fields. Currency amount, Link (URL) fields are planned for the first release. In any other form tool, use the closest type it offers.

Key takeaways

  • Ask only what you need for a first review. Detail you need at diligence belongs in a later request.
  • Every traction number needs a definition next to it, or you can't compare it with the deck.
  • A privacy notice tick box, required, belongs on every application form that collects founder data.
  • Age, gender, nationality, religion and family plans have no place in a screening form.

How to use the VC application form builder

  1. 1Name the form, then pick a starting point: pre-seed, seed or accelerator. Each preset ticks a set of fields and marks the usual ones as required.
  2. 2Go through the sections and tick or untick fields. Each field shows its answer type and why funds ask it.
  3. 3Switch Required on or off for each field you keep. Keep required fields to what you need to decide on a first read.
  4. 4Add up to five questions of your own, with an answer type for each.
  5. 5Read the checker's notes, fix what applies, then copy the spec as plain text or JSON and build the form in the tool you use.

What a startup application form should cover

Most first-review forms answer the same questions in roughly this order: who the company is, who the founders are, what problem they solve, what proof they have, what they are raising and why they applied to you. The builder groups its fields the same way, so the form reads as a short story rather than a questionnaire.

SectionTypical fieldsWhat it lets you decide
CompanyName, one-line description, location, sector, websiteWhether it meets your hard rules on sector and geography
FoundersContact details, background of each founder, commitmentWho to contact, and a first read of the team
Problem and productProblem and customer, product stage, demo, alternativesWhether the problem is specific and the founders know the alternatives
TractionCustomers, revenue, growth, metric definitionWhat has been proven, and how each number is counted
The roundAmount, instrument, commitments, use of funds, deckWhether the round size fits your cheque and ownership targets
Fit with the fundReferral source, why you, programme datesWhere good applications come from and whether the founder read your thesis
Privacy and consentPrivacy notice, consent to future contactThat founders know how their data is used before they send it

How the form checker works

The checker reads the form you have built and lists problems, most serious first. It runs a fixed set of rules in your browser; nothing is sent to a model or a server.

  • No email field is an error: without it you can't send a receipt or a follow-up question.
  • A missing or optional privacy notice is a warning, and so is consent to future contact that is required rather than optional.
  • More than 15 required fields, or more than 25 fields in total, is a warning. These are Delsivo's own starting points for a first-review form, not an industry standard.
  • Asking for customers or revenue without asking how the founder defines them is a note, because a number without a definition can't be checked.
  • Your own questions are checked for words that suggest sensitive personal data, such as age, gender, nationality, religion, family status, health or a photo of a person.

Under the EU GDPR, Article 5 asks that personal data be limited to what is necessary for the purpose, and Article 9 treats data revealing racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health, sex life or sexual orientation as special categories with stricter rules. Rules differ by country, so check with your own adviser; the checker is a prompt to ask why you need a field, not legal advice.

Limits of the builder

  • It writes a spec, not a live form. You still build the form in your own tool and test it as a founder would.
  • The sensitive data check matches words, so it can miss a question phrased another way and can flag a harmless one. Read every question yourself.
  • The presets reflect common practice for each stage. They are a starting point, and your thesis may need fields they leave out.
  • The JSON uses a simple shape (name, version, sections of fields). It is not the import format of any particular form tool, so you may need to map it.
  • The field library is in English, and the incorporation list names only a few countries plus Elsewhere. Edit the options to suit your fund.

Application forms in Delsivo

Delsivo is at the design partner stage, so everything here is planned. In the pilot, each fund gets a branded application portal on its own subdomain, with forms that support text, number, choice and file fields and required answers, plus save and resume and a receipt. Currency, date and URL fields, repeating rows and conditional logic are planned for the first release. When the builder's notes mention a first release type, that is why.

There is no import of the builder's JSON into Delsivo. Use the spec as a checklist when you set up any form. See how the branded portal works or read about follow-up requests.

Sources

Facts about other companies and services come from the pages listed, on the dates shown, and can change.

FAQ

Questions about vc application form builder

The company's name, one-line description, location and sector; the founders' contact details and backgrounds; the problem and product stage; traction with a definition for each number; the round size and use of funds; the deck; and a required privacy notice. Leave diligence detail for a later request.

As few as you need to decide whether to take a closer look. The builder warns above 15 required fields or 25 fields in total. Those are Delsivo's own starting points, not a standard, so judge by whether you actually read every answer at first review.

Not to screen on. You rarely need it to judge a company, and in many countries it counts as sensitive personal data with strict rules. If you collect it for reporting, make it optional, say why you ask, and keep it away from the people screening.

It is free and needs no sign-up. It runs in your browser, so the form name, fields and questions you type are not sent to Delsivo or anyone else, and nothing is saved when you close the tab.

No. Delsivo has no import for this JSON. The JSON is a plain description of the form that you can map to any form tool or keep as a record of what you ask.
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