Frequently Asked Questions About Apex Leaders

Apex Leaders is a high-touch expert network and private equity consulting partner. We custom-recruit and meticulously vet the exact experts needed to reduce risk and build conviction in your deals. Unlike traditional networks, we do not gate these relationships; once we connect you, the advisor is yours to continue leveraging. This transparent model ensures your firm builds and owns a proprietary network of trusted advisors.

Yes, we are an expert network—but we operate on a fundamentally different model. While traditional networks rely on high-volume, transactional databases, Apex Leaders operates as an extension of your deal team.

We don’t just send you a list of names. Instead, we conduct bespoke research to find the exact advisors you need. We also do not restrict access to the experts we connect you with, allowing you to leverage these advisors long-term as part of your own proprietary network.

We work exclusively with private equity firms, which means we understand the unique demands of the deal cycle—from pre-LOI diligence through post-acquisition value creation.

We support PE firms throughout the entire deal cycle:

– Thesis Development: Validating market hypotheses before you deploy capital.
– Market Maps: Building a 360 degree view of competitive landscapes and value chains.
– Due Diligence: Stress-testing targets with commercial and operational diligence.
– Portfolio Advancement: Value creation projects for your existing portfolio companies.
– Board Recruitment: Placing transformative executives on portfolio company boards.

You can learn more about each of these on our Private Equity Consulting Services page.

They aren’t “our” experts; they’re yours. We don’t keep a static bench of professional consultants to lend to you. Instead, we custom-recruit seasoned operators—former CEOs, technical specialists, supply chain leaders—who are active in the specific niche you are investigating. 

Unlike transactional expert network companies, we don’t gate access to advisors–forcing you to pay fees when you want to take the expert out of network. At Apex, the relationship is yours to keep and leverage however you see fit.

We operate within five core industry desks: Technology, Healthcare, Consumer, Industrials, and Business Services.

This structure ensures our team possesses deep sector fluency. We use this knowledge to take a consultative approach to project scoping—partnering with you to translate your investment thesis into precise expert profiles.

Note: This is an administrative structure, not a limitation. We use these desks as internal umbrellas to successfully custom-recruit experts for any niche market.

Yes. We specialize in custom-recruiting the exact advisors you need—whether they are C-suite executives or highly technical operators. We find current and former operators who possess specific, hard-to-find knowledge within your niche space. We focus on ensuring you speak only with those who can provide firsthand insights for your deal.

Traditional expert networks rely on volume and static databases to merely “lease” you access via transactional credits. This approach often results in “advisor fatigue,” where a small percentage of experts are over-utilized across multiple firms, leading to recycled insights.

Apex Leaders plays a different game: we’re a relationship-driven partner built on custom research and bespoke outreach. We dig deep for every project to find the fresh insights your PE diligence demands. You don’t just rent an advisor. We focus on building your firm’s network of long-term advisors, operating on a transparent retainer model where our success is tied directly to yours–whether you invest in a deal or choose to walk away.

We coined the term “River Guide” to describe the long-term advisors we connect to PE clients. A River Guide is more than an expert; they are a strategic partner.

Unlike the one-off advisors traditional networks provide, a “River Guide” is a seasoned operator with true insider knowledge. We introduce you to them, and then your firm cultivates and owns the relationship. They serve as your operational advantage throughout the entire investment lifecycle from thesis to post-close.

Most networks rely on a database of advisors. When you launch a project with Apex, we don’t just search a list of names, we go out into the market each time to hunt for the exact advisor you need. We custom-recruit executives specifically for your unique deal angles. This means you’re getting fresh insights every time, giving you an edge over your competitors.

Yes. Our core services extend directly to portfolio companies at no additional cost for our retainer clients.

This allows private equity portfolio management teams to leverage our expert network for key decisions—like evaluating new markets or solving operational challenges. Unlike competitors who charge extra for post-close services, we ensure our partnership fuels value creation throughout the entire holding period at no additional cost.

You’ll find real client feedback like this throughout our entire website, here are a few of our favorites:

“Emily was fantastic. We had to ‘get smart’ on an industry that is new to us and Emily brought in incredibly impressive advisors very quickly. The calls were great, and Emily was a pleasure to work with. This project was another great reminder of why we chose Apex.” —Granite Creek Capital Partners

“One thing I appreciate about Apex is that you look for the right expert for the right search. Other expert networks have a captive bench of experts that they go back to while Apex is actively searching and pulling in new experts for every project, finding people that are the best fit for our context, and doing that with high velocity—turning around experts within 24-48 hours of launching a search.” —Access Holdings / Noah Research

“We switched from competitors to Apex. The tech-enabled platform is amazing—it’s functional, intuitive, and highly efficient for our transaction workflow. Your turnaround time is second-to-none. When time is of the essence in a competitive process, acquiring specific contacts within 24 to 48 hours is particularly awesome.” —Huron Capital


You can also visit our Case Studies page for detailed breakdowns of client success stories.

GLG is a large expert network that utilizes a static database of advisors, and provides access via a transactional credit system.

