About Breakaway Capital
Breakaway Capital is a Los Angeles-based private investment vehicle focused on early-stage private markets. Founded by two partners with complementary networks and deal sourcing capabilities, the firm targets companies across technology, defense, fintech, and other high-conviction sectors.
The Challenge
Breakaway Capital was starting from scratch - no legacy CRM, no data to migrate. The question was not how to move from one system to another, but how to build the right infrastructure from day one: one that would not become a burden as deal volume scaled.
Two specific problems framed the engagement. First, the deal intake process was manual. Inbound pitches arrive by email with attached decks and teasers - parsing them, extracting key data, and creating CRM records took time the partners did not want to spend. Second, the investment workflow has its own complexity: the same company can be passed at one round and revisited at the next, portfolio companies need ongoing monitoring with KYC reminders and financial tracking, and LP relationships need to be nurtured with targeted updates when relevant deals enter the pipeline.
The ambition was an AI-native stack from day one - Attio as the system of record, Claude as the intelligence layer, Notion as the knowledge base, all connected.
Our Approach
Novlini delivered the full build over 7.5 days.
Data Model Design
The workspace was built around the investment workflow rather than a generic sales CRM. Six objects: Companies (startup targets), People (founders, VCs, LPs, strategic operators - with preference fields for thematic interests), Deals (tracked at round level, not company level), Portfolio Companies (post-investment monitoring), VCs/Investors (co-investor network), and LPs.
The round-level deal model was a key architectural decision: the same company can generate multiple deal records across funding rounds, preserving the history of a pass at one stage and a re-engagement at the next. Each deal carries legal structure (SAFE, CLA, direct equity, SPV), valuation, committed amount, pro-rata rights, and a direct link to the corresponding Notion memo.
Deal pipeline stages built to match the actual investment process: Intro, First Meeting, VDR Review, Second Meeting, Committed, Persuading Founder, Signed, Closed, Portfolio, and Passed - with a dedicated Resubmission stage for deals to revisit in future rounds.
Investment guardrails configured as Attio automations: geographic exclusions, entity incorporation country flags, and structure exclusions (e.g. no SAFEs) that auto-flag deals on creation before the team invests time in diligence.
Integrations
Gmail sync for automatic interaction capture. Granola for meeting notes auto-populated to the relevant Attio record post-call. EverTrace connected via API to push sourced companies into Attio based on defined sector, stage, and geography criteria. Each deal linked to its Notion memo page for deep dives, thesis notes, and sector research.
Deal Intake Automation
The core automation: a dedicated intake email address for the fund. When a founder, introducer, or network contact sends a pitch deck or teaser, the partner forwards it to the intake address. An N8N workflow parses the email and any attached documents, extracts key deal data - company name, founders, sector, stage, valuation, ask - and creates or updates the corresponding Deal and Company records in Attio with all relevant fields populated. No manual data entry.
Portfolio Monitoring
Portfolio companies tracked with investment date, valuation at entry, current value, pro-rata rights, SPV vs direct cap table, and KYC/KYB renewal dates with automated reminders. A portfolio to-do dashboard gives the team a single view of all outstanding follow-ups, introductions owed, and supportive actions across the portfolio.
Technology Stack
Attio - CRM, deal flow pipeline, portfolio monitoring, LP management (source of truth)
N8N + Claude - deal intake automation (email to Attio pipeline)
EverTrace - outbound sourcing, API-connected to Attio
Granola - meeting notes, native Attio integration
Notion - thesis documents, memos, deep dives (linked to Attio deals)
The Results
Breakaway Capital went from zero infrastructure to a fully operational AI-native investment stack in 7.5 days of work.
Purpose-built deal flow pipeline - 10-stage pipeline with round-level deal tracking, investment guardrails, and automated flags
Deal intake automation live - inbound pitches forwarded to a single address create Attio records automatically via N8N and Claude
Full integration stack connected - Gmail, Granola, EverTrace, Notion all feeding into Attio
Portfolio monitoring configured - financial tracking, KYC renewal reminders, and portfolio to-do dashboard live
LP nurturing foundation built - thematic preference fields on LP records for targeted deal updates
"Novlini was a great partner for our Attio setup. The team was highly responsive and quick to understand what we needed. Victor & Ibrahim adapted the setup to our workflow and also gave excellent inputs. They were genuinely easy to work with throughout the process."
Eric F. - Co-Founder, Breakaway Capital ★★★★★
Why It Matters
Most investment teams inherit a CRM setup from a previous firm, a tool they outgrew, or a generic sales platform that was never designed for private markets. The deal lifecycle is not a sales funnel: passes are not lost deals, rounds are not companies, and the intelligence that informs an investment decision lives across emails, call notes, Notion memos, and market signals simultaneously.
Building the right architecture from day one - one that reflects how investment decisions actually get made - is far cheaper than rebuilding it later. The deal intake automation is the clearest example: five to ten inbound pitches per week, zero manual entry.