Answers for startup screening committees

Plain answers for accelerators, incubators and investment committees on screening startup applications, pitch deck review and evidence-linked records.

• How do accelerators screen hundreds of startup applications consistently?

  Apply one fixed framework to every application, record each claim with the deck page it came from, and list missing information as missing instead of guessing. This keeps reviews comparable across reviewers and cohorts, and leaves the decision with the committee.

• What should an investment committee check in a pitch deck?

  Check each material claim, the evidence behind it, whether the numbers agree across slides and documents, and what the deck leaves out. Then turn the gaps into specific questions for the founders.

• Why should missing startup data be reported as missing instead of estimated?

  Estimates hide what the founder did not show. Reporting missing data as missing keeps the record honest, tells the committee exactly what to ask for, and avoids decisions built on numbers nobody supplied.

• How is an evidence-linked evaluation different from an AI startup score?

  A single score compresses many judgements into one number that is hard to question. An evidence-linked record shows each claim, where it appears, what is missing and what to ask next, so the committee can discuss the reasoning instead of the number.