Building Your Due Diligence Workflow: A Systematic Approach
Most angel investors start with enthusiasm and no process. They take every meeting, chase every warm intro, and spend 10 hours on deals that weren't worth 1 hour. After a few bad investments, they either become gun-shy or swing too far toward process-heavy diligence that kills their ability to move fast.
The right workflow is somewhere in between. It filters deals ruthlessly at the top of the funnel, spends time proportionally to deal quality, and creates a decision record that helps you learn from your investments over time.
This is the workflow I've refined over 5 years and 80+ deals.
The Four-Stage Funnel
Stage 1: Deal Intake (5 minutes)
Goal: Capture the opportunity, qualify or disqualify in 5 minutes.
What to capture:
- Company name, founder name, one-sentence description
- Source of the deal (warm intro, cold outreach, platform, event)
- Stage (pre-seed, seed, Series A)
- Check size sought vs. your typical check
- Thesis alignment (does it fit your investment criteria?)
The 5-minute screen questions:
- Is the founder someone I want to work with for 7-10 years?
- Is the market large enough to return the fund if this works?
- Is there something differentiated here, or is this a "me too" play?
- Do I have conviction on the team?
- Can I add value beyond capital?
Output: Yes / No / Maybe. If yes or maybe, move to Stage 2.
Stage 2: First Call (30-45 minutes)
Goal: Qualify or disqualify based on the 5 dimensions above. Identify the 2-3 things that need deep-dive.
Questions to ask (don't ask all — pick 5-7):
- What's the specific problem and for whom?
- What's your traction, and what does the retention curve look like?
- Who are your competitors, and why can't they just build this?
- What do you need from me beyond capital?
- Walk me through the unit economics.
The red flag checklist:
- 3+ contradictions between deck and reality
- Customer concentration above 30%
- No named competitors
- Can't explain use of capital specifically
Output: Pass / Continue to deep-dive / Lead.
Stage 3: Deep-Dive (2-4 hours)
Goal: Verify the 2-3 things that need checking from Stage 2. Data calls, reference checks, document review.
Time allocation:
- Reference checks: 60-90 minutes (3 references × 20-30 min each)
- Document review: 60-90 minutes (cap table, financials, legal)
- Data verification: 30-60 minutes (Soloanalyst + manual checks)
Output: Pass / Pass with conditions / Lead.
Stage 4: Decision and Documentation (30 minutes)
Goal: Make the decision and record the reasoning.
The decision record should include:
- What you liked about the deal
- What concerned you
- What you verified vs. what you believed
- What the decision was and why
- What you'd do differently in hindsight (update after 12 months)
The Time Allocation Framework
Deal Flow Tiers
Tier 1: Top 10% — The "Lead" Deals These are the 10% of deals that pass every screen. You want to spend 4-6 hours on due diligence, push for lead investor terms, and move fast.
- Exceptional team with demonstrated execution
- Clear product-market fit with retention data
- Large market with identifiable path to $50M+ ARR
- Founder has been through the problem space before
Tier 2: Middle 40% — The "Follow" Deals These are good deals where you're not the lead. Spend 2-3 hours. Focus on verification, not original thesis development.
- Strong team (not necessarily repeat founders)
- Some traction with clear retention signal
- Market fits your criteria but not exceptional
- Terms set by lead investor
Tier 3: Bottom 50% — The "Pass" Deals These should be disqualified at intake or first call. If you spend more than 1 hour here, you're doing process wrong.
The Tool Stack for Each Stage
Stage 1: Intake
What to use:
- Airtable (or Notion) for deal tracking
- Email labels for deal sourcing attribution
What to capture:
- Company URL
- Source (who referred)
- Date of first contact
- Initial reaction (1-2 sentences)
- Decision
Stage 2: First Call
What to use:
- Soloanalyst (run before the call — 5 minutes)
- LinkedIn (verify founder background)
- Notion (take notes with template)
Pre-call preparation:
- Run Soloanalyst report
- Note 3 things to verify on the call
- Note 1-2 questions specific to this company
Stage 3: Deep-Dive
What to use:
- Soloanalyst (full verification)
- Crunchbase (funding history, comps)
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator (reference checks)
- Carta (cap table review)
- Court records (if red flags)
Stage 4: Decision
What to use:
- Notion (decision record template)
- Airtable (update deal status)
The Batch Processing Model
If you're evaluating 5+ deals per week, batch similar tasks:
Daily:
- Morning: Process inbound (emails, intros) — 30 minutes
- Afternoon: First calls — 2 hours max
Weekly:
- Monday: Deep-dive reference calls — 3-4 hours
- Tuesday-Thursday: First calls as needed
- Friday: Deal review and decision documentation — 1 hour
Monthly:
- Portfolio review: What passed, what failed, why
- Thesis refinement: What patterns am I seeing?
- Process update: What would I do differently?
The Decision Framework
The 5 Things That Must Be True
For a seed investment, all 5 don't need to be true, but the ones that aren't need to be compensated by others:
- Team is exceptional (repeat founder, domain expertise, or demonstrated execution)
- Market is large (at least $500M SOM, clearly defined)
- Product has fit (some retention signal — even early)
- Timing is right (catalyst exists that wasn't there 2 years ago)
- You can add value (network, domain, operational experience)
The Pass Conditions
Pass if:
- 3+ contradictions found in deep-dive
- Team has lied about background or metrics
- Cap table is unclean (undocumented equity, excessive dilution)
- Terms are punitive without justification
- No clear path to next round at reasonable valuation
What Soloanalyst Does
Soloanalyst sits at the center of the workflow — between intake and first call. It verifies the company's public data footprint before you spend 45 minutes on a call that won't go anywhere. It also flags the 2-3 things to dig into during deep-dive.
Build the process once. Refine it quarterly. Let it protect your time and your capital.
For a free company verification before your next deal, visit soloanalyst.com.