Investor Due Diligence Checklist
Startup & Fundraising
Quick Answer
Enter your funding stage and business type. Paste into Claude or ChatGPT. Get a comprehensive stage-appropriate due diligence checklist covering every area investors will scrutinize.
What You Get
A comprehensive due diligence checklist organized by category covering financial statements and metrics, legal and corporate structure, commercial and customer data, product and technical documentation, and team background — tailored to your specific funding stage and business type.
Who Is This For
Founders preparing for investor due diligence, startup lawyers helping clients prepare for fundraising, and investors building their own due diligence frameworks.
About This Template
When investors say yes to a meeting and ask for due diligence materials, most founders scramble to figure out what they need. A well-prepared due diligence package signals professionalism and accelerates the path to close. This template guides founders through their funding stage and business context, then uses AI to produce a comprehensive, stage-appropriate due diligence checklist covering every area investors will scrutinize — financial, legal, commercial, technical, and team.
Fill In Your Details
Your company name
e.g. pre-revenue, $500K ARR, $5M ARR
e.g. Angel investor, seed VC, Series A fund, strategic corporate investor
Any specific areas that may need extra attention e.g. IP ownership, international operations, regulated industry
Gather these details then use them to fill in the prompt below.
AI Prompts
Generate due diligence checklist
Paste this prompt into Claude or ChatGPT with your inputs filled in.
You are a venture capital partner preparing a due diligence request list for a startup investment. Using the information below, produce a comprehensive and stage-appropriate due diligence checklist. Company: [company_name] Funding stage: [funding_stage] Business type: [business_type] Revenue stage: [revenue_stage] Investor type: [investor_type] Special considerations: [special_considerations] Produce a due diligence checklist organized into these categories: 1. Financial Documents — financial statements, metrics, projections, cap table 2. Legal and Corporate — incorporation, equity agreements, IP assignments, contracts 3. Commercial Traction — customer data, retention metrics, pipeline, references 4. Product and Technology — product demo, technical architecture, security, roadmap 5. Team and Background — founder bios, reference contacts, employment agreements 6. Market and Competition — market sizing, competitive analysis, differentiation For each item specify: what document or data is needed, why investors ask for it, and what a red flag looks like for that item. Calibrate depth to the stated funding stage — seed due diligence is lighter than Series A.
Sample Output
This is an example of what AI produces when you use this template.
Financial Documents Checklist
1. Last 12 months P&L (monthly) — investors verify revenue recognition accuracy and cost trends. Red flag: revenue lumpy without explanation or costs growing faster than revenue with no plan. 2. Current MRR/ARR breakdown by customer — shows concentration risk. Red flag: top customer over 20 percent of revenue. 3. Cohort retention analysis — the most important SaaS metric. Red flag: net revenue retention below 100 percent at Series A. 4. Cap table (fully diluted) — confirms ownership and option pool. Red flag: founder equity below 50 percent combined at seed. 5. 3-year financial projections with assumptions — tests financial literacy. Red flag: projections with no documented assumptions or hockey-stick growth with no explanation.
Commercial Traction Checklist
1. Full customer list with ARR per customer and contract length — investors calculate concentration and weighted average contract value. Red flag: all month-to-month contracts with no annual commitments. 2. 3 customer reference contacts willing to speak — investors will call all three. Red flag: hesitation to provide references or references who give lukewarm responses. 3. Churn log for past 12 months with reason codes — shows pattern recognition. Red flag: same churn reason appearing more than twice without a fix implemented. 4. Sales pipeline with stage and close date — investors model near-term revenue. Red flag: pipeline with no deals past initial meeting stage.