Scouts
What should a scout ask about eligible carry on an AI application startup?
an AI application startup: Eligible carry requires an agreement, a defined base, and the events that can create distributable amounts.
Eligible carry requires an agreement, a defined base, and the events that can create distributable amounts. A headline percentage does not specify deductions, timing, follow-ons, vesting, or termination treatment. A sourced investment can produce no carry.
Start with the decision
Map the actual agreement's conditions and use fictional arithmetic only to explain the mechanism. Include a zero-distribution case. Ask qualified advisers about legal and tax terms and avoid treating future carry as expected income.
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.
Carry arithmetic after an explicitly assumed base
For this fictional example only, assume the applicable agreement defines $30,000.00 as distributable net carry and allocates half of that amount to the scout. Multiplication gives $15,000.00. The difficult question precedes the multiplication: whether the deal qualifies and whether the defined distributable base ever exists.
A paper valuation, a completed introduction, or the fund's first investment does not establish that payment is due. Eligibility, attribution, deductions, follow-on treatment, vesting, and payment timing need the actual agreement. The zero-base row is as important as the positive row because an investment may never create distributable carry.
Separate model output from completed customer work. A software revenue claim needs a matching view of model usage, human delivery, customer support, and rework. Keep company evaluation separate from compensation expectations. ADIN's GPs make the final investment decision, and the public scout page should be read together with the applicable agreement. This example is an explanation of arithmetic and questions, not a projection of income or a legal interpretation.
| Item | Illustration |
|---|---|
| Invented distributable net carry base | $30,000.00 |
| Assumed share for this exercise | 50% |
| Multiplication under those assumptions | $15,000.00 |
| Share if eligible net carry is zero | $0.00 |
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 amount is the percentage applied to?
- What deductions come first?
- Which investment qualifies?
- When can payment occur?
- What survives leaving the program?
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
A multiplication example does not predict an exit or describe every waterfall. ADIN's public program copy and the applicable agreement should be read together, with GPs retaining the final investment decision.
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.