How to enforce documentation at critical deal milestones

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.affinity.co/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Overview

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Prerequisites

• List Owner or List Admin permissions
• Pipeline/deals list with Status or stage field
• List-specific fields created for documentation (Investment Memo, Pass Reason, DD Lead, etc.)
• Understanding of which documentation is critical at each stage
• Team alignment on documentation standards

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Workflow Steps

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Step 1: Map Your Pipeline Stages to Documentation Needs

• What’s needed: Investment Memo, Deal Champion
• Why: Partners need context before evaluating
• Trigger: “Partner Review” status Due Diligence stage:
• What’s needed: DD Lead, Target Close Date, DD Checklist Link
• Why: Clear ownership and timeline for DD process
• Trigger: “Due Diligence” status Pass decisions:
• What’s needed: Pass Reason, Pass Category, Key Learnings
• Why: Build pattern recognition for future sourcing
• Trigger: “Passed” status Create documentation fields if don’t exist:

1. Investment Memo Link (URL field)
2. Deal Champion (Person field)
3. DD Lead (Person field)
4. Target Close Date (Date field)
5. Pass Reason (Text field)
6. Pass Category (Dropdown: Thesis Misfit, Valuation, Team Concerns, Competitive, Timing)
7. Key Learnings (Text field)

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Step 2: Configure Status Triggers

1. Navigate to List Options → Triggers → Status Triggers
2. Create New Trigger
3. Status: “Partner Review”
4. Required Fields: Select “Investment Memo Link” and “Deal Champion”
5. Save Trigger 2: Due Diligence
6. Create New Trigger
7. Status: “Due Diligence”
8. Required Fields: Select “DD Lead”, “Target Close Date”
9. Save Trigger 3: Passed
10. Create New Trigger
11. Status: “Passed”
12. Required Fields: Select “Pass Reason”, “Pass Category”, “Key Learnings”
13. Save Don’t over-trigger:

• Not every status needs a trigger
• Focus on stages with high decision value or common gaps
• “Active” or “Sourcing” rarely need triggers (too early for most info)

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Step 3: Create Documentation Templates

• Company overview (2-3 sentences)
• Market opportunity & TAM
• Traction & key metrics
• Team assessment
• Investment thesis & why now
• Concerns & risks
• Link to full memo in Google Drive Pass Reason examples:
• “Valuation 2x higher than comparable companies at this stage”
• “Limited differentiation from competitors X and Y”
• “Too early - revisit when ARR > $5M”
• “Team lacks critical go-to-market experience”

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Step 4: Roll Out to Team

1. Send email explaining new triggers and why
2. Share documentation templates and examples
3. Invite questions and feedback
4. Schedule brief team demo if needed Activation day:
5. Enable triggers
6. Send reminder with links to templates
7. Be available for questions First week:

• Monitor for common confusion patterns
• Answer questions quickly
• Gather feedback on friction points

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Step 5: Monitor Compliance and Quality

1. Filter to deals in triggered statuses
2. Spot-check documentation quality:

• Are Investment Memos substantive?
  • Are Pass Reasons specific and useful?
  • Are DD Leads assigned promptly?

1. Identify patterns:

• Lots of “TBD” = field required too early
  • Generic text = need better templates/examples
  • Questions from team = clarify expectations Monthly review:

1. Run report: How many deals progressed through each stage?
2. Sample Pass Reasons to identify common themes
3. Survey team: Are triggers helpful or burdensome?
4. Adjust required fields based on learnings

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Step 6: Iterate Based on Feedback

• Reduce number of required fields
• Move some requirements to later stages
• Convert required fields to optional with strong encouragement Missing important info:
• Add new required field for commonly missed items
• Update dropdown options based on actual usage
• Add new status values with specific triggers Better templates needed:
• Share examples of excellent documentation
• Create field-specific guidance
• Consider formula fields that auto-calculate from other required fields

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Expected Outcome

• 100% of deals entering your pipeline have Owner, Lead Source, Sector assigned
• Partner reviews have documented investment theses ready
• Due diligence has clear ownership and deadlines from day one
• Pass decisions include reasoning for pattern analysis
• New team members automatically follow documentation standards
• Reduced Slack messages asking “Who owns this?” or “Why did we pass?”
• Higher quality pipeline reviews with complete context

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Tips & Best Practices

• Start with 3 fields: Owner, Lead Source, Sector
• One trigger at a time: Don’t configure all statuses at once Field Design:
• Dropdown > Text for consistency and filterability
• But Text for nuance: Pass Reason should be text, not dropdown
• Person fields for accountability (Owner, Deal Champion, DD Lead)
• Date fields for timeline tracking (Target Close, First Contact) Change Management:
• Expect pushback initially - triggers create friction
• Emphasize benefits: Better decisions, less rework, institutional knowledge
• Show data: Report on lead source conversion after 1 month
• Celebrate wins: Highlight how triggers prevented a missed detail Common Pitfalls:
• Requiring too many fields too soon (causes workarounds)
• Requiring information users don’t have yet
• Not providing examples or templates
• Not iterating based on feedback
• Over-engineering with triggers on every status Advanced Techniques:
• Combine Required Fields + Status Trigger on “Qualified” status
• Use Opportunity Trigger after Status Trigger for seamless flow
• Create conditional logic in documentation (e.g., “If Passed, explain why”)

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Example Use Case

• Partners frustrated by deals lacking investment theses at reviews
• Pass decisions not documented - repeating mistakes
• 40% of deals had no assigned owner
• Couldn’t analyze which lead sources produced best deals Month 1 - Required Fields:

1. Created fields: Owner, Lead Source, Thesis Fit (dropdown), Initial Notes
2. Configured Required Fields on “Inbound Pipeline” list
3. Rolled out to 8-person team with templates
4. Result: All 23 new companies that month had complete baseline data Month 2 - Partner Review Trigger:
5. Created “Investment Memo Link” field (URL)
6. Created “Deal Champion” field (Person)
7. Configured Status Trigger on “Partner Review” status
8. Result: 100% of deals at partner meetings had documented memos Month 3 - Pass Documentation:
9. Created “Pass Reason” (Text), “Pass Category” (Dropdown)
10. Configured Status Trigger on “Passed” status
11. Result: Started building “pass playbook” of common patterns Month 4 - DD Requirements:
12. Created “DD Lead” (Person), “Target Close” (Date)
13. Configured Status Trigger on “Due Diligence”
14. Result: Every DD had assigned lead and timeline from day one