Portfolio AI Triage Scorecard
A scorecard for venture, private-equity, and accelerator teams to decide which companies need AI education, validation, implementation, or no intervention yet.
Direct answer
Direct answer: Portfolio AI triage scorecard
A portfolio team should not give every company the same AI programme. Score each company on a handful of dimensions, each with the evidence behind the score and a named owner, then assign one of four outcomes: education, validation, implementation, or no intervention yet. "No intervention yet" is a legitimate result. It protects management time and keeps support for the companies where it will change a decision.
The question
“How do we decide which portfolio companies need education, validation, implementation, or no intervention yet?”
Who it is for
Venture platform teams, private-equity operating partners, accelerator programme managers, and portfolio support leads.
Six scored dimensions lead to one of four outcomes
What this gives you
A company triage worksheet with explicit evidence and ownership fields.
- 01 A consistent way to compare AI needs across companies at different stages
- 02 One of four outcomes for each company, with the reason recorded
- 03 A named owner inside each company for the next step
- 04 A portfolio-level view of where support will make the most difference
The four outcomes
Each company gets exactly one outcome for this review cycle. Revisit it at the next one.
- □Education: leadership or staff need a shared understanding before any decision is useful. Typical signs are scattered tool use, no owner, and disagreement about what AI could do for the business.
- □Validation: the company has a specific AI claim or plan that needs testing before more money or authority goes in. Typical signs are a product claim that depends on model performance, a vendor promise, or a pilot with no baseline.
- □Implementation: the opportunity, owner, data, and evidence are clear enough to build or integrate. The remaining question is capacity and execution.
- □No intervention yet: AI is not the binding constraint, the data or ownership is not ready, or the company has it in hand. Record why, and the trigger that would change the answer.
Scoring dimensions
Score each from 0 to 3. A score without evidence counts as 0.
- □Strategic relevance: does AI change the product, cost base, or competitive position, or is it peripheral?
- □Ownership: is there a named executive accountable for AI outcomes, with the time to do it?
- □Data readiness: does the company have the rights, quality, and access to the data an AI use would need?
- □Evidence of value: has any AI use been measured against a baseline, or is it anecdote?
- □Authority and risk: would the intended use read sensitive data or take actions affecting customers, money, or safety?
- □Delivery capacity: could the team build, integrate, or operate the system, or would it depend entirely on vendors?
Evidence and ownership fields
These two fields stop the scorecard becoming a set of opinions.
- □Evidence: write what you saw, for example "pilot report dated March, 120 tickets, no baseline", not "seems promising".
- □Source: who provided it, and is it the company’s own measurement, a vendor figure, or an assumption?
- □Owner: the person inside the company who will take the next step. If nobody can be named, that is itself a finding.
- □Next review: the date or event, such as a funding round, product launch, or board meeting, at which to rescore.
Reading the result
- □Low ownership with high strategic relevance usually means education for leadership first, not implementation.
- □A high-risk use with weak evidence points to validation before any scaling decision.
- □Implementation should require at least a 2 on ownership, data readiness, and evidence of value.
- □Several companies with the same education need can share a cohort session; validation and implementation are company-specific.
- □Keep company scores confidential between companies unless each has agreed to share them.
Copy and adapt
Portfolio AI triage scorecard
PORTFOLIO AI TRIAGE SCORECARD Company: Review date: Stage / sector: Reviewer: DIMENSION SCORE (0-3) EVIDENCE (what you saw, source, date) Strategic relevance [ ] ... Ownership [ ] ... Data readiness [ ] ... Evidence of value [ ] ... Authority and risk [ ] ... Delivery capacity [ ] ... A score without evidence counts as 0. OUTCOME (choose one) [ ] Education [ ] Validation [ ] Implementation [ ] No intervention yet Reason for outcome: ... Owner inside the company: Role: Next step: Next review (date or trigger): What would change this outcome: ...
Evidence
What this draws on
Startup Leadership Program, New Delhi (2011)
Fellow and Joint Program Leader of the New Delhi chapter: organising cohort sessions, bringing practitioners into the room, and helping founders examine decisions.
Read more →Six companies founded, 2008–2024
Kwippy, Jaja.tv, Octo.ai, ExpressMOJO, Boom, and Neul Labs, spanning social software, interactive media, ML and analytics, logistics, blockchain infrastructure, and applied AI. Advisory and investment records are not counted as founded companies.
Read more →Boom investor commitments
Boom recorded more than $2.5M in investor commitments and commercial letters of intent. That is not money raised, recognised revenue, or production adoption.
Read more →Scope and limits
What this is not
- —The scorecard supports portfolio support decisions; it is not an investment recommendation, valuation input, or diligence opinion.
- —Scores depend on the evidence the company shares. Treat them as provisional until validated.
- —An implementation outcome does not mean the company should buy outside help; many will build with their own team.
If the need is different
Common questions
Answers before you commission
How do we assess AI readiness across a portfolio?+
Score each company on the same few dimensions, record the evidence and owner behind each score, and assign one of four outcomes. That makes companies comparable without pretending they need the same help.
Is there a VC AI triage template?+
Yes. The plain-text scorecard on this page can be copied into a portfolio review document or spreadsheet. It works for venture, private-equity, and accelerator portfolios.
Why include "no intervention yet"?+
Because for some companies AI is not the constraint, or the data and ownership are not ready. Saying so protects management time and keeps support for the companies where it will change a decision.
Who should fill in the scorecard?+
Ideally the portfolio team with each company’s management, so the evidence and owner fields are agreed rather than assumed. An outside facilitator helps when scores are contested.
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