Angel investors
How can an angel write a decision memo about a hardware startup?
a hardware startup: Write a decision memo that separates the company story from the investor's reasoning.
Write a decision memo that separates the company story from the investor's reasoning. State the question, evidence, competing interpretations, terms needing review, and unresolved risks. A memo should remain understandable after enthusiasm for the meeting fades.
Start with the decision
Use a claim-evidence-judgment structure and include a reason the investment could fail. Record what would change the conclusion. Keep any personal suitability or allocation decision separate from a generic educational example.
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 has a working prototype of a monitoring device and early customer trials. Component purchases, assembly, testing, and field support must be funded before units become recurring revenue or repeat orders.
A prototype bill of materials omits some production costs. Yield, rework, inventory, shipping, and warranty assumptions can materially change the cash needed for delivery.
Turn the scenario into an evidence decision
Consider a review of a hardware 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 supplier quotes, prototype and production cost distinctions, test results, customer trial evidence, and a cash schedule that includes inventory timing. 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. A good memo can make an eventual mistake more informative by preserving the original assumptions. It cannot turn an uncertain early-stage investment into a predictable outcome or transfer responsibility to a template. 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.
| Item | Illustration |
|---|---|
| Decision question | What decision is being considered? |
| Case-specific constraint | A prototype bill of materials omits some production costs. Yield, rework, inventory, shipping, and warranty assumptions can materially change the cash needed for delivery. |
| Record to inspect | Request supplier quotes, prototype and production cost distinctions, test results, customer trial evidence, and a cash schedule that includes inventory timing. |
| Comparison to preserve | Compare a shipped, functioning unit with a laboratory demonstration. Keep gross margin arithmetic separate from the working capital needed before collection. |
| Unresolved case question | Which costs are quoted versus assumed? |
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.
- What decision is being considered?
- Which evidence is strongest?
- What is the contrary case?
- Which terms need review?
- What would change the conclusion?
Questions specific to this scenario
- Which costs are quoted versus assumed?
- What happens when yield falls?
- Who supports failed field units?
Request supplier quotes, prototype and production cost distinctions, test results, customer trial evidence, and a cash schedule that includes inventory timing.
A concrete next test
Compare the prototype cost list with a hypothetical small production batch. Ask which supplier quotes are current and where yield, rework, shipping, or field support enter the cash plan. Keep working capital timing separate from a per-unit margin calculation.
Interpret the result
A good memo can make an eventual mistake more informative by preserving the original assumptions. It cannot turn an uncertain early-stage investment into a predictable outcome or transfer responsibility to a template.
Compare a shipped, functioning unit with a laboratory demonstration. Keep gross margin arithmetic separate from the working capital needed before collection.
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.