What evidence should an angel request before investing in a developer infrastructure startup?

Request evidence that corresponds to the company's current claims and the decision you are considering. Pre-revenue diligence should not pretend revenue history exists, but it can investigate customer behavior, product capability, team execution, and cash needs. Keep observations separate from founder projections.

Start with the decision

Build a claim-to-record map and name the largest unresolved assumption. Review negative evidence and missing information alongside the strongest examples. Use qualified specialists when the relevant technical, accounting, or legal question exceeds your competence.

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 company maintains an open-source integration library and offers a hosted service. Downloads are growing, but paying teams are few. A small group of maintainers handles support, releases, and infrastructure incidents.

Community activity and commercial demand overlap imperfectly. Count organizations and actual production use separately from package downloads, forks, and repeat installs.

Turn the scenario into an evidence decision

Consider a review of a developer infrastructure 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. Review production references, hosted conversion cohorts, support workload, repository ownership, and release history. Check the permission to reuse code and data rather than assuming public availability grants every right. 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 diligence checklist organizes inquiry; it does not certify an investment or remove loss risk. The useful output is a clearer understanding of the assumptions, alternatives, and reasons for a decision. 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. Which claim matters most?
2. What record supports it?
3. What evidence contradicts it?
4. Who can independently verify it?
5. What remains unknown?

Questions specific to this scenario

• Which users have buying authority?
• What makes a hosted account renew?
• Who can maintain the critical dependencies?

Review production references, hosted conversion cohorts, support workload, repository ownership, and release history. Check the permission to reuse code and data rather than assuming public availability grants every right.

A concrete next test

Ask one production user of the free library and one hosted customer what would make them switch or stop paying. Keep their roles and deployment needs separate. Compare their answers with the proposed commercial conversion path and actual support workload.

Interpret the result

A diligence checklist organizes inquiry; it does not certify an investment or remove loss risk. The useful output is a clearer understanding of the assumptions, alternatives, and reasons for a decision.

Compare the commercial workflow with the free alternative. Identify who has budget for reliability, support, or managed operations.

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.

• Angel Capital Association: Knowledge Center
• Investor.gov: Private Equity Funds