(VC Dealflow) From Spreadsheet to Strategy: Best Practices for Mastering Your Investment Pipeline in Affinity

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In the fast-paced world of venture capital and private equity, managing deal flow effectively is the bedrock of success. Moving beyond scattered spreadsheets and disconnected notes to a centralized, intelligent platform is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. Your team's ability to source, track, and analyze opportunities hinges on the tools and processes you adopt.

This guide, based on a real-world workflow, outlines best practices for leveraging Affinity to transform your investment pipeline from a simple list into a dynamic, data-driven engine.

1. Structure Your Pipeline for Ultimate Clarity: The List View

Your pipeline starts with a comprehensive and well-organized list. The List View in Affinity is your command center, providing an at-a-glance overview of every deal in motion.

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2. Automate Data Capture with Status-Driven Workflows

One of the most powerful features in Affinity is the ability to build logic into your pipeline stages. Manually prompting team members for information is inefficient and prone to error. Instead, let the platform do the work.

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3. Visualize Your Progress with the Board View

While the List View is excellent for details and sorting, the Board View (Kanban-style) is unparalleled for visualizing your pipeline's flow and managing team meetings.

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4. Create a Single Source of Truth for Every Opportunity

Once you click into a specific deal, Affinity’s detailed side panel opens up, consolidating every piece of information into one accessible place. This eliminates the need to hunt through emails, documents, and calendars.

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5. Turn Your Data into Actionable Insights with Reporting

This is where all your diligent data entry pays off. Affinity’s reporting and analytics dashboards transform your pipeline data into a strategic asset, allowing you to answer critical questions about your firm's performance.

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By adopting these practices, your team can leverage Affinity to not only manage your investment pipeline but to truly understand and optimize it. The result is a more efficient process, better-informed decisions, and a significant competitive advantage.

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Deal management best practices

In venture capital and private equity, every moment counts. Hours are spent meticulously sifting through prospects, tracking deal statuses, and maneuvering each opportunity through the investment process. All while trying to keep a competitive edge alongside fellow firms with a similar thesis. Affinity understands the intricate dance of deal management in private capital markets, offering a solution tailored specifically for dealmakers in this space.

Affinity’s relationship intelligence platform is not just another CRM; it's a game-changer. With the automatic tracking and organizing of every interaction across your firm, easy-to-share deal insights, native start-up and founder data, and a CRM extension embedded within your email and browser—the complexities of deal management are instantly simplified.

From evaluating and negotiating to closing investment deals, Affinity’s unified deal flow management workflow offers unparalleled visibility and a clear path to action on every deal in the pipeline. Whether engaging with potential investments, conducting due diligence, or preparing for Monday morning meetings—Affinity equips dealmakers with the tools to excel at every stage of the dealmaking journey.

To help you get the most from the Affinity platform, we are here to share some common use cases and best practices aligned to your deal management workflow.

1. Engage with potential investments in a knowledgeable and unique way

Affinity’s automated activity capture ensures every interaction is captured, including AI-generated notes from every call.

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2. Capture data consistently during the investing process

Notes inside Affinity are cataloged and easily available to support engagement with startups, weekly updates, investment committee presentations, and due diligence.

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3. Run an effective due diligence process

Affinity’s network and relationship intelligence provides instant access to customer, partner, and third party experts to support due diligence.

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4. Provide deal pipeline visibility and drive meaningful action in Monday morning meetings

Affinity’s Kanban and list views for deal flow provide instant visibility into deal status in Monday morning meetings.

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5. Close deals and deploy funds efficiently

Easily track company insights and interactions, and collaborate to efficiently allocate resources across new portfolio companies inside Affinity.

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Deal management: Affinity tips & tricks

From filtering down to the most promising investments to preparing for the Monday morning meeting—Affinity helps you stay focused on the deals most likely to close. Here are four ways to maximize how you use the platform.From filtering down to the most promising investments to preparing for the Monday morning meeting—Affinity helps you stay focused on the deals most likely to close. Here are four ways to maximize how you use the platform.

Create lists and triggers that track your pipeline

Use the Organization List template named “Deal List”. It will automatically enrich with deal-relevant data from vendors like Crunchbase and Pitchbook—eliminating the need for manual CRM data entry to get the full picture.Use the Organization List template named “Deal List”. It will automatically enrich with deal-relevant data from vendors like Crunchbase and Pitchbook—eliminating the need for manual CRM data entry to get the full picture.

