How can a scout write a concise deal memo about an AI application startup?

A scout memo should make the opportunity and the open questions understandable quickly. Describe the customer, problem, workflow, evidence, team, round context, and fit with the fund. Distinguish a source's claim from the scout's own interpretation.

Start with the decision

Use a short claim-evidence-question structure. Link public or permissioned supporting materials and state their dates. Include a reason the company might not fit rather than treating the memo as a sales document.

The illustrative scenario

This is an educational workbook. The company or fund and all numerical inputs below are fictional. They are not ADIN results, customer claims, market benchmarks, or a forecast.

The fictional team sells an AI assistant to small support departments. A demonstration works on familiar examples, but the product is still testing performance on new customers' queues. Founder time currently covers many exceptions.

Separate model output from completed customer work. A software revenue claim needs a matching view of model usage, human delivery, customer support, and rework.

Turn the scenario into an evidence decision

Consider a review of an AI application startup in which a confident explanation arrives before the supporting records. Start with the first question in the table. Write down what an answer would change: the next interview, the experiment's scope, a request for specialist review, or a decision to wait. A question without a consequence can produce a longer document while adding little understanding.

Next, inspect the record named in the table and record its date, owner, permission boundary, and limitations. Request a permissioned evaluation sample, customer usage cohorts, an exception log, and a cost model that includes human work. Keep actual results distinct from roadmap features. If the record contradicts the explanation, preserve both accounts and ask which definition, period, or workflow differs. Do not silently select the version that makes the opportunity look strongest.

Finish with a conditional statement: if the specified evidence supports the claim under these conditions, take the named next step; otherwise investigate the unresolved question. The memo is useful when it helps the investment team choose its next inquiry. Length and confidence cannot substitute for relevant evidence, and the fund retains the authority defined by the program. This worked exercise is about the decision process. It does not assert that a fictional company has met a real diligence standard or that a template can authorize an investment.

Use this worksheet

Answer the questions with a source, date, owner, and next action. Mark an unknown as unknown. Use public or permissioned information and involve a qualified specialist when a question requires expertise beyond the team’s competence.

1. Who is the customer?
2. What evidence is available?
3. Why does this fund fit?
4. What is the biggest unresolved question?
5. What would change the scout's view?

Questions specific to this scenario

• Who reviews failures?
• How much founder work supports each account?
• Which results hold on unseen examples?

Request a permissioned evaluation sample, customer usage cohorts, an exception log, and a cost model that includes human work. Keep actual results distinct from roadmap features.

A concrete next test

Observe a permissioned workflow where the assistant fails or needs founder intervention. Record the human time and what the customer sees. Compare that case with the demo so the diligence discussion addresses delivered work rather than only the best familiar example.

Interpret the result

The memo is useful when it helps the investment team choose its next inquiry. Length and confidence cannot substitute for relevant evidence, and the fund retains the authority defined by the program.

Compare the promised workflow with the delivered workflow. The relevant question is whether adoption and delivery economics improve together.

Sources and method

These primary resources provide background for the concepts. The fictional scenario, calculations, and worksheet are ADIN educational examples; the sources do not report or validate those invented results. Reviewed October 11, 2026.

• Hustle Fund: Venture Capital Scout Programs
• Investor.gov: Private Equity Funds