The Salesforce playbook for private equity firms.
We embed into portfolio companies to build and operationalize the revenue systems that drive enterprise value — the Salesforce, HubSpot, Gong, and integration layer behind pipeline visibility, forecasting, and exit readiness inside the hold period. We operate, we do not just advise.
- 13 chapters
- 5 Salesforce products in depth
- 14-point readiness checklist
- 10,020 words
What's inside.
Written by our Salesforce consultants for private equity firms. Read it start to finish or go straight to the chapter you need.
Salesforce in private equity firms: where it pays off
6 patterns that work, and the stack we typically deploy.
The challenges Salesforce has to solve
The 6 problems a design has to solve.
Which Salesforce products fit, and how
Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce Experience Cloud, Tableau, Salesforce Data 360 (Data Cloud): use cases, data model and buyer questions for each.
How to implement it
Who needs to be in the room, what the first release includes, and the questions to settle before kickoff.
Moving from your current system
What moves from your current system, how to plan it, and the decisions to make early.
The systems to connect
10 systems to connect and what flows between them.
Regulation and compliance
4 rules and obligations the design has to account for.
Readiness checklist
14 decisions to make before you sign a statement of work.
After go-live: support and health checks
What ongoing support covers and when to run a health check.
If a project has stalled
How stalled projects get back on track, and how to get more from the org you have.
Results from our projects
1 results from Abstrakt Solutions projects.
Where the industry is concentrated, and local guides
Where the industry is the largest share of the local economy, and local guides for 3 metros.
Next steps
Free assessments and how to reach a consultant.
From the readiness checklist.
Three of the 14 decisions the playbook asks you to make before you sign a statement of work. The full checklist, with the rest of the playbook, is in the PDF.
Get the full playbook →- Plan information barriersCredit and equity strategies, or competing processes for similar targets, may require restricted access. Design sharing rules and private deal teams with compliance, then test them. Barriers must be easy to establish when a new sensitive process begins, not a configuration project each time.
- Decide what activity is capturedAutomatic email and calendar capture is powerful but sweeping. Decide which domains are excluded, how personal correspondence is filtered and how long data is retained. Document the policy and confirm it meets recordkeeping obligations, including SEC requirements for registered advisers where relevant.
- Keep investor data separateLimited partner information is highly confidential and often governed by side letters. Restrict investor records to investor relations and senior leadership, apart from deal teams. If fund administrators hold the official records, synchronize summaries rather than duplicating capital account detail in Salesforce.
The Salesforce products it covers.
Each product chapter covers use cases, how the data is modeled and the questions buyers ask. Shorter versions are on our site.
- Salesforce Sales Cloud for Private EquitySales Cloud gives a private equity firm a structured record of who it knows, which companies it is watching and where every live deal stands.
- Salesforce Financial Services Cloud for Private EquityFinancial Services Cloud gives a private equity firm a relationship model built for people who wear several hats: a banker who brings deals, an operating partner who sits on boards, a pension officer who commits to funds.
- Salesforce Experience Cloud for Private EquityExperience Cloud gives private equity firms secure sites for relationships that currently run through email and shared folders.
- Tableau for Private EquityTableau helps private equity firms analyze the three data streams that define the business: deal flow, relationships and portfolio performance.
- Salesforce Data 360 for Private EquityData 360 (formerly Data Cloud) gives a private equity firm one governed layer for information that usually sits in inboxes, spreadsheets, fund administration reports and third-party market databases.
Who wrote it.
Abstrakt Solutions is a Salesforce Select partner based in St. Louis, with 108 Salesforce certifications, 7 Salesforce accreditations and a 4.95 out of 5 rating from 92 reviews on Salesforce AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange).
The playbook draws on the guidance we publish for private equity firms and on 1 of our own projects.
