Categories
Many founders assume evaluation starts when someone is truly reviewing their startup. In practice, most processes begin with screening, not deep evaluation.
What screening is designed to do
Screening is a fast filtering step. The goal is to decide whether a startup is worth spending more time on. Screening usually checks:
- basic fit with the program or organization
- clarity of the problem and user
- absence of major contradictions
What deep evaluation focuses on
Deep evaluation starts only after a startup passes initial filters. It focuses on:
- team coherence and execution capacity
- market understanding and adoption constraints
- signals of learning and iteration
- comparative ranking within the cohort
Why this matters for founders
If your materials create friction during screening, you may never reach deep evaluation. This is why clarity and consistency are so important early in the process.