Why deal teams outgrow spreadsheets, and what to use instead

Spreadsheets start every deal pipeline and eventually slow it down. The signs your team has outgrown them, and how to choose between a CRM and tools built for your workflow.

Almost every deal team runs on a spreadsheet at first. It is quick, flexible and free. The trouble starts when the team grows, the pipeline grows, and the spreadsheet becomes the only record of who spoke to whom and what happens next.

Signs you have outgrown the spreadsheet

• Several versions of the pipeline exist, and nobody is sure which one is current.
• Follow-ups are missed because the next action lives in someone's head.
• Investor updates take days because the numbers have to be rebuilt each time.
• When someone leaves, their relationships and notes leave with them.
• Screening a new deal depends on who happens to read the teaser.

Option one: an off-the-shelf CRM

Large deal CRMs are powerful, but they are built for large teams. They can take months to set up, cost a meaningful amount per seat, and ask your team to change how it works. For a firm of five to twenty people, much of that power goes unused.

Option two: tools built around your workflow

The other route is a small set of tools that match how your team already works. A deal screener that scores targets against your own criteria. A pipeline tracker with your stages and your owners. Document generators that produce an NDA or LOI in your firm's own language. Each tool does one job well, and your team can start using it in days rather than months.

How to decide

• Team size: a large team with many users may justify a full CRM. A small team usually does not.
• Process: if your process is standard, off-the-shelf may fit. If it is specific to your firm, custom tools will fit better.
• Ownership: consider whether you want to rent software or own the tools you use.
• Time to value: ask how long before the team uses it every day.

Start with the most painful step

You do not have to replace everything at once. Pick the step that costs the most time, often screening or investor reporting, and fix that first. Once the team trusts one tool, the next one is easier.

See the tools in action

Targetcrest has built 37 deal tools, and each one has a live demo on our Deal Systems page. Builds are quoted at a fixed price on a written scope, and you keep what we build. Tell us which spreadsheet is slowing you down.