FirmOptic is a sourcing and diligence instrument for family offices that invest directly in private companies. Define the thesis your family will underwrite. FirmOptic surfaces the private companies that fit, researches each one against your criteria, and delivers evidence the principal can verify. No auctions. No list, and no leak.
Most family offices building a direct book are fed by three channels, and all three are narrow.
A banker-run process is an auction with a price discovered before you enter. The outcomes are predictable: you win by paying the most, or you walk. The deals you see are the ones the banker chose to show. The deals you do not see are the ones that went to a preferred buyer quietly. You are a price-taker in every conversation.
A CIM arriving in your inbox has already been shopped. The most prepared strategic and the sharpest financial buyer have already formed a view. What reaches a family office is often what those buyers passed on, or what requires a premium price to clear. The economics of that channel do not favor the family.
The deals that come through the principal's relationships are among the best the family will see. They are also rare, narrow to the geographies and sectors the network covers, and cannot be manufactured on a schedule. A network cannot run a continuous program on its own.
The underlying issue is not access. It is signal. A one- or two-person investment team cannot manually screen several hundred private companies a quarter, research each one, and defend a short list to committee. Hiring more analysts contradicts the operating premise of the office. That is where most direct programs stall: not at conviction, but at the top of the funnel.
You describe what the family will underwrite in plain English: industry, geography, size, ownership profile, operating characteristics, and any soft signals you weigh. FirmOptic turns that into a structured screen and a set of research questions specific to your criteria. You edit the thesis the way you would edit a memo, not the way you would tune a database filter.
A proprietary index of millions of US private companies is matched against your thesis. You see the count first, then the short list. Most theses narrow a universe of hundreds of thousands of candidates to a few dozen worth a closer look. The volume is internal to our pipeline. What reaches you is already the short list.
A purpose-built agent swarm produces a narrative dossier on every company you accept. Ownership, financial signals, market position, leadership, IP, facilities, legal history, and operating tells. Every claim is cited to a public source you can open and verify. Confidence is stated. Gaps are stated. The output reads like a researcher's notebook, not a database row.
A thesis-relative scorecard grades fit on the dimensions you chose. Two families underwriting the same company can reach two different, equally defensible scores. That is the correct outcome. Your thesis is yours.
The output exports to PDF or Word, shares via a revocable link with a configurable expiration, and never requires the recipient to create an account. You decide who sees what, and for how long. Everything sits in a workspace your team controls. Invite the CIO, the deal principal, and selectively the principal. Role-based access. Audit trail. Nothing leaves unless you send it.
What family offices running a direct program should expect from the program after FirmOptic is installed.
FirmOptic is sold on research credits. The standard tiers run from 20 credits at $99 to 250 credits at $499, with a member discount that cuts per-credit cost in half.
A private enterprise path is usually the better fit. It covers:
A thirty-minute call with the founder or a senior member of the team. We will run your thesis in the session, show the short list, open a dossier, and answer anything about data handling, privacy, and terms. Under mutual NDA on request. No signup, no shared inbox, no list.