Recession? Inflation? Higher Interest Rates? 5 Things every Private Capital Firm should be doing right now.

Five practical actions private capital firms can take right now to improve efficiency, impress LPs, and stay ahead in uncertain markets.

Five practical actions private capital firms can take right now to improve efficiency, impress LPs, and stay ahead in uncertain markets.

Asset Class Team

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With so much talk about recession, rising inflation, increasing interest rates it's natural to ask what your firm should be doing to navigate these potential challenges. Here are 5 things you can do right now, and have in place in weeks/months for your Private Equity or Venture Capital Firm.


Digitize your end-to-end journey.

This is not 1990, it's time to get out of excel, and offline processes, and onto the web, with entirely online processes. With millennials now in their 40's, the expectation of 'online, all the time' is now table stakes, not progressive. Work with companies like Asset Class to get your end-to-end 'Investor Lifecycle Management' solution in place. It's faster, cheaper and it's what your LPs want.

Deploy eSignature.

This is an instant win, with over 80% of subscription agreements being signed same day. Don't just take your offline form and move it online though. Make sure you cut down on admin errors by having your onboarding, CRM, compliance management system AND your eSignature systems talk to each other. Why? Because when your LP receives the document, you can have it fully completed, accurately mapped and ready for signature. No delays for the LP - they can just review and sign, helping you to raise capital - faster.

Buy - don't build.

A lot of PE and VC companies think - how hard can it be to buy a generic CRM system, build exactly what we want and then go deploy it. The answer - VERY HARD. You are not a software development company, you are not a software support company, you don't have visibility of the world of best practice, you do not have millions to spend on evolving the platform from version 1 to 2 to 3 and beyond. What makes you think that you can out-develop dedicated software companies who spend millions each year in research & development? You are financial experts, not software experts. Work with the experts. You can have everything you need as part of a monthly software subscription and some up-front customizations. Bottom line - you can have everything you need - AND save money.

Take control of your LP experience.

Whilst many PE / VC companies work with fund administrators to service their clients, you don't need to utilize the portal technology they propose. It's typically a sub-standard, minimal functionality solution that they provide to 'expose' documents and transactional information to your LPs. Some of you may have more than one fund admin, and more than one portal. That is a terrible experience for your LPs. They are required to log into multiple portals just to get a view of their total relationship with you. Instead, provide them with a single portal through which they can view all of their investments, their tax documents, their statements, fund updates, capital call notifications and more. With providers like Asset Class you can consolidate all of these into a single portal and take complete control over the experience your LPs have with you. These are your LPs - not your fund administrators. If you don't look after them, some other fund will.

Start now.

In high inflation, possibly recessionary times, you need to look at how easy it is to do business with you. You need to lower the cost of servicing your LPs, lower your cost of capital, stand out from other funds, attract investors. By adopting true 'Investor lifecycle management', and offering potential investors online, instantly accessible fund offerings, a streamlined subscription management experience, 100% online servicing options for all investor correspondence and more, you can achieve all of these objectives. The digital divide between those firms that adopt digital-first practices and those that get left behind is here. Act now.

Talk to us today about how we can help. We are Asset Class, and we sit at the heart of every private capital investment.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Asset Class?

Asset Class is a platform built for private capital firms. It combines CRM, investor relations, fundraising, and portfolio management into a single connected platform built on Salesforce infrastructure, serving PE, VC, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, and wealth management firms.

Who uses Asset Class?

Asset Class is used globally by private capital firms across private equity, venture capital, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, registered investment advisers, wealth managers, corporate venture capital arms, and fund administrators, from emerging managers to large multi-strategy firms.

What problem does Asset Class solve?

Asset Class solves fragmented workflows at private capital firms by bringing CRM, investor relations, fundraising and portfolio reporting into one system of record, where every piece of data is connected, auditable and real-time. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, answers plain-language questions on any record and drafts reports and follow-ups for your team to approve. Every answer cited to source.

Is Asset Class built on Salesforce?

