Stoneview Capital - AI-Enabled Investment Operations & CRM Suite
Stoneview Capital, a boutique luxury real estate investment firm based in Hong Kong, partnered with ELab over nine months to transform their investor relations, operational workflows, and technology foundation. Through comprehensive Lean Six Sigma analysis, AI foundations workshops, strategic roadmap development, and a full CRM implementation sprint, we identified 100+ automation opportunities, deployed two operational AI agents, migrated and cleaned 9,071 contacts into a purpose-built CRM, and established a three-layer digital architecture targeting 30-50% overall productivity uplift to support the firm's goal of 50-70% AUM growth without proportional headcount increase.
Industry: Investment Management | Duration: 9 months | Services: AI Foundations, Lean Six Sigma, Strategic Roadmap, CRM Implementation, AI Agent Development, Managed Services
Stoneview Capital operates as a founder-centric boutique investment firm specialising in luxury European hospitality assets. Their unique "Investoration" model combines simultaneous investment management and post-acquisition asset operations, with deal-by-deal fundraising through SPV structures and complex Limited Partner relationships. The firm faced a critical scaling challenge: how to grow AUM by 50-70% without proportionally growing the team.
Key Pain Points
- Founder Administrative Burden: The Founding Partner was spending approximately 55-60% of time on administrative tasks rather than investor relationships and strategic decisions
- Investor Update Cycle: Quarterly investor updates consuