Grant Kornman

Hey Grant — similar PE background, been deep in independent sponsor origination thinking lately. Would be good to connect.

Hey Grant, similar background, weirdly — I'm from Zimbabwe, did growth equity in London, not partnering with independent sponsors like Align. 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 Align? — Russ

Hey Grant, similar background, weirdly — I'm from Zimbabwe, did growth equity in London, not partnering with independent sponsors like Align. 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 Align? — Russ

hey Grant — one more thought on origination. after hitting this wall myself doing growth equity, I ended up building origination infrastructure for funds full-time — Axiom, Noble Rock, Mentmore, a few others. I hit this exact problem at my old fund — tonnes of subscriptions, decent CRM, nothing connecting it all. the funds who systematise it early compound deal flow in a way that's really hard to replicate later. happy to share what's been working if it's useful. — Russ

hey Grant — 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 Align. either way, I'm around if origination ever becomes a conversation worth having. — Russ

Hi Grant, looks like we share a similar PE path — though I'm from Zimbabwe and ended up doing growth equity in London, not partnering with independent sponsors like Align. 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. yet the off-market pipeline stays weirdly thin. the intelligence is all there but it's scattered across tools and inboxes — so nothing compounds into a real origination edge. does origination look different at Align? Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Grant — 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 share what's been working if it's useful. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Grant — something about this keeps rattling around. at my old fund we had a solid stack and smart people, and origination still felt like it restarted from scratch every cycle. took me a while to realise it wasn't a people problem — the tools just didn't talk to each other. did you ever run into that at Align, or was it just us? Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Grant — 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 Align. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23

hi Grant — 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