Neil Howell

Hey Neil — congrats on launching Two Trails. Similar PE background here — been deep in small business origination lately. Would be good to connect.

Hey Neil, similar background, weirdly — I'm from Zimbabwe, did growth equity in London, not launching a search fund like Two Trails. most funds I talk to have a database — PitchBook or Grata — maybe a CRM, and then the origination setup is mostly Excel and email from there. but proprietary deal flow still feels thin. thesis, network, and intelligence never sync into one system — so origination resets every cycle instead of compounding. does origination look different at Two Trails? — Russ

Hey Neil, similar background, weirdly — I'm from Zimbabwe, did growth equity in London, not launching a search fund like Two Trails. most funds I talk to have a database — PitchBook or Grata — maybe a CRM, and then the origination setup is mostly Excel and email from there. but proprietary deal flow still feels thin. thesis, network, and intelligence never sync into one system — so origination resets every cycle instead of compounding. does origination look different at Two Trails? — Russ

hey Neil — one more thought on origination. after hitting this wall myself doing growth equity, I ended up building origination infrastructure for funds full-time — Mentmore Capital, Axiom Equity, Noble Rock, a few others. at my old fund we had a solid stack and smart people, and origination still restarted from scratch every cycle. the funds who systematise it early end up compounding deal flow — the ones who don't keep resetting. curious if Two Trails has cracked that or if it's the same pattern. — Russ

hey Neil — appreciate the connect either way. we documented the origination infrastructure we've built across funds — tech stack, workflows, prompts. free to share if it'd be useful at Two Trails. either way, I'm around if origination ever becomes a conversation worth having. — Russ

Hi Neil, looks like we share a similar PE path — though I'm from Zimbabwe and ended up doing growth equity in London, not launching a search fund like Two Trails. most funds I talk to have a database — PitchBook or Grata — maybe a CRM, and then the origination setup is mostly Excel and email from there. but proprietary deal flow still feels thin. thesis, network, and intelligence never sync into one system — so origination resets every cycle instead of compounding. does origination look different at Two Trails? Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Neil — been thinking more about origination. after hitting this wall myself doing growth equity, I ended up building origination infrastructure for funds full-time — Mentmore Capital, Axiom Equity, Noble Rock, a few others. the pattern I keep seeing is that the funds who systematise it early end up compounding deal flow in a way that's really hard to replicate later. happy to compare notes on what's actually moving the needle if you're interested. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Neil — something about this keeps rattling around. I hit this exact wall doing growth equity — tonnes of data subscriptions, decent CRM, but nothing connecting it all systematically. spent more time stitching than actually originating. imagine Two Trails has a way more dialled setup — but figured I'd ask. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Neil — completely separate from all that. we put together a playbook on PE origination — the tech stack, the workflows, some of the prompts and automations that actually move the needle. happy to send it over if it'd be useful at Two Trails. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Neil — I'll leave it here. the origination playbook is yours whenever — no expiry on that. I'm deep in this space all day, so if it ever becomes a conversation worth having, I'm around. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23