Do due diligence on a startup before you invest

Team, product, traction, competitors and red flags, and each claim in the pitch deck checked.

  • You start it: When you start it
  • Odyssey deep research

What it does

The task

Research startup (website) as an investor. Find the founders' work history, the funding rounds and investors, the product and its prices, the customers named on the site, the reviews on G2, the hiring trend on its careers page and the news from the last 2 years. Compare it with its 5 closest competitors. Check that the claims in the pitch deck at deck url match what you find, and list each mismatch. Write a memo of 2 pages or fewer in a new Google Doc: summary, strengths, risks, red flags and questions for the founders, with a source for each fact.

  • It works in Crunchbase, LinkedIn, G2 and Google Docs, in the workspace you pick, and signs in with passwords from your Cuiar vault.
  • It runs once, when you start it.
  • It uses Odyssey, the deep-research mode of the Pro and Team plans, and keeps a citation for each fact.

What you give it

BlankWhat to giveExample
startupThe company nameKelpie Logistics
websiteThe company websitekelpielogistics.com
deck urlA link to the pitch deck in Google Drive or as a PDFhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbK7dQ9mZ/view

What you get back

An example run with the example values above. Your run uses your own data.

Kelpie Logistics: due diligence memo (Google Doc, 2 pages, 34 sources)

Summary: route software for regional freight firms. Seed round of 3.2 million USD in 2025.

Strengths: the founders built and sold a fleet app; 14 customers named on the site; G2 4.7 (38 reviews)

Risks: 2 funded competitors with 5 times more staff; prices 40% above the market

Mismatches with the deck:

  • Deck: 60 customers. Site: 14 named. CEO in a 2026 podcast: 35.
  • Deck: 18 staff. Careers page and LinkedIn: 11.

Red flag: no new engineering hire in 9 months

Questions for the founders: churn in the last 12 months, the 3 largest contracts, results of the price test

Run it in Cuiar

  1. 01

    Open it

    Click Use in Cuiar on this page. The side panel opens with the task in the composer.

  2. 02

    Fill in 3 blanks

    Type startup, website and deck url. Tab moves to the next blank.

  3. 03

    Run it

    Run sends it to the agent. Follow each step in the panel, and stop it at any time.

From the terminal

cuiar exec --odyssey "Research Kelpie Logistics (kelpielogistics.com) as an investor. Find the founders' work history, the funding rounds and investors, the product and its prices, the customers named on the site, the reviews on G2, the hiring trend on its careers page and the news from the last 2 years. Compare it with its 5 closest competitors. Check that the claims in the pitch deck at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbK7dQ9mZ/view match what you find, and list each mismatch. Write a memo of 2 pages or fewer in a new Google Doc: summary, strengths, risks, red flags and questions for the founders, with a source for each fact."

Run it from your AI agent

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other MCP clients reach Cuiar at https://mcp.cuiar.com/mcp. Add the server one time, then ask for the task in plain words, or call run_task yourself.

1. Add Cuiar to Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http cuiar https://mcp.cuiar.com/mcp

2. Ask your agent

Use the Cuiar tool run_task to run my "Do due diligence on a startup before you invest" template with startup = Kelpie Logistics; website = kelpielogistics.com; deck url = https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbK7dQ9mZ/view.

Setup for other agents: AI agents.

The tool call

{
  "name": "run_task",
  "arguments": {
    "task": "Research Kelpie Logistics (kelpielogistics.com) as an investor. Find the founders' work history, the funding rounds and investors, the product and its prices, the customers named on the site, the reviews on G2, the hiring trend on its careers page and the news from the last 2 years. Compare it with its 5 closest competitors. Check that the claims in the pitch deck at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbK7dQ9mZ/view match what you find, and list each mismatch. Write a memo of 2 pages or fewer in a new Google Doc: summary, strengths, risks, red flags and questions for the founders, with a source for each fact.",
    "mode": "odyssey"
  }
}
All research templates
  • ResearchOdyssey

    Map the competitors in a market

    Each competitor with its product, target customer, price, funding and size, and the gaps no one covers.

    You start it: When you start it
    • Crunchbase
    • G2
    • Google Sheets
  • Sales

    Write an account plan for a target company

    The company's priorities, its buying team, the tools it uses now and 3 ways in, from public sources.

    You start it: When you start it
    • LinkedIn
    • Google News
    • Google Docs
  • Sales

    Build a battlecard against a competitor

    Where you win and lose, their prices, and answers to the objections your reps hear most.

    You start it: When you start it
    • G2
    • Reddit
    • Google Docs
  • Marketing

    Compare how competitors position their product

    Each competitor's audience, main promise, proof and price level side by side, with the positions still open.

    You start it: When you start it
    • Any website
    • G2
    • Google Docs
  • Career

    Make a learning plan for the skills you lack

    The skills your target jobs ask for and your resume does not show, with courses and a plan for each week.

    You start it: When you start it
    • LinkedIn
    • Coursera
    • YouTube
    • +1 more: Google Docs
  • CareerAsks first

    Update your LinkedIn to match your resume

    A new headline, About text and job entries drafted from your resume, changed only after you approve.

    You start it: When you start it
    • LinkedIn
    • Google Docs