Customize the list columns to further mirror your firm’s deal flow management preferences. Ensure details that are consistently important to the pipeline are accounted for like: “Status”, “Owner, “Deal Size”, “Stage”, and “Priority”.Customize the list columns to further mirror your firm’s deal flow management preferences. Ensure details that are consistently important to the pipeline are accounted for like: “Status”, “Owner, “Deal Size”, “Stage”, and “Priority”.

PRO TIP: Add a customized formula field column for ‘Deal Score’ to help you prioritize engagement based on your key criteria.PRO TIP: Add a customized formula field column for ‘Deal Score’ to help you prioritize engagement based on your key criteria.

Build status triggers to ensure you and your team keep key deal information up-to-date and consistently use the freshest insights when prepping for Monday morning meetings.Build status triggers to ensure you and your team keep key deal information up-to-date and consistently use the freshest insights when prepping for Monday morning meetings.

Set up and share important pipeline visualizations

Assess the native relationship intelligence, company, and person data on the deal list and ensure to zero in on the key signals most important to your deal making decisions.Assess the native relationship intelligence, company, and person data on the deal list and ensure to zero in on the key signals most important to your deal making decisions.

Filter and sort lists, saving the configurations into Views. Each View has a unique URL that can easily be shared with colleagues. Run a smoother Monday Morning Meeting with a Board View of your pipeline.Filter and sort lists, saving the configurations into Views. Each View has a unique URL that can easily be shared with colleagues. Run a smoother Monday Morning Meeting with a Board View of your pipeline.

PRO TIP: Use collaborator seats to securely share lists of relationships and deal information with portfolio companies, LPs, and other external partners.PRO TIP: Use collaborator seats to securely share lists of relationships and deal information with portfolio companies, LPs, and other external partners.

Seamlessly consolidate and communicate

Keep your pipeline fully enriched as time progresses by ensuring pitch decks and other key files shared over email are automatically pulled into Affinity. If you already use a popular storage system, you can still automate CRM file consolidation with our many native integrations.Keep your pipeline fully enriched as time progresses by ensuring pitch decks and other key files shared over email are automatically pulled into Affinity. If you already use a popular storage system, you can still automate CRM file consolidation with our many native integrations.

Ensure team collaboration remains tight across your everyday tools by setting up native integrations between Affinity and your text and email apps to automatically tag colleagues for a follow-up or to alert them about a recent conversation.Ensure team collaboration remains tight across your everyday tools by setting up native integrations between Affinity and your text and email apps to automatically tag colleagues for a follow-up or to alert them about a recent conversation.

As deals progress through the funnel, use Affinity Notetaker as a virtual meeting companion that  captures key takeaways, generates transcripts, and syncs everything with the corresponding people and company profiles in Affinity.As deals progress through the funnel, use Affinity Notetaker as a virtual meeting companion that  captures key takeaways, generates transcripts, and syncs everything with the corresponding people and company profiles in Affinity.

Storing manually written notes in Affinity also ensures that deal-relevant data stays in one place for teams as they conduct due diligence, prep investor committee presentations, set up for a weekly update meeting, or work on supporting an existing portfolio company.Storing manually written notes in Affinity also ensures that deal-relevant data stays in one place for teams as they conduct due diligence, prep investor committee presentations, set up for a weekly update meeting, or work on supporting an existing portfolio company.

Take relationship intelligence and your CRM with you as you research and engage startups and founders from your email inbox and web browser—by downloading Pathfinder or our Outlook add-in to:Take relationship intelligence and your CRM with you as you research and engage startups and founders from your email inbox and web browser—by downloading Pathfinder or our Outlook add-in to:

PRO TIP: Build your network, drive deals forward, and collaborate with others while you’re on the go with Affinity’s mobile app. Get a full view of your pipeline and make updates to it without opening up your laptop.PRO TIP: Build your network, drive deals forward, and collaborate with others while you’re on the go with Affinity’s mobile app. Get a full view of your pipeline and make updates to it without opening up your laptop.

