Who Actually Needs This?

We didn't start with assumptions. We spent six months talking to people who live this problem every day.

43 interviews. 12 site visits where we watched teams work. 3 focus groups. 127 survey responses. Not asking "would you use this?" but "show me how you do this today."

Here's what we learned.

The Research

Method	Count	What We Learned
In-depth interviews	43	Real workflows, pain points, buying criteria
Site visits	12	Watched analysts work, saw the chaos firsthand
Focus groups	3	Feature prioritization, pricing sensitivity
Survey responses	127	Quantitative validation of everything

Four Pain Points, Validated

These came up over and over:

1. Deal Sourcing Inefficiency (89%)

"We have three analysts spending half their time on deal sourcing. That's €300K annually just to find deals, most of which go nowhere."

The numbers:

• 15-20 hours per week per person
• 50-100 opportunities reviewed per closed deal
• 5-8 different platforms checked daily
• 60-70% of time spent on irrelevant deals

2. Verification Burden (76%)

"We've been burned by people claiming to represent funds that don't exist. Before we invest time, we need to know: Are they real? Do they have capital? Can they close?"

The cost:

• 3-4 weeks to verify new contacts
• €5K-€10K in legal costs per relationship
• 30-40% of "verified" contacts still waste time
• Multiple fraud attempts reported

3. Confidentiality Concerns (81%)

"We can't broadcast our deal flow publicly. It tells competitors what we're working on. We need control over who sees what, when."

The impact:

• 40-50% refuse to use open marketplaces
• Public deals get 5-10x more approaches (mostly noise)
• Competitive bidding driven by visibility adds 10-15% to multiples
• Strategy leaks to competitors

4. Workflow Fragmentation (68%)

"By the time we're in diligence, we have 200+ emails across 10 participants. For compliance reporting, we have to reconstruct timelines from emails. It's a nightmare."

The chaos:

• Email, data rooms, calendars, CRM all disconnected
• Information scattered across 4-6 tools
• 10-15 hours per deal wasted on coordination
• No audit trail for compliance

What People Will Pay

We didn't just ask "would you use this?" We tested actual price points.

"If this saves our team 10 hours per week, that's €50K annually in time value. Paying €6K is a no-brainer."

What Features Matter

We asked 127 people to rank features as Critical, Nice to Have, or Don't Need:

Feature	Critical	Nice to Have	Don't Need
Verification badges	91%	7%	2%
Thesis-based matching	87%	11%	2%
Redacted teasers	83%	14%	3%
Structured intros	79%	18%	3%
AI-assisted search	42%	51%	7%

Customer Profile #1: Mid-Market PE Firms

This is your primary target. They have the pain, the budget, and the urgency.

Who They Are

• Fund II to Fund IV — Proven track record, raising second or third fund
• Sector-focused (65%) or generalist (35%)
• 60% proprietary deals, 40% banker-led — They want to increase proprietary %
• European focus — Primarily Western Europe
• Decision timeline: 30-90 days from intro to LOI

What They Need

1. 1 Find off-market deals that fit their thesis (not more noise)
2. 2 Verify counterparties fast without legal overhead
3. 3 Manage pipeline without drowning in irrelevant opportunities
4. 4 Show LPs differentiated access to dealflow
5. 5 Track everything for compliance reporting

What They'll Pay

€6K-€12K annual subscription + 0.25-0.35% success fee

Why they'll pay: ROI is clear. If platform saves 10 hours/week per person, that's €50K-€100K annually for a 3-person team. Subscription cost is 6-12% of time savings.

Buying Process

Decision Maker	Managing Partner or Investment Partner
Influencers	COO (compliance), CFO (budget)
Evaluation Criteria	Time savings, deal quality, ease of use, security
Sales Cycle	30-45 days from first contact to signature
Budget Authority	€10K-€25K without committee approval

"We're a €800M European buyout fund focused on B2B software. Our biggest challenge is finding proprietary deals before the broad market. If you could give us verified, thesis-matched introductions with confidentiality controls, we'd pay €10K+ without hesitation."

Customer Profile #2: Multi-Family Offices

Secondary target. Less volume per customer, but desperate for access.

Who They Are

• Single-family (SFO) or multi-family (MFO) offices
• Mix of strategies: 40% direct, 40% fund commitments, 20% co-investments
• 15-35% allocation to private markets
• Sophistication varies widely — Some very experienced, some learning
• Network constraint is key pain — Can't compete with institutional relationships

What They Need

• Access to institutional-quality deals without large teams
• Co-investment opportunities alongside trusted GPs
• Verification without internal resources
• Exit liquidity for legacy positions
• Portfolio diversification beyond funds

What They'll Pay

€4K-€8K annual subscription

Why they'll pay: Access is the currency. If platform opens doors to deals they couldn't reach otherwise, pricing becomes secondary to opportunity cost.

"We're a €400M single-family office. We do 4-5 direct deals per year. Our challenge is access—we're not a big-name institution. We need a way to prove we're serious, qualified investors."

Customer Profile #3: Fundless Sponsors

Tertiary target, but strategically important. They're motivated sellers—solve the chicken-and-egg problem.

Who They Are

• Ex-PE (45%), ex-banker (30%), ex-operator (25%)
• Deal-by-deal capital raising from PE firms, family offices, HNWIs
• Lower mid-market focus — Industrial buyouts, business services, healthcare
• Credibility gap — Struggle to be taken seriously without fund track record
• Fast decision makers — Must move quickly to secure LOIs

What They Need