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Research · Venture Capital

Venture capital research support: deal sourcing, market maps, & founder diligence

By Zack Pennington, CEO Updated

When your pipeline is moving fast, the research backlog piles up quickly: inbound founder backgrounds left unverified, market landscape decks that never get built, competitive analyses that sit as half-finished notes. Nacho EAs with VC research experience step into that gap, handling the structured, repeatable research work so your team stays focused on conviction-building and relationships. Whether you're mapping a new vertical or running background checks on a founding team before a partner meeting, we've done this work before.

Tools we work with: PitchBook Crunchbase LinkedIn CB Insights

Can a Virtual Assistant handle research for venture capital firms?

Yes. Nacho matches venture capital firms with a vetted, 100% US-based Specialist who owns research week after week, not a one-off task. You start with a $300 Delegation Strategy Plan, set a monthly Talent Budget from $1,000, and we match you in about a week.

See how the match works What a Talent Budget costs Book a discovery call

How it works

How your Specialist owns research for venture capital firms

A Nacho EA supporting a VC firm on research typically works from a prioritized queue you define: pulling deal sourcing data from PitchBook or Crunchbase, building out market landscape summaries using CB Insights sector reports, and compiling founder background profiles from LinkedIn and public sources before partner meetings. For portfolio work, they can run structured competitive analyses across a defined set of companies, tracking funding rounds, product positioning, and key hires on a cadence you set. Your role is to define the thesis or the question: the EA handles the sourcing, synthesis, and formatting into whatever output your team actually uses, whether that's a one-pager, a spreadsheet, or a slide deck. They work within your existing tools and templates, so the output fits your workflow rather than creating a new one. Most clients check in once or twice a week to reprioritize the queue and review deliverables.

Off your plate

What your Specialist takes off your plate

The biggest mistake first-time delegators make in VC research is handing over a vague prompt, 'research the edtech space' produces a generic output that doesn't match how your firm actually thinks about a market. Before your first assignment, spend 15 minutes documenting the format you want outputs in and one example of a research deliverable your team has already found useful. That single reference does more to calibrate an EA than any written brief.

  1. Deal Sourcing Research via PitchBook and Crunchbase

    Pull company profiles, funding history, investor syndicate data, and founding team details for inbound or proactively sourced deals based on your defined criteria.

  2. Market Landscape Mapping

    Build structured overviews of a target sector using CB Insights, Crunchbase, and public sources: identifying key players, funding trends, whitespace, and notable exits.

  3. Founder and Executive Background Research

    Compile LinkedIn history, prior company outcomes, press mentions, and public references for founders ahead of partner meetings or diligence calls.

  4. Competitive Analysis for Portfolio Companies

    Track competitor funding rounds, product updates, hiring signals, and positioning changes for portfolio companies on a recurring or ad hoc basis.

  5. Investment Thesis Research and Benchmarking

    Gather market size data, comparable deal multiples, and sector-specific benchmarks to support the development or pressure-testing of an investment thesis.

Your stack

Tools our team works with

We adapt to your existing stack, no forced migrations.

SEMrush
Statista
Apollo.io
G2
SimilarWeb
Claude

...and many more!

Client proof

Trusted by venture capital firms

Nacho supports venture capital firms including Capstar Ventures, Elsewhere Partners, handling everything from research to broader operational support.

The model

What delegating to Nacho actually looks like

This is ongoing delegation to one vetted, US-based person, not a task posted to a marketplace.

  1. Start with a Delegation Strategy Plan

    A one-time $300 onboarding fee pairs you with a Client Success Manager who maps what to hand off first. See the full process.

  2. Get matched in about a week

    We match you with a vetted, 100% US-based Specialist in your time zone. If the fit is not right, the Nacho Guarantee re-matches you free.

  3. Set a monthly Talent Budget

    Budgets start at $1,000 a month and draw across Executive Assistants from $40/hr, Specialists from $65/hr, and Fractional Executives from $125/hr. Up to $200 of unused budget rolls over each month. For finance-led work, that senior seat is usually a Fractional CFO. See pricing in detail.

  4. Three months, then month to month

    The initial term is three months so the working relationship has time to compound, then it rolls month to month. Book a discovery call to size yours.

Talent Budget

What delegating research costs for venture capital firms

Drag the sliders to build a monthly plan that fits your workload.

Executive Assistants
from $40/hour
10 hours $400
Specialists
from $65/hour
20 hours $1,300
Fractional Executives
from $125/hour
0 hours $0
Your monthly budget
$1,700

Starting at $1,000/month. One-time $300 onboarding fee includes your Delegation Strategy Plan.

Good questions

Frequently asked questions

Do your EAs have direct experience with PitchBook and Crunchbase?
Yes, EAs assigned to VC research work are familiar with navigating PitchBook for deal and investor data and Crunchbase for company profiles and funding timelines. If your firm uses a specific saved search setup or export format in those tools, we'll ask you to walk through it once during onboarding so the EA matches your existing workflow.
How do you handle confidentiality given the sensitive nature of deal flow and portfolio data?
All Nacho team members sign NDAs, and we're accustomed to working within the confidentiality requirements of financial services and investment firms. If your firm has a specific NDA or data handling policy, we can work within that framework, bring it up during onboarding and your Client Success Manager will coordinate.
Can an EA support research across multiple portfolio companies at the same time?
Yes, and this is a common use case, EAs can manage a rotating research queue across several portfolio companies, tracking competitive intelligence or market signals on a schedule you define. The key is giving the EA a clear priority order and a consistent output format so deliverables stay organized across companies.

Ready when you are

Put your research backlog to work

Starting at $1,000/month, a Nacho EA can take structured VC research off your plate in about a week of onboarding. Schedule a call to talk through what's sitting in your queue.

Not sure yet? See how it works, compare the Executive Assistant, Specialist, and Fractional Executive roles, or read why we stayed 100% US-based.