Deal Scorecard & Screening Template

When deal flow is heavy, screening becomes the bottleneck — and inconsistent screening lets good deals slip and bad deals consume diligence hours. This scorecard imposes consistent, weighted criteria so triage decisions are defensible and comparable.

Why a scorecard

• Consistency — every deal is judged against the same criteria, not the enthusiasm of whoever opened the email.
• Speed — a fast structured pass tells you what deserves deeper work.
• Learning — scored deals create a dataset. Over time you can see whether your screening predicts outcomes.

The scoring dimensions

Weight these to match your strategy; the weights matter as much as the scores.

Strategic fit

• Does it match your sector, size, and situation thesis?
• Is it the kind of deal your firm has an edge on?

Business quality

• Revenue quality and growth.
• Margins and cash generation.
• Competitive position and defensibility.
• Customer concentration and cyclicality.

Financial profile

• Size within your check range.
• Reasonableness of expected valuation.
• Achievable return profile at a sane entry price.

Situation and process

• Proprietary vs. broad auction.
• Seller motivation and timeline.
• Complexity — carve-out, turnaround, clean platform.

Value-creation potential

• Are there clear, ownable levers to create value?
• Add-on potential for a buy-and-build.

How to use it

1. Assign weights reflecting what actually drives your returns. A sourcing-driven firm weights "proprietary" heavily; an operational firm weights "value-creation levers."
2. Score each deal quickly on each dimension — a 1-to-5 scale is plenty.
3. Compute a weighted total and set thresholds: pursue, watch, or pass.
4. Record the rationale, even for passes. A "pass" today may be a "watch" when the situation changes.

Getting value beyond triage

• Track your funnel. Feed scores into your CRM to see conversion from screen to LOI to close.
• Calibrate over time. If deals you scored low keep closing well elsewhere, your weights are off — adjust them.
• Keep it lightweight. A scorecard is a filter, not a substitute for judgment. It tells you where to spend diligence, not whether to invest.

Used consistently, the scorecard turns a chaotic inbox into a ranked pipeline and quietly makes your whole team better at recognizing the deals worth chasing.