Investment memo prep for VC investors who write memos that hold up.
Investment memo prep sessions build the argument before the writing begins — the company's core thesis, the key risks, the team assessment, and the market timing argument. Drawing it on a whiteboard with the partner team surfaces disagreements before they appear in a partner meeting. BoardSnap captures the prep.
Why vc investors love this workflow
The strongest investment memos start from a whiteboard session where the lead investor has to articulate — and defend — the core investment thesis to a skeptical partner. That session reveals the holes in the argument that a solo memo-writing process never finds. The whiteboard is the argument stress test.
BoardSnap reads the memo prep whiteboard, the investment thesis, the bull and bear cases, the key risk factors and mitigants, and the partnership questions and produces a structured memo outline. The memo is stronger because the argument was tested on the whiteboard first.
The exact flow
- State the investment thesis
Write the core investment thesis in one paragraph. Why is this company going to be a fund-returner? Be specific — not just 'great team, large market.'
- Build the bull case
Write the optimistic scenario: what has to be true for this investment to generate 10x+ returns? Name the assumptions.
- Build the bear case
Write the pessimistic scenario: how does this investment go to zero? Name the risks that could kill it. An investor who can't articulate the bear case shouldn't make the investment.
- Identify the key risks and mitigants
For each material risk, write the mitigant — why is the risk acceptable? No mitigants for a major risk is a deal-breaker.
- Snap the memo prep board
Open BoardSnap and capture. The full prep — thesis, bull case, bear case, risks — is documented before memo writing begins.
What you'll get out of it
- The investment thesis is articulated and stress-tested before the memo is written
- Bull and bear cases are documented — preventing optimism bias in the memo
- Key risks have documented mitigants — or surface as deal-breakers
- Partner disagreements emerge in the prep session, not in the IC meeting
- Memo prep history is the record of how investment decisions were made
Frequently asked
How does the whiteboard memo prep connect to the final investment memo?
The whiteboard prep is the outline. The BoardSnap output — thesis, bull case, bear case, risks and mitigants — maps directly to the memo's structure. Write the memo from the prep document, not from scratch.
Should all partners be present for the memo prep session?
Yes, for significant investments. The partners who will vote on the deal should stress-test the thesis during prep, not for the first time in the IC meeting. The whiteboard session is the informal IC that makes the formal IC more productive.
Can BoardSnap read a bull/bear case diagram on a whiteboard?
Yes. Bull and bear case sections — with labeled assumptions and outcomes — are captured by BoardSnap AI with each scenario's assumptions and conclusions preserved in the structured output.
How does the memo prep change for follow-on investments?
Follow-on memo prep starts from the original investment thesis and asks 'is the thesis intact?' — then adds the new evidence for the follow-on and the updated risk assessment. Snap both the original and follow-on prep in the same project for comparison.
VC Investors: try this on your next memo prep.
Three taps. Action items in your hand before the room clears.