What would you look for in a company you want to invest in? Screen Beejvik Agri, Mitravik HR and Jalvik Water against a five-point checklist and say which goes to the partner meeting.

Mitravik HR goes to the partner meeting: it is the only one that clears all five tests. Beejvik has the biggest market but an 18% gross margin and an Rs 80 crore capital need, scoring 3 of 5. Jalvik grows fastest but fails on market size, margin and founder fit, scoring 2. The biggest market is not the best investment: to earn Rs 100 crore of gross profit, Beejvik needs Rs 556 crore of revenue and Mitravik Rs 132 crore.

When you choose a shop to rent space to, you check whether enough people pass by, whether the shop is getting busier, whether it keeps enough of each sale, whether the owner knows the trade, and how much it needs before it can stand on its own. A venture screen asks the same five questions: market size, growth, gross margin, founder-market fit and capital to the next milestone. The answer to what you look for in a company should name tests like these and then show you can apply them, because a list without a decision tells the interviewer nothing about your judgement.

Beejvik passes market, growth and founder fit but fails margin and capital: 3 of 5. Mitravik passes all five. Jalvik passes growth and capital but fails market size at Rs 3,000 crore, margin at 45%, and founder fit, because neither founder has worked in water or with housing societies: 2 of 5. The only company with no failed test is the one with the second-smallest market, which is the point the question is testing.

Gross margin decides how much revenue you need to build a business that pays for itself. To earn Rs 100 crore of gross profit, Beejvik needs Rs 556 crore of revenue, 2.8% of its market; Mitravik needs Rs 132 crore, 2.2% of its market. Jalvik would need Rs 222 crore, 7.4% of a small market. Beejvik's big market is real, but it must take more than four times as much revenue as Mitravik for the same gross profit, and it needs Rs 80 crore to try.

A screen filters; it does not decide. Beejvik's failures may be fixable: an agri founder on a second company might lift margin with private-label inputs, and that is worth a note to revisit rather than a rejection. Jalvik's founder test is a judgement call, and engineers who have installed a hundred units may know the problem better than their CVs suggest. Mitravik passing five tests says nothing yet about competition from payroll products already sold to the same firms, which is the first question for diligence. Say this in the interview: the checklist decides where your time goes, and the partner meeting is where the real arguments start.