48 investment briefs delivered in a single quarter. Zero additional analyst headcount.
A three-partner VC firm was falling behind on deal flow because their associates could not keep pace with the research volume. We placed a VA who owned first-pass company research, competitive summaries, and founder background checks so the partners could make faster, better-informed decisions.
Venture Capital
A £120M early-stage fund with three general partners and two junior associates covering 60-80 inbound companies per month. The associates were already stretched across portfolio support work, leaving new-deal research perpetually behind. Partners were making second-conversation decisions on incomplete information or delaying meetings while briefs were still being drafted.
What was broken
Investment briefs were taking five to seven days to produce because each required extensive desk research: company background, founding team history, competitive landscape, comparable transactions, and press signals. The associates were working unsustainable hours and briefs were still arriving late. Two promising deals had progressed to term sheet with competing funds before the partners had a complete research picture.
How we helped
The VA took ownership across three distinct workstreams from day one.
Company Research Briefs
Built a standardised brief template and researched 48 companies across the quarter: founding team backgrounds, product positioning, revenue signals, recent press, and a competitive map. Each brief was delivered within 48 hours of a deal entering the second-conversation stage.
Sector Landscape Digests
Produced weekly sector digests across the firm's three core investment themes: fintech infrastructure, B2B workflow tooling, and climate data. Partners used these to orient portfolio conversations and benchmark new inbound deals without starting from scratch.
Founder Background Research
Ran structured background research on all founders at second-conversation stage: prior companies, exits, press appearances, LinkedIn signals, and any reference flags. Context surfaced before the partner meeting rather than after.
The numbers that matter.
The firm produced 48 investment briefs in a single quarter, more than double the prior quarter output, without adding headcount. Average turnaround fell from six days to 48 hours, allowing partners to run tighter deal processes. The time between first and second conversations compressed by 40%, and the associates redirected the recovered hours toward portfolio company support work where their judgment added more value.
“We were losing deals to faster-moving funds. Not because the investment wasn't right but because we couldn't get our research done in time. That problem is gone.”
General Partner, Early-stage VC Fund
Zero missed deadlines across 40 live client projects.
We kept a 12-person agency on schedule across 40 live client projects: six months, zero missed deadlines.
0 missed deadlinesRead case study
Tripled audience reach without adding a single hire.
A daily social calendar and inbox triage that tripled a founder's reach and gave them back their mornings.
3× audience growthRead case study
Recovered 80 engineering hours a month from admin work.
Invoicing, CRM hygiene, and ops admin handled end-to-end, freeing engineers to build, not file expenses.
80 hrs/month recoveredRead case study
A senior partner recovered 12 hours a week. The firm recovered £62k in billable capacity.
Calendar ownership, inbox triage, and travel management that gave a senior partner her week back and recovered £62k in firm capacity.
12.5 hrs reclaimed weeklyRead case study
First-response time fell from 19 hours to under 3. CSAT went from 68 to 94.
Ticket triage, onboarding documentation, and account health monitoring that took CSAT from 68 to 94 and ended customer churn.
CSAT 68 → 94Read case study