Why does it take a week to schedule one expert call?
An insider's look at the unit economics of the expert network industry - and what the invoice isn't telling you.
Mark Pacitti
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6 min read
Mark Pacitti
How PE Firms Use Expert Networks to Diligence Healthcare and Telehealth Platform Deals
Healthcare PE deal value rose 45% in 2025, but telehealth's regulatory cliff and reimbursement re-pricing mean financial models can't answer the questions that matter.
Mark Pacitti
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8 min read
Primary Research for Investment Professionals: The Complete Guide to Expert Calls, B2B Surveys, and Channel Checks
A practitioner's guide to running primary research programmes that hold up to IC scrutiny — covering expert interviews, B2B surveys, channel checks, panel design, triangulation, compliance, and how to choose between self-serve expert networks and done-for-you providers.
Mark Pacitti
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7 min read
40 Semiconductor Channel Calls in Two Weeks: How a TMT Hedge Fund Pressure-Tested an Semiconductor Basket for £18,000
Forty multi-vendor semiconductor channel calls. Two weeks. £450 per call. How a mid-tier TMT-focused hedge fund built long-duration conviction across a basket of analog and power names — for roughly a third of what the Big Five would have charged.
Mark Pacitti
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6 min read
30 Channel Partners in 20 Days: How a TMT Hedge Fund Pod Ran a Pre-Print Channel Check on a US Cybersecurity Name
Thirty VAR and distributor interviews on a US-listed cybersecurity vendor, synthesised and delivered inside three weeks — for roughly half the cost of the expert-network equivalent, and with fifteen minutes of the pod's own analyst time.
Mark Pacitti
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6 min read
20 Customer Voices in 7 Days for £8,400: How a Multi-Strat Hedge Fund Got Its Q1 Read on a Listed BPO
Twenty buyer-side voice interviews on the BPO market. Seven days, brief to delivery. £420 a call, £8,400 all in. Fifteen minutes of analyst time.
Mark Pacitti
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7 min read
Luxury Retail: A Primary Research Primer for Investment Professionals
A industry primer for investment professionals on how to conduct primary research expert calls, surveys, and channel checks on luxury retail companies.
Mark Pacitti
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38 min read
PayPal's AI Reset: Can a 20% Headcount Cut Close the Gap with Block, or Confirm Structural Decline?
PayPal is cutting one in five employees over three years and betting on AI to fix a margin problem product innovation could not. We are launching primary research to determine whether the restructuring re-rates the franchise or confirms the bear case.
Mark Pacitti
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11 min read
Datadog's Billion-Dollar Quarter: Structural AI Demand or Cloud Migration Catch-Up?
Datadog crossed $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, accelerated growth to 32%, and raised full-year guidance by $240 million at the midpoint. We are launching primary research to determine whether this reacceleration is structural or cyclical.
Mark Pacitti
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11 min read
Cloudflare's AI Restructuring Paradox: Can a 20% Cut Survive a 34% Growth Quarter?
Cloudflare beat on revenue, raised full-year guidance, and announced the first mass layoff in its 16-year history. The stock fell 24%. We are launching primary research to test whether the agentic AI restructuring accelerates the flywheel or breaks it.
Mark Pacitti
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11 min read
TFP Fertility: Can Amulet Replicate the US Fertility Playbook in a Sub-Scale European Footprint?
Amulet Capital has acquired TFP Fertility Group from credit firm Benefit Street Partners in a sponsor-to-sponsor European healthcare deal. We are launching primary research to determine whether TFP's narrowed UK and Polish perimeter can anchor a consolidation platform, or whethe…
Mark Pacitti
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10 min read
Commercial Due Diligence & Primary Research for Private Equity: A 2026 Practitioner's Guide
At 11.8x EBITDA multiples and 6-year-plus holds, getting the commercial thesis wrong is catastrophic. A practical, opinionated guide to running primary research across the PE deal funnel
Mark Pacitti
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9 min read
Primary Research for Hedge Funds: A Practitioner's Guide
A practical guide for hedge fund analysts on using primary research — expert interviews, B2B surveys, and channel checks — to build, validate, or kill investment theses. Covers method selection, survey design, synthesis, compliance, and the real economics of DIY vs. done-for-you.
