March 11, 2022
A great institutional investor database can be hard to find. However in most cases, the price and overall value of that database is even harder to find.
If you don’t know what you’re going to be paying, even the most robust website in the world will be largely unhelpful. And, at the end of the day, you and your firm likely just want to know one thing: will this be worth my investment?
Most websites are not inclined to offer pricing for their products because it can be seen as giving competitors too much information, or because they worry if they did that, their prospects will have no reason to contact them for a demo or more information. But really all this actually accomplishes is frustrating the buyer, especially if they’re only in the early stages of their decision making process.
At Dakota, we’ve been in the sales business since 2006, and we know that being transparent about information is critical. After all, how many of us have purchased a “database” only to be given an outdated Excel spreadsheet? We’re willing to bet the number is pretty high. With the price of a database ranging from $5,000 to over $20,000, we know just how important it is to know what you’re getting into before you spend the money.
Which is why, since the launch of our own institutional investor database, Dakota Marketplace, in 2018, we’ve been committed to being up-front about pricing.
Our customers have told us time and again that there’s value in our product and how much it can help their firm accomplish, and whether you’re just comparing prices or setting up demos, the information is there when you need it.
To take this transparency to the next level, in this article we’re going to dive into the cost of Dakota Marketplace in relation to the market average of a database, as well as the overall value you receive from the database. We’ll cover:
Dakota Marketplace is an institutional investor database designed for investment salespeople. While it is, at its heart, a database, there is a plethora of additional content that Dakota members have found valuable, even if they are not actively fundraising.
Dakota Marketplace includes:
Dakota Marketplace offers a robust dataset designed for investment salespeople. Curated by our own investment sales team, Dakota Marketplace is organized and maintained by a dedicated data team who uses numerous resources to ensure that the data is as fresh and up-to-date as possible.
Dakota Live! is a weekly call in which Dakota’s investment sales team interviews a key allocator, highlights a major metro area, and discusses the news and trends they’ve seen within the field that week. The calls are a great resource to connect with allocators and get their perspective on the market, and their plans for the future. With a General Call and an Alternatives Call, there is a show for everyone, with replays and pre- and post-call notes shared after every call.
Members can also view past calls as needed within the Dakota Marketplace content library.
If you’re constantly finding yourself falling behind on new institutional investment mandates, Dakota Searches is for you. Our team researches new mandates daily, and sends them out to our subscribers as soon as we find them, so that you’re always up-to-date on searches right when they happen.
Receive daily reports of public pension investment committee meeting notes including recent hires, RFPs, portfolio allocation changes, and more. These reports are stored within Marketplace, and can be accessed at your convenience in addition to being emailed daily.
Additionally, Marketplace features information on field consultants including name, account, and email. Currently, there are over 1,000 field consultants tagged to 172 consulting firms.
Our 13F information is run through SEC-API, meaning that the data comes directly through an API to from the SEC to Dakota. The Dakota data team ensures the accuracy of the files received, and provides them to our clients. If you’re calling on RIAs, you already know how important it is to know where they’re investing, and this feature is designed to give you the leverage you need over competitors, while saving you valuable time researching.
One of the most important things you can do as a salesperson is ensure that you’re making the most of your time in a given city. At Dakota, this means knowing who to call on, and it’s part of everything we do when we’re traveling. To do this efficiently, we plan out our days in increments, scheduling out weeks in advance with all of the firms we want to meet with in a given city.
The metro area section of Dakota Marketplace helps give you a clear idea who you should be calling on depending on where you are, and even helps you map out your path once you get there so that no time is wasted along the way.
This industry has a 25% turn over rate, and no one wants to waste time emailing contacts that are no longer with a particular firm. Dakota Marketplace’s job and role change data keeps you updated on turnover across the industry. Our data team updates contact and role information on a weekly basis, so that you can combat any turnover and continue to do outreach efficiently, without stopping to double check who you’re calling on.
It’s imperative to stay on top of what other firms are doing and saying in the market, but it can be an extremely time-consuming undertaking to stay updated, especially when it involves researching and asking for presentations given to other managers.
With Marketplace, you can access over 150 presentations given to public pension funds by other managers for insights into what other managers are saying and investing in.
With fee studies housed within Dakota Marketplace, you’ll have the ability to see what fees each public pension is paying their managers with fee structures tagged to public pension funds.
A Dakota Marketplace membership is $15,500 per user for one year. Each additional user is $1,000 per year.
If you’re constantly finding that your data is incomplete or outdated, or your sales team isn’t using your CRM effectively because the data inside of it isn’t being updated, you’re not alone. In fact, salespeople would rather go to the dentist or clean out their garage than use their CRM.
Dakota Marketplace for Salesforce takes the administration out of data by connecting Marketplace data to your Salesforce instance. That means, as data is added and updated in Marketplace, it will be reflected in your Salesforce instance, so your sales team can spend less time verifying and updating account and contact data, and spend more time booking and doing meetings.
With Marketplace for Salesforce you will:
One license for Marketplace for Salesforce is $7,500 per year.
We know that institutional investor databases aren’t cheap, and require a great deal of consideration and budgeting.
While we think the values outlined above make the $15,500 price tag worthwhile, we know that many firms have difficulty fitting another database into their budget, or simply don’t have the budget for a new software platform.
However, we know that most firms do have the budget for conferences and travel, and have passed Marketplace through in place of a conference.
This might not make sense on first read, but one of the added benefits of becoming a Marketplace member is exclusive access to our yearly Dakota Conference, in which investment professionals from around the country come together for a day-long event, including speakers, Dakota Live! Panels, and networking.
Additionally, every Dakota Live! Call has the insights equivalent to that of a conference, and many of our members have said they feel like they’re attending an event without ever leaving their office.
While the needs of every firm vary, there are some factors that can help indicate that Marketplace is a good fit for yours. In this section, we’ll outline what those are, and how you can get started with learning more about the platform.
If you…
If you're ready to learn more about Dakota Marketplace and if it's the right fit for you and your firm, we'd love to offer a free trial.
Gui Costin is the Founder and CEO of Dakota.
