Asset
Management and Hedge Funds
Theory Intelligence provides hedge funds, long-only managers and credit investors with verified primary research for public and private positions: channel checks, customer and former-employee interviews and supplier conversations where every participant is identity checked, compliance terms are explicit, and a named researcher signs the read.
- Channel check Signal Brief: 6 to 8 verified customers, distributors or former employees in 10 business days, USD 7,500 to 12,000
- Thesis Decision Study: 15 to 30 verified interviews across the value chain, 4 to 6 weeks, USD 25,000 to 75,000
- Compliance by design: no current employees of the subject company, no material non-public information sought, consent recorded
- Standing coverage of a sector or a watchlist through the Intelligence Retainer
- Provenance appendix supports internal compliance and investment committee review
The problem with the expert call model for investors
Public market investors spend more on expert network calls than any other client group. The model has two weaknesses that have become sharper. First, the same experts are called by many funds on the same names, so the edge is thin and the view is consensus by the time it reaches the analyst. Second, verification is light. Networks screen for compliance, but a profile is largely self-reported, and an analyst has an hour to work out whether the person on the line knows what they claim.
Theory approaches the same question differently. We recruit against the thesis, not from a pool. We verify identity and role before the interview. We run the conversation with a researcher who knows the sector, and we write up what was said, what it means and how confident you should be.
What we do for investors
Channel checks
A Signal Brief with six to eight verified customers, distributors, resellers or former employees of a company you hold or are considering. Ten business days. Verbatim quotations, a signed two-page read, and a provenance appendix that shows how each person was verified.
Thesis work
A Decision Study for a new position or a position under review: fifteen to thirty verified interviews across customers, competitors, suppliers and former operators, with the management narrative tested against each. Four to six weeks, or three on a compressed timetable.
Sector coverage
An Intelligence Retainer gives a sector team six to ten verified conversations a month against a watchlist, with a signed monthly briefing. It replaces the scatter of one-off calls with a standing, documented line into the industry.
Compliance
Every engagement is designed around the client's compliance policy. We do not recruit current employees of a subject company. We brief participants that material non-public information is not sought and will not be recorded. Consent and the topics covered are logged. The provenance appendix is written so that a compliance officer can review it without calling us.
Why verified matters here
For an investor, the cost of a wrong channel check is a position sized on a fiction. A former employee who left four years ago described as current, a reseller who carries a competitor but not the company in question, a customer who turns out to be a consultant: all of these happen on networks. Theory's verification is the reason the read can be trusted, and it is in the appendix.
All work is delivered under The Theory Standard. See services and prices.
Questions from asset management and hedge funds clients
How is this different from an expert network subscription?
A network sells you access to calls. Theory recruits against your thesis, verifies every participant, runs the interviews with a sector researcher and signs the read. The fixed fee for a Signal Brief is often below the cost of the same number of network calls before anyone has analysed them.
How do you handle MNPI and compliance?
We do not recruit current employees of a subject company, we brief every participant that non-public information is not sought, and we log consent and topics. The provenance appendix is designed for compliance review. We will work to your firm's policy.
Can you turn a channel check around faster than ten days?
Sometimes. If the participants can be found and verified quickly we will say so at scoping. We will not shorten verification to hit a date.
A asset management and hedge funds question worth answering properly?
Write to info@theoryintel.com with the decision. A researcher replies within one business day with a fixed price and a start date.
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