Turning sector conviction into a shortlist a fund could defend to its LPs.
A leading Indian early-stage VC fund had a clear thesis on aerospace & defence — but no defensible way to act on it. Pivotal Research built the instrument that could.
Conviction without a deployment plan.
The fund had conviction about aerospace & defence as a sector — but conviction is not a deployment plan. Off-the-shelf databases returned hundreds of names with no judgement. Sector reports described where the market was heading but never said which companies to back.
The gap was an instrument the investment committee could actually act on.
An interactive investor barometer.
47 companies across 13 sub-sectors, scored on a 12-dimension framework, run through a 3-gate sieve that surfaced 4 priority picks — each with a full decision memo.
Result — three diligence conversations led within four weeks of delivery. The framework is now being extended to an adjacent sector.
Three things any deal team would value. None of them ordinary.
Living, not static
A browser-based application the fund re-opens and re-runs every quarter — not a slide deck that goes stale in three months.
Every number sourced
Each figure is cited to a named public source, computed with the maths shown, or labelled honestly as a Pivotal estimate. No fabricated citations.
Verdicts, not vibes
Green / yellow / red ratings across all 12 dimensions, with written justification on every call. A shortlist a partner can defend to LPs.