Check an investment memo against the documents it was built from
An investment memo condenses weeks of diligence into a recommendation: a thesis, the key numbers, the risks and the deal terms. Each claim in it was taken from somewhere else, such as the company's deck, its financial statements or a diligence report, and that is where it needs checking. Put the memo and its source documents in one Search+ workspace, ask where a claim comes from, and open the cited passage.
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Last updated October 2026
How to review an investment memo with Search+
- Upload the memo and its sources together
Add the memo, as a PDF or the Word draft, with the materials it relies on: the pitch deck or information memorandum, financial statements and the model, which usually live in Excel, the term sheet, and diligence or reference call notes, usually kept as Word documents.
- State the review lens in Workspace Context
Write an instruction such as "I sit on the investment committee; for each claim, say which source document supports it and flag claims that only the memo makes". Search+ applies it to every question in the workspace.
- Trace one claim at a time
Pick a claim from the memo, such as a growth figure or a statement about market position, and ask which passages in the workspace support it. Open each citation to compare the memo's wording with the source.
Questions reviewers ask of an investment memo
What are the main reasons the memo gives for making this investment, and which source documents does each reason rest on?
Does the revenue figure in the memo match the figure in the company's financial statements for the same period?
Which risks does the memo list, what mitigants does it propose, and are any risks raised in the diligence notes missing from it?
How do the terms described in the memo compare with the term sheet in this workspace?
Across the memos in this workspace, how did the stated thesis for this company change between the first investment and the follow-on?
What reviewing an investment memo needs
Most memos open with a summary and recommendation, then cover the company, its market, product, team, traction or financial performance, the proposed terms and valuation, the investment thesis, key risks and mitigants, and the diligence completed. Venture, buyout and credit memos weight these differently.
A memo is an argument by its author for a decision. That makes it useful for understanding the case, and it means each important claim should be checked against independent or primary material.
Memos often use figures from management, adjusted earnings or projections. Note which numbers are historical and reported, and which are adjusted or forecast, and look for the source of each.
Good memos say what diligence is still outstanding and what conditions apply to the recommendation. These sections are easy to skim past and are worth asking about directly.
Ask Search+ to trace a claim back to the passages that support it, across every document in the workspace. Each answer cites the supporting excerpts, and AI answers can be incomplete, so read them before you rely on a claim.
The parts of an investment memo and a question for each
| Part of the memo | What it usually covers | A question to ask Search+ |
|---|---|---|
| Executive summary | The recommendation, amount and headline reasons | What exactly is the memo recommending, and on what conditions? |
| Company and product | What the business does and for whom | How does the memo's product description compare with the company's own deck? |
| Market | Size, growth and competition | Where do the market size figures in the memo come from? |
| Team | Founders or management and their backgrounds | What does the memo say about gaps in the team? |
| Financials and traction | Revenue, margins, growth and unit economics | Which figures are reported and which are management estimates? |
| Terms and valuation | Price, structure and rights | Do the terms in the memo match the term sheet? |
| Risks and mitigants | What could go wrong and how it is addressed | Which risks have no stated mitigant? |
| Diligence | Work done, findings and open items | What diligence is still outstanding, according to the memo? |
What is an investment memo?
An investment memo is an internal document in which a deal team sets out the case for, and the risks of, a proposed investment so that an investment committee or partners can decide whether to approve it. It summarizes the company, the market, the terms and the diligence done.
Questions about reviewing investment memos with AI
Can Search+ check whether a memo's claims are backed by the source documents?
Can it compare the memo with the term sheet?
Will it find risks that the memo leaves out?
Can I review several memos for the same fund?
Is Search+ giving me a view on the deal?
What file format does the memo need to be in?
Check the memo before the committee does
Start a workspace, upload the memo with its sources, and trace each claim to the passage behind it.
Start a workspace