Tim Friedman, PE Stack CEO
The spark which prompted PE Stack came from the challenge I faced maintaining a list of industry partners, collaborators and competitors in my previous role as Preqin’s Chief Commercial Officer. The PE data and tech industry is especially dynamic. On top of new products and companies being launched, existing players constantly evolve and acquisitions are common. If maintaining visibility was tough for a dedicated commercial team, it must be impossible for LPs and GPs reviewing technology once every few years. The world needed a comprehensive, searchable database of solutions!
However, we quickly learned that an accurate view of the landscape is just the first step. After months of work, hundreds of conversations and encouraging trial runs, we are ready to announce our new service designed to bring efficiency and transparency to the procurement process.
Procurement Sucks!
It’s time-consuming, hopelessly inefficient and confusing. For many firms, a procurement process means taking key staff away from core activities, leading to a stop-start process which further compounds inefficiencies and raises the likelihood of poor decisions being made. Having managed sales teams selling to the industry, I can personally attest to the knock-on effects this has for vendors. I am confident there is a better way.
Problem 1: What am I looking for?
Too many processes begin with an assumption around appropriate technologies when a more holistic approach would serve more effectively. Innovation is always leading to new products and approaches to tackling problems.
Solution:
We sit down with clients to understand core problems and desired outcomes. A lot of what we do at this stage is educational, informing LPs and GPs of the different ways to approach their project.
Problem 2: Identifying and qualifying vendors
Pretty much all the GPs and LPs we spoke with see this is as most inefficient, confusing and frustrating part of the process. First, you try and identify which vendors might be able to service you, hoping you don’t miss any viable options – a mix of Google, word of mouth recommendations and solutions which you happen to know. Then you set yourself up for months of unwanted sales emails and calls by reaching out to qualify vendors, many of which may prove to be a bad fit. On top of this, you’re repeating yourself over and over, spending what amounts to days explaining the same requirements to different teams.
Solution:
We identify and pre-qualify vendors for you, transparently and efficiently, while shielding you from unwanted sales calls by not revealing your identity unless you agree there is a good match. Some sales teams might instinctively read that last part with horror, but who really wants a pipeline filled with unresponsive ‘leads’ that will never convert?
We work with clients to assemble a detailed project overview, identify potential solutions from our constantly updated, comprehensive database, and use the project overview as we reach out to vendors to qualify our clients from their side and provide comments about their suitability. The client, who can also add vendors to their pipeline, then works with us to select a manageable shortlist of viable solutions for the assessment stage.
Problem 3: Assessing Vendors
Firstly, you’re repeating the same background and answering questions multiple times as you view different products. After seeing a bunch of them, features blend into one, confusion and fatigue set in… all too often projects are put on hold as other important issues arise. For sales teams, this leads to extended sales cycles where representatives know they are annoying potential clients, but must follow up religiously regardless, not knowing for sure which prospects in their pipeline are engaged or dead.
Solution:
We already solved the biggest problem here by selecting only viable solutions from the outset. When we introduce clients to vendors, we also provide detailed background allowing sales teams to showcase products effectively and identify the best representatives for the job. As an additional premium option, we will act as an outsourced project manager – assembling a framework to assess solutions, sitting on demonstrations and liaising with key stakeholders for feedback.
Demonstrations are conducted efficiently and framed effectively to facilitate quick decision making. For vendors, we serve as a reliable point of contact for updates. We proactively provide feedback in cases where prospects will not move ahead, providing valuable intelligence to feed into product development pipelines. PE Stack clients are the best prospects you will ever deal with.
Problem 4: Understanding Costs
Once you’re finally at the point of choosing between two or three final options, you must navigate quotes which are often not directly comparable. Considerations around one-time implementation, ongoing support, customization, data integration and software licensing often lead to headaches and back and forth discussions with vendors. On top of this, implementing new technologies can have wide and often unforeseen consequences on existing products already in use. All too often, products fail to live up to their full potential when such considerations are neglected.
Solution:
We help normalize quotes to facilitate confident decision-making, and ensure clients consider wider implications of new technologies. We partner with leading IT and specialized implementation consultants to offer additional input and support where appropriate.
The Result:
There is no reason why it should take months and months to select appropriate technology. Sales teams should be spending more time showcasing their products to motivated prospects and less time repeatedly contacting unresponsive leads in their pipeline.
We onboarded our first test-client’s middle office digitization project under four weeks ago. Within a week, we were assessing solutions with all shortlisted vendors receiving an extensive project background to plan effective demonstrations. Having gathered quotes from the client’s top three selections, we normalized pricing to facilitate comparison and after our meeting this week we are ready to seek approval to move ahead with one of two final options and begin talking about implementation.
Increased efficiency and transparency serve to increase our client’s confidence, while sales teams are delighted to engage with our projects.
Our Model
LPs, GPs and other professionals can access our services for free. We are compensated via success fees from Vendor Partners. You can sign up below or email info@pestack.com. Vendors, if you have not already heard from us, we will be in touch as our projects demand, our team is working hard to onboard partners. Alternatively, we encourage you to contact us to learn more about the many benefits we offer to PE focused data and technology companies.
procurement isn’t painful anymore.
Our new service helps LPs & GPs to identify, qualify and assess software, data and technology solutions comprehensively and efficiently.
Please leave your details and we will reach out to see how we can help!