How We Decide to Write a Check

People ask us all the time what our diligence process looks like. Fair question — and one we're happy to answer in detail. Here's how it works at Motley Fool Ventures.

What Gets Our Attention

We focus on post-Seed and Series A companies with at least $1M in revenue, 100%+ year-over-year growth, and healthy gross margins. Opportunities come from cold inbound, warm referrals, and our own outreach. The mix changes constantly.

When a company catches our eye, we start with a call — less of a pitch, more of a conversation. We're listening for clarity of vision, real traction, and whether this feels like a team we want to work alongside for the next decade.

If there's a fit, we bring it to our twice-weekly team meeting and decide whether to go deeper.

Where Conviction Gets Built (or Doesn't)

Next is a one-hour video call with our full team and the company's leadership. We skip the slides and the rehearsed pitch. It's an open conversation where we ask the questions we actually care about, and founders get to ask theirs. Some of our favorite calls are the ones where founders push back hard on us. That's a good sign.

If conviction is building after that call, two team members co-lead a diligence sprint tailored to the company. Most involve deep dives into financials, operations, culture, market dynamics, legal structure, and references.

We talk to customers, co-investors, former colleagues, and domain experts. We read everything the company shares with us, then go looking for what's missing — not because we assume anyone's hiding something, but because a complete picture takes work.

All of it feeds into an investment memo. Every member of the investment team weighs in. The managing partner makes the final call.

After We Decide

Once we're in, we move fast — whether we're leading the round and drafting the term sheet or following and reviewing terms against our legal checklist.

Before we wire funds, we align on risks, milestones, and reporting expectations so both sides know exactly what the partnership looks like. No surprises.

Signing a check doesn't end our work. It focuses it. We help close out the round, onboard the team, and connect founders directly with our LP network. The relationships we build during diligence set the tone for everything that comes after — and we take that seriously.

Why We're Sharing This

We think founders deserve to know what they're walking into before they take our first call, and LPs deserve to know how we make decisions with their capital.

We're constantly refining this — and it may very well look different a year from now.

If you're building something and think we might be a good fit, or if you're interested in learning more about partnering with us as a founder, we'd love to hear from you.