Never drop the ball on another deal

Set up reminders to nurture leads and stay on top of your most important relationships and triggers to ensure each deal moves efficiently through your pipelineSet up reminders to nurture leads and stay on top of your most important relationships and triggers to ensure each deal moves efficiently through your pipeline

Track pipeline progress over time with Affinity Analytics to:Track pipeline progress over time with Affinity Analytics to:

PRO TIP: Connect networks with close allies to unlock paths to your next big opportunity. Use Affinity Alliances to share each other's networks to help uncover new relationships and the warm introduction you need to your next deal, subject matter expert, or investor.PRO TIP: Connect networks with close allies to unlock paths to your next big opportunity. Use Affinity Alliances to share each other's networks to help uncover new relationships and the warm introduction you need to your next deal, subject matter expert, or investor.

Conclusion

Private capital success hinges on effective deal management and relationship nurturing. Yet, maintaining a vast network of contacts and opportunities can quickly become overwhelming.Private capital success hinges on effective deal management and relationship nurturing. Yet, maintaining a vast network of contacts and opportunities can quickly become overwhelming.

Affinity’s relationship intelligence platform makes deal management easier by helping teams organize important data, keep detailed records automatically, and provide the insights necessary to make data-driven decisions. Say goodbye to scattered spreadsheets and fragmented communication and start streamlining the deal management process to ensure target investments close efficiently.

Getting started with Affinity lists

At Affinity, the core feature that drives private capital dealmaking workflows—from deal sourcing to portfolio support and fundraising—is the Affinity list. Affinity lists are flexible enough to meet each team’s workflows while providing a standardized, intuitive look and feel.

In this guide, we’ll cover key list features and how to use them across five crucial workflows:

Deal sourcing: Track and evaluate potential investments (List 1)

Deal management: Move opportunities through your pipeline (List 2)

Portfolio support: Manage founder requests and industry connections (Lists 3-5)

Investor relations: Monitor limited partner (LP) relationships (Lists 6-7)

Fundraising: Track your prospective and committed investors for your next fund (List 8)

Whether you’re new to Affinity or you’re a seasoned power user, these eight essential lists will help you stay on top of your deal pipeline, strengthen investor relationships, and demonstrate your firm’s value to founders and LPs alike.

These are not exhaustive ways to use Affinity lists but are key examples of how they can streamline your workflows.

Affinity lists are designed to help you systematically track and manage your relationships and deals. There are three different types of lists, all of which have pre-set columns that can be customized depending on your specific needs:

Lists tips and tricks

To create a list, log in to Affinity and navigate to the default lists at the bottom of the homepage.

To add a new column, scroll to the far right of your list and click on “‘+ New Column.” You can choose from various column types, including text, number, date, and location.

Regardless of the list type, every Affinity list has different colored columns:

To save a specific view, click on the “+” icon at the very top right of the list view. Alternately, apply the desired filters to your list, then click on the save icon at the top right corner of your list. Select “Duplicate this view.”

‍To visualize a list in a board view, click on “Views” at the top left of your list. Then, select the board or dashboard view at the bottom. In a board view, you can drag and drop cards between categories, customize their details, and apply filters for better organization.

Deal sourcing list

To stay competitive, dealmakers need a steady stream of opportunities that align with their fund’s thesis and show growth potential. But identifying the right deals isn’t easy; our research shows that 49% of firms rely on 4-6 data sources to evaluate a single deal.

As the volume of data about each opportunity increases, so does the complexity of finding, tracking, and evaluating potential deals. Affinity simplifies the deal sourcing process by combining relevant deal data with relationship insights. Using Affinity’s automated data capture and AI-driven relationship intelligence, you can identify new founders and companies, and stay alert to opportunities in your existing network.

This section covers how to use an organization list to uncover new opportunities and monitor prospective deals.

1. Tracking potential deals

Purpose: Track prospective companies that align with your investment criteria.

Use an organization list for a comprehensive view of potential investments, including companies you’ve previously screened or met with and new companies that fit your current investment thesis.

Questions this list answers:

How this list is structured

Organization lists can help you monitor potential deals, prioritize follow-ups, and decide when to re-engage based on a company's key growth indicators.

Relationship management columns: Track company details and the relationship owner.

Name: Captures the company’s name.