Yes, Asset Class is built on Salesforce's Force.com platform, inheriting the world's leading CRM engine, enterprise-grade security, and access to thousands of pre-integrated apps on the Salesforce AppExchange. Existing Salesforce clients can easily deploy Asset Class within their current org.

How does Asset Class help private capital firms grow?

Asset Class helps private capital firms grow by automating fundraising, investor onboarding, capital calls, distributions and portfolio reporting on one platform, so teams can spend their time on deals and investor relationships. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, ranks your book by opportunity with its Relationship Score and drafts tailored follow-ups for your team to approve, so firms engage the right LPs first.

What is Athena in Asset Class?

Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, gives every member of your team their own Claude-embedded AI agent for investor relations, business development, finance, compliance or portfolio management. Each agent works only within that person's permissions. Athena reads your firm's data, drafts the work and queues it for review. Your team approves, amends or rejects each item, and the decision, approver and timestamp are recorded.

Which AI model does Asset Class use?

Asset Class uses Claude, the AI model built by Anthropic. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, embeds Claude across the platform and connects it to your records, documents and actions. Asset Class accesses Claude through Anthropic's commercial API, so your firm's data is never used to train AI models. Each agent can only see and act on data its user is permitted to access.

Does Asset Class automate data entry?

Yes, Asset Class captures data from the sources your firm already has. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, scans subscription agreements, side letters, statements, notices, meeting transcripts, email, calendars and external data sources, then stages the extracted details on the right record. Nothing Athena stages updates a record until a permitted user signs off, and each approver is logged.

What is Asset Class?

Asset Class is a platform built for private capital firms. It combines CRM, investor relations, fundraising, and portfolio management into a single connected platform built on Salesforce infrastructure, serving PE, VC, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, and wealth management firms.

Who uses Asset Class?

Asset Class is used globally by private capital firms across private equity, venture capital, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, registered investment advisers, wealth managers, corporate venture capital arms, and fund administrators, from emerging managers to large multi-strategy firms.

What problem does Asset Class solve?

Asset Class solves fragmented workflows at private capital firms by bringing CRM, investor relations, fundraising and portfolio reporting into one system of record, where every piece of data is connected, auditable and real-time. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, answers plain-language questions on any record and drafts reports and follow-ups for your team to approve. Every answer cited to source.

Is Asset Class built on Salesforce?

Yes, Asset Class is built on Salesforce's Force.com platform, inheriting the world's leading CRM engine, enterprise-grade security, and access to thousands of pre-integrated apps on the Salesforce AppExchange. Existing Salesforce clients can easily deploy Asset Class within their current org.

How does Asset Class help private capital firms grow?

Asset Class helps private capital firms grow by automating fundraising, investor onboarding, capital calls, distributions and portfolio reporting on one platform, so teams can spend their time on deals and investor relationships. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, ranks your book by opportunity with its Relationship Score and drafts tailored follow-ups for your team to approve, so firms engage the right LPs first.

What is Athena in Asset Class?

Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, gives every member of your team their own Claude-embedded AI agent for investor relations, business development, finance, compliance or portfolio management. Each agent works only within that person's permissions. Athena reads your firm's data, drafts the work and queues it for review. Your team approves, amends or rejects each item, and the decision, approver and timestamp are recorded.

Which AI model does Asset Class use?

Asset Class uses Claude, the AI model built by Anthropic. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, embeds Claude across the platform and connects it to your records, documents and actions. Asset Class accesses Claude through Anthropic's commercial API, so your firm's data is never used to train AI models. Each agent can only see and act on data its user is permitted to access.

Does Asset Class automate data entry?

Yes, Asset Class captures data from the sources your firm already has. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, scans subscription agreements, side letters, statements, notices, meeting transcripts, email, calendars and external data sources, then stages the extracted details on the right record. Nothing Athena stages updates a record until a permitted user signs off, and each approver is logged.

See how AI transforms Private Capital operations

Your competitors are still filling in spreadsheets. You're closing rounds. Asset Class is the unfair advantage that separates the firms who scale from the firms who stall

See how AI transforms Private Capital operations

Your competitors are still filling in spreadsheets. You're closing rounds. Asset Class is the unfair advantage that separates the firms who scale from the firms who stall