Data sourced from Dakota Private Markets, the private fund performance platform powered by Dakota. Learn More | Request Access
A first outreach call is won or lost in the prep. Walk in with a single IRR and you spend the call asking questions you could have answered beforehand. Walk in with the fund’s performance history, the GP’s strategy and team, and the documents allocators have already written about the manager, and you spend the call on what matters.
The problem is that this research usually lives in five places. Dakota Private Markets pulls it into one research view across 19,000+ funds with named performance data, 20,000+ GP profiles, and 15,000+ documents.
In this article, we’ll cover what to pull before a first outreach call, why each piece matters, and how to build the full file in one sitting. By the end, you’ll have a repeatable prep checklist for any fund or GP.
Why a Performance Number Alone Falls Short
A net IRR tells you how a fund did. It doesn’t tell you why, who drove it, or what allocators thought when they diligenced it. Those answers sit in the GP’s profile and in the documents written about the fund.
When that context is spread across a performance database, a CRM, a document drive, and a few browser tabs, prep turns into a scavenger hunt. Details get missed, and the call opens with basic questions instead of informed ones. Cross-referencing performance against the backing documents and the right contacts is what turns a data point into a full research file.
What to Pull Before the Call
1. Named performance history. Start with the fund’s IRR, TVPI, DPI, and RVPI, then look at the GP’s earlier funds. A single fund is a snapshot, while the full series shows whether results improved or slipped as the firm scaled. Every figure in Dakota Private Markets is tied to a named fund, not pooled into an anonymized average.
2. The GP profile. Confirm investment style, strategy focus, fund sizes, and whether the firm is currently in market. Then identify the key contacts, so you know who you’re speaking with and who else at the firm matters to the decision.
3. The documents. Pull the consultant review, any pension due diligence notes or board materials that mention the fund, and the fund’s own presentation deck. These show how allocators read the manager, which questions came up in diligence, and how the GP pitches itself.
4. Portfolio and deal activity. Scan the portfolio companies held across the GP’s funds and its recent transactions. This shows where the strategy is actually deployed and gives you a timely talking point for the call.
How to Build the File in One View
In Dakota Private Markets, the prep that used to take an afternoon runs from a single record.
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Open the GP profile. Confirm strategy, investment style, and the contacts you’ll want on the call.
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Move to the fund. Review its named performance history alongside the GP’s prior funds.
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Pull the documents. Open the consultant review, pension diligence notes, and fund deck attached to that fund and GP.
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Check the context. Compare the fund against its vintage-year peers and scan recent portfolio and deal activity, so you know where it stands before anyone asks.
Want to run this prep on a fund you’re targeting? Dakota Private Markets puts performance, GP profiles, and documents side by side. Request access to see it on live, named data.
Who Uses This Prep, and Why
Allocators use it before a first meeting with a new manager, so the conversation starts at diligence rather than at the pitch deck. It also feeds directly into the work to underwrite a fund once the relationship moves forward.
Investment firms use it to research competitors, potential co-investors, and partners. Placement agents and advisors use it to arrive at a GP meeting already knowing the track record and how allocators have reviewed the firm.
The Dataset Behind It
The research view runs on the same connected dataset as every other Dakota Private Markets use case. That includes 19,000+ funds with named performance data, 20,000+ GPs, 164,000+ portfolio companies, 26,000+ private company transactions with 2,000+ added every month, and 15,000+ documents. Daily industry news keeps fund, GP, and transaction records current.
Build Your Next Call File in Dakota Private Markets
Stop piecing together prep from five tools. Dakota Private Markets gives you named performance, full GP profiles with contacts, and 15,000+ documents in one research view, so you walk into every first call knowing the fund as well as the people pitching it.
Request access to Dakota Private Markets and build your first call file on live, named fund data.