Mark Pacitti
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7 min read
Proprietary Deal Sourcing in Private Equity: How Primary Research Builds Thesis-Level Conviction Before a Target Hits the Market
With PE fundraising at its lowest level since 2017 and median multiples at 11.8x EBITDA, sourcing volume is no longer the edge. This guide shows PE deal teams how to use expert calls, surveys, and channel checks to identify and validate acquisition targets
Mark Pacitti
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8 min read
How a Mid-Market PE Firm Saved 100+ Hours Per Deal Sprint by Switching to Woozle
A mid-market PE due diligence team was losing more than 100 hours per deal to expert network admin. Here's what happened when they handed the entire process to Woozle.
Mark Pacitti
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6 min read
50 Expert Calls in 3 Weeks for £20,000: How a Global PE Firm Diligenced a Private SaaS Target on a 15-Minute Brief
A global PE firm needed to validate a private SaaS target's 118% NRR, reseller channel health, and forward churn risk before IC. Three weeks, fifty calls, fifteen minutes of deal-team time.
Mark Pacitti
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6 min read
Xbox's CoreAI Transplant: Turnaround Lever or Identity Crisis?
We are launching primary research to determine whether Microsoft's decision to staff Xbox leadership with CoreAI engineers signals a credible platform pivot or an abandonment of the content-and-community DNA required to compete in gaming.
Mark Pacitti
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12 min read
Freshworks: The SaaS Headcount Paradox, or Why the Best Guidance Came With the Biggest Layoff
We are launching primary research to determine whether Freshworks' AI-driven workforce restructuring reflects durable operational leverage or confirms that mid-cap SaaS headcount is being structurally compressed faster than revenue can grow.
Mark Pacitti
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10 min read
Coinbase's AI-Native Gambit: Structural Transformation or Cyclical Cost Cut in Disguise?
We are launching primary research to determine whether Coinbase's 14% workforce reduction and "AI-native pod" restructuring represent a genuine operational transformation or cyclical cost management dressed in AI language ahead of a weak Q1 print.
Mark Pacitti
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11 min read
Cognizant's Project Leap: Is AI Automation Finally Breaking the Offshore IT Model?
We are launching primary research to determine whether Cognizant's reported 12,000–15,000 job cuts signal a structural repricing of the Indian IT services offshore model, or a disciplined restructuring from a position of relative strength.
Mark Pacitti
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11 min read
Private Credit's $2 Trillion Stress Test: Sentiment Shock or the Start of Something Systemic?
We are launching primary research to determine whether private credit's software-driven dislocation is a contained sector rotation or the first phase of a broader credit cycle turn with real consequences for banks, insurers, and PE-backed borrowers.
Mark Pacitti
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14 min read
Primary Research for Hedge Fund Analysts: A Practitioner's Guide
A practical guide for fundamental L/S and event-driven hedge fund analysts on how to structure, execute, and synthesise primary research — expert calls, surveys, and channel checks — to build differentiated investment conviction.
Mark Pacitti
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18 min read
Private Equity Due Diligence: A Practitioner's Guide to Primary Research & Commercial Due Diligence
A practical guide for PE deal teams on structuring primary research within due diligence — covering CDD frameworks, expert calls, research models, AI tools, and the pitfalls that sink deals.
Mark Pacitti
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14 min read
How Management Consultants Are Using Expert Networks to Win AI Strategy Engagements
AI strategy is now the biggest growth category in consulting. Here's how top firms use expert networks and done-for-you primary research to staff, validate, and deliver AI engagements faster than their internal bench allows.
Mark Pacitti
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10 min read