// Guide
Reading the evidence layer.
A number on its own is not diligence. Every score in an Investests evaluation carries a why: the specific facts behind it and where each one came from. That is the evidence layer.
What a fact looks like
Market Score: 74 — Why TAM $8.2B .................. founder supplied CAGR 18% ................... external source Competitor count 17 ........ Investests research Customer growth 31% ........ company supplied
The four source types
- Founder supplied — taken from the documents you uploaded. Accurate to the pitch, not independently checked.
- Company supplied — read from the company's own website or materials.
- External source — drawn from published market data outside the company.
- Investests research — derived during the analysis, for example by reading competitor sites.
Treat the first two as claims and the last two as checks. A score built mostly from founder-supplied facts is a reflection of the pitch; a score with external and research facts behind it has been tested.
Confidence
Each dimension also carries a confidence level. Low confidence usually means thin input rather than a weak company — add the missing document and re-run before you draw conclusions.
How to use it in diligence
- Scan for the lowest-confidence dimensions first; that is your question list for the founder.
- Any fact you disagree with goes straight into the deal discussion room with your correction.
- Where a criterion is marked not assessable, it was left out of the score rather than counted against the company.
- Red flags are only raised on evidence actually seen in the material — each one names its source.
Challenging a score
If the evidence is wrong or out of date, use Edit & re-run to supply the corrected material and run the analysis again. Re-runs are free, up to five per evaluation, and the new evidence replaces the old.