Apex Leaders is a high-touch firm that custom-recruits and vets advisors for each unique project. We take a partnership approach–enabling clients to build their own bench of long-term advisors and operating on an all-you-can-eat retainer model, with platform fees for closed deals.

AlphaSights is known for speed and efficiency, delivering rapid connections for transactional, one-off calls, often sourcing from a pre-existing pool of experts. 

Apex Leaders prioritizes deep, tailored insights through custom outreach for every engagement, ensuring each expert is precisely matched to your deal’s specific angles. We focus on helping you build long-term partnerships with seasoned operators that become part of your firm’s proprietary network. And, we extend our core services to your portfolio companies at no additional cost.

Third Bridge is widely recognized for its content library of transcripts and reports, providing broad, qualitative market perspectives. 

Apex Leaders delivers active, real-time conversations, focusing on bespoke, face-to-face engagements that are tailored precisely to your unique investment due diligence questions. We don’t just facilitate one-off interviews; we introduce you to seasoned operators who can become long-term “River Guide” partners and a permanent part of your firm’s proprietary network.

Guidepoint operates as a high-volume generalist network, serving a broad range of clients across many industries and offering one-off access to advisors. 

Apex Leaders is a dedicated firm specializing in private equity, meaning our vetting and advisor recommendations are tuned to the nuances of PE due diligence and value creation. Our model helps you build your own proprietary network of experts with ungated access to advisors and no “out-of-network” fees, reflecting our partnership approach over volume-driven scale.

Most expert network companies operate on a transactional “credit” model. Typically, a firm purchases a pre-paid “bucket” of credits. Each expert call “costs” a specific number of credits (often varying by the expert’s seniority). This model creates two major risks for your firm:

– Cost Friction: You are constantly calculating the cost of every conversation, which discourages deep diligence.
– Wasted Credits: If you do not use all your credits by the end of the contract term, they often expire—meaning you paid for access you never received.

We operate on a partnership model with a monthly retainer and success-based platform fees. The retainer grants “All-You-Can-Eat” access to our core services, while the platform fee is charged only when you successfully close a platform deal. This approach directly aligns our incentives with your results, and eliminates the friction of call credits or per-interaction charges.

Your monthly retainer covers unlimited expert network calls for our core services:

– Investment Thesis
– Due Diligence
– Portfolio Company “Value Creation” Projects
– Standard Market Maps

Note: Specialized products like custom Market Maps and Board of Directors recruitment have separate fee structures.

We have a “One Day Out” policy. You can cancel with 24 hours’ notice. No annual contracts. No strict breakage fees. We earn your business every day.

Our research team utilizes proprietary sourcing tools, industry associations, and direct headhunting techniques to find operators with relevant experience. 

We then meticulously vet every single advisor via a live call with one of our Service Managers—ensuring they possess the expertise your deal requires.

Projects are managed through our portal–providing full transparency and easy access. 

Here’s what the process looks like from start to finish:
1.) Submit: Your firm submits a project to the Apex Portal.
2.) Intake: Your dedicated Service Manager (from the relevant industry desk) hops on a brief call to scope the ins and outs of your project.
3.) Rapid Reach: If you need speed, we send initial, unvetted candidate profiles over within a few hours.
4.) Custom Search: Simultaneously, our private equity research team begins the deep-dive custom recruiting and vetting process. We then send relevant advisors to you via the portal.
5.) Review: You review vetted profiles and select who you want to meet.
6.) Engage: We connect you to the advisors you’ve selected. From there, the relationship is yours.
7.) Repeat: We’ll continue the process until you’ve found advisors for every angle.

You get the best of both worlds.

For Projects: You work with Service Managers aligned to our 5 Industry Desks (Healthcare, Tech, Consumer, Industrials, Business Services). This ensures you are talking to someone who actually understands the sector you’re investing in. 

For The Partnership: You are assigned a Director of Customer Success to ensure your overall experience, trial success, and firm-level needs are met.

For urgent due diligence, we have a Rapid Reach capability to send you the names of relevant, unvetted experts within a few hours of intake. However, at the same time, our service managers run in parallel to dig deeper, finding and vetting experts that are tailored to your unique angle within a few business days.

Yes. We offer a 60-day trial period at a discounted rate. This gives you full, all-you-can-eat access to our core services so you can see the Apex Difference firsthand before committing to a retainer.

We follow a four-step process to prove our value before you commit long-term:

1.) Initial Discovery: We meet with you to learn about your firm, deal flow, and specific needs. We then share more about our pricing and process.

2.) Team Buy-In: We meet with your broader deal team to show them exactly how they can leverage our services.

3.) Trial: We give you 60 days to test us on live deals. You get full access at a discounted rate to see the Apex Difference firsthand.

4.) Partnership: You decide if we’ve earned your business. If we have, and the large majority of our trials convert, then we transition to our standard retainer model.

Our research team actively dives deep into growing sectors and niche markets—from Personalized Healthcare to Artificial Intelligence. We publish these deep dives in our Trend Reports, giving you a clear view of the themes and sub-sectors that are capturing investors’ attention.

To learn more about working with Apex Leaders as an advisor, please visit our Expert Advisor Network page.