Owners: Displays the internal team members responsible for a potential deal.‍‍Source of introduction: Shows the person or channel that referred the company. (e.g., LP, Co-investor, Industry Expert, Accelerator, Event, Outbound)Connections: Shows your team’s existing relationships with a company.‍‍Last meeting: Logs the date you most recently reached out (via email, meeting, or call) to the company.‍‍Pro tip:Set up a reminder to reach out if you haven’t interacted in a specified period of time.‍‍Last email: Indicates the date of the most recent email you or your team sent to the company.

Firmographic columns: Capture information about a company’s history, investors, and growth potential.

Thematic fit columns: These are examples of new columns you can manually add to your list to gauge whether a company is a good fit for your strategy.*

Deal management list

Sorting through prospects, tracking deal statuses, and moving opportunities through the pipeline is often time-consuming and manual. Affinity provides unparalleled visibility into every deal in your pipeline—with enriched company and relationship data, automatic interaction tracking, and easy-to-share deal insights that accelerate deal management workflows.

This section covers how you can use organization lists to streamline deal management and ensure no opportunity slips through the cracks—whether you’re engaging with potential investments, conducting due diligence, or preparing for Monday morning meetings.

2. Tracking and managing your deal pipeline

Purpose: Manage your deals, monitor their progress over time, and ensure efficient follow-through.

Use an organization list for a comprehensive view of every company in your pipeline. This type of list includes Affinity’s enriched relationship data, company data, and any internal notes—like priority rankings and links to investment memos—to streamline tracking.

Questions this list answers:

How this list is structured

Organization lists include columns for tracking deal progress, interactions, and team assessments—helping your team quickly evaluate where each deal stands and identify next steps.

Relationship management columns: Track ownership and engagement with potential deals.

‍Name: Shows the company’s name.

‍Owners: Displays the internal team members responsible for a deal.

‍People: Shows your team’s existing relationships with a company.

‍Date added: Indicates when a company was added to your list, helping you monitor deal flow.

‍Investment team owner:** Provides a space to record who on your investment team is responsible for a deal.

‍Last email, Last Meeting: Logs the most recent interactions with a company, providing visibility into engagement.

‍‍Sourcer: Identifies who introduced the deal to your firm.

Deal metrics columns: View financial and progress-related insights.

Internal notes columns: These are examples of new columns you can manually add to your list to record firm-specific and qualitative insights.*

Portfolio support lists

Portfolio support is often thought of as a way to manage relationships with the founders and executive teams of the companies you’ve invested in. In reality, serving your portfolio companies involves managing a vast network of talent, industry experts, investors, vendors, and even your LPs.

With the following lists, you’ll be able to efficiently respond to founder requests (like making introductions on their behalf to external partners), drive portfolio growth, and share timely updates with investors.

This section walks through opportunity, people, and organization lists you can use to manage the network of resources and connections you have to support your portfolio companies.

3. Tracking team introductions for your portfolio companies

Purpose: Track and manage introductions your team facilitates between founders and key contacts in your network.

Use an opportunity list to ensure that your team’s portfolio support efforts are organized, measurable, and effective. Whether facilitating a strategic hire, a customer introduction, or a funding connection, this list provides a structured way to manage and optimize your portfolio support.

Questions this list answers:

How this list is structured

Organization lists can be used to track introductions, engagement frequency, and outcomes to help your team measure their impact and optimize resource allocation.

Relationship management columns: Track key contacts and relationship owners.

‍Name:** Shows the portfolio company and person or company introduced (suggested format: [Portfolio company name] - [Person/Company introduced]).

‍Organizations: Tags the external companies involved in the introduction.

‍Portfolio companies:** Provides a space to identify which portfolio company the introduction supports.

‍People: Tracks the external individuals connected through the introduction.

‍Owners: Assigns internal team members responsible for managing the introduction.

Support status columns: Monitor the type and progress of your support.

Outcome tracking columns: These are examples of new columns you can manually add to your list to measure your impact.*

4. Managing your network of industry experts and talent

Purpose: Track and organize industry experts and talent in your network to match the right expertise to your portfolio companies.

Use a people list to track executive talent, industry advisors, and investors in your network who can provide valuable support to your portfolio companies. You can create multiple versions of this list for specific segments of your network, such as:

Questions this list answers:

How this list is structured

People lists can be used to track key details about industry experts and talent in your firm’s network and engagement frequency, helping you identify high-value connections for your portfolio companies.

Relationship management columns: Track essential information about each contact and the type of support they’re able to provide.

‍Name: Records the name of the industry expert, talent, or investor.

‍Type of interactions:** Provides a space to list the interactions you’ve had with your contacts (suggested categories: Co-investing, Talent, Sales, Networking, Events, Diligence).

‍Industry: Captures the most relevant industries associated with this contact (this is automatically populated using Affinity’s enriched data, but can be manually adjusted).

‍Network interests:** Provides a space to log the type of support a contact is interested in providing (suggested categories: Advisory, Board seats, Diligence, Technical support, Networking, Speaking opportunities).

Engagement tracking columns: Monitor the status of your engagement with industry experts and talent.

5. Managing your network by industry

Purpose: Manage relationships within specific industries to connect portfolio companies with the right people more efficiently.

Use an organization list to track your firm’s network within a specific industry, making it easier to connect portfolio companies with potential customers, partners, and other relevant stakeholders. After investing in multiple companies within the same space, you’ll often find opportunities to introduce portfolio companies to similar industry players.

By using this list, you can track these interactions, monitor ongoing opportunities, and ensure your portfolio companies are engaging with the right contacts at the optimal stage of their business and product development to maximize growth.

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How this list is structured

Organization lists track details about companies in the industry, their relationships with portfolio companies, and the status of your outreach efforts.

Relationship management columns: Track key details about companies and individuals within certain industries.

‍Name: Logs the name of the industry expert, talent, or investor.

‍Connections: Assigns the internal team members who have relationships with the contact.

‍Contact relevance:** Provides a space to identify the most relevant contacts at the company.

Engagement tracking columns: These are examples of new columns you can manually add to your list to monitor the status and progress of outreach and relationship-building efforts.*

LP engagement lists

Maintaining strong relationships with your LPs requires more than periodic updates—it depends on actively tracking their engagement with your firm. Understanding how LPs interact with your events, communications, and other key touchpoints will help you refine your outreach strategy, strengthen relationships, and anticipate future commitments.

In this section, we’ll walk through how you can use organization and people lists to monitor LP interactions in a structured way and ensure that your most important relationships remain active and well-managed—providing a solid foundation for future fundraising efforts.

6. Tracking LP engagement

Purpose: Monitor LP interactions, assess engagement levels, and anticipate future investment potential.

Use an organization list for a detailed view of how LPs are interacting with your firm, allowing you to monitor relationship health, assess the likelihood of future investment, and optimize engagement efforts.

Questions this list answers:

How this list is structured

Organization lists can track relationship history, engagement frequency, and investment trends to help your team identify high-priority relationships and opportunities for re-engagement.

Relationship management columns: Track ownership and key LP details.

‍Main contact:** Provides a space to assign the team member responsible for the LP relationship.

‍Type of investors:** Provides a space to categorize the LP by investor type (e.g., pension fund, family office, foundation, corporate).

‍Current fund amount:** Provides a space to log the amount the LP has invested in one of your current funds.

Investment probability columns: Assess the likelihood of reinvestment.

Engagement activity columns: These are examples of new columns you can manually add to your list to monitor the most effective engagement methods.*

*∆ ***Recommended but optional columns

7. Tracking LP contact details

Purpose: Record key biographic and firmographic details about your LPs to facilitate future engagement.

Use a people list to capture practical information on how to contact your LPs since investment decisions often come down to how you engage with specific individuals.

Questions this list answers:

How this list is structured

People lists can be used to capture key LP details, engagement history, and preferences—facilitating more personalized and relevant outreach.

Relationship management columns: Track key LP contact details.

‍Current organization: Shows which firm the LP is associated with, using Affinity’s enriched data.

‍LP type:** Provides a space to categorize the LP by type (e.g., pension fund, family office, foundation, corporate).

‍Location: Notes the LP’s city to coordinate in-person meetings when traveling.

‍Industry interest area:** Provides a space to note the industries or investment areas the LP is most interested in.

Engagement activity columns: These are examples of new columns you can add to your list to monitor the most effective engagement methods.*

*∆ ***Recommended but optional columns

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