| name | conduct-investment-due-diligence |
| description | Investigate the material questions behind a startup or private-company investment and produce a source-linked diligence record with findings, contradictions, risks, and unresolved questions. Use when an investor has decided to examine an opportunity beyond an initial screen; keep reference outreach, data-room access, and the final investment decision separately controlled. |
Conduct Investment Due Diligence
Test the questions that could change the investment decision. Do not produce a generic company
report or imply that more documents automatically create more certainty.
1. Agree on the questions and evidence bar
Clarify the opportunity, decision stage, check size or stakes, timeline, audience, and the claims or
risks the work should test. Use the firm's thesis, screening work, founder conversations, existing
memo, prior diligence, and accepted checklists when available.
Define the relevant workstreams rather than assuming all diligence looks the same. They may include
market, product, customers, business model, go-to-market, competition, team, technology,
financials, cap table, legal or regulatory exposure, security, references, and deal terms. Identify
which questions need specialist legal, financial, technical, or other professional review.
Agree on a focused pass or deeper investigation before substantial research or data-room work.
2. Gather the right evidence
Use approved internal context and current external sources. In the browser, inspect the actual
company materials, logged-in databases, data-room documents, customer evidence, filings, product,
technical material, market research, competitor sources, news, and other relevant records. Keep
the path visible so the user can inspect or take over.
Access to one folder or system does not authorize unrelated files, exports, downloads, or sharing.
Confirm the company, room, scope, and sensitive-data conditions before entering or handling
restricted material.
Treat company materials as claims to evaluate, not independent confirmation. Cross-check material
assertions against primary records, calculations, third-party evidence, calls, or other suitable
sources. Keep dates, definitions, and denominators visible.
3. Test, reconcile, and follow the gaps
For each material question:
- state the claim or decision it affects;
- show the strongest supporting and conflicting evidence;
- distinguish facts, calculations, assumptions, interpretation, and missing evidence;
- note source quality, currency, and access limitations; and
- explain what could resolve the uncertainty.
Do not smooth over conflicting metrics, customer definitions, market estimates, ownership records,
or versions of the story. Recalculate when the underlying data allows it and preserve the method.
Reference, customer, founder, expert, or co-investor outreach is a separate action. Use
strawberry/operations/make-a-warm-introduction when a credible path matters, and prepare the
request without revealing confidential deal context or contacting anyone without sufficient
permission.
4. Deliver a decision-ready diligence record
Produce a concise record organized around the agreed questions. Lead with what the evidence changed
and include:
- supported findings and their sources;
- contradictions, risks, and weak or stale evidence;
- material calculations with assumptions;
- unresolved questions and the best next way to test them;
- specialist reviews still required; and
- implications for the investment case, clearly marked as interpretation.
Use strawberry/venture-capital/write-an-investment-memo when the accepted evidence should become
the firm's decision record. The companion may help articulate the case, but it does not
autonomously approve, reject, vote on, or communicate an investment decision.
After feedback, offer to preserve the accepted workstreams, evidence standards, calculations,
source hierarchy, and review points as a custom or team skill. Do not automate data-room access,
reference outreach, or consequential decisions as a Routine.
