An investment team looks at hundreds of companies and moves forward on a few. The pass decisions are where the knowledge is: why the unit economics did not work, which management team was strong, what the market really looked like. That reasoning is in memos, diligence reports, and emails that nobody reopens when the same company, or a very similar one, comes back a year later.
The questions that keep coming back
- Have we looked at this company before, and why did we pass?
- Which deals in this sector have we evaluated, and what multiples did we see?
- Who at the firm has met this management team or this founder?
- Which diligence findings sank deals in this category?
- What did we tell the investment committee last time, and what changed?
What happens to your files
Upload memos, pass emails, diligence reports, term sheets, and meeting notes, as they are. Desk reads them and remembers every company the team has looked at: when, at what valuation, who was met, what diligence found, and why the decision went the way it did. The same company seen in 2023 and again this year, perhaps under a new name, is one history with both looks attached, including the pass memo. Nothing has to be logged in a CRM afterwards. The memo you already wrote is the record, and it is the one Desk quotes back.
Questions Desk answers well here
"Have we looked at this company?" returns the company with every deal, memo, and the stated reason for passing. "Which deals in this sector did we take to committee, and at what valuation?" finds the deals in that sector that reached committee and reads the valuations off the memos. "What diligence issues have come up most in this category?" groups the findings across deals with their reports attached.
Routines worth setting up first
- When a new deal is logged: prior looks at the company, comparable deals we evaluated, and anyone at the firm who has met the team.
- Before each committee meeting: the deals on the agenda with their open diligence issues and the source documents.
- Quarterly: pass reasons across the quarter, grouped, for the pipeline review.
What to upload first
Investment memos and pass emails from the last three years, then diligence reports. Add meeting notes so that "who has met them" resolves to people, and models or data rooms only where the numbers matter for comparison.
How Desk helps
Desk remembers every company the team has looked at, and why it passed.
- Memos, pass emails, diligence reports, and meeting notes become deals, companies, people, valuations, and issues, each with its source.
- "Have we looked at this company?" returns every prior look with the stated reason, even years later and under a new name.
- Routines pull prior looks and comparables when a deal is logged and prepare each committee agenda with open issues.
Thinking about how this would work for your team?
Let’s chatKeep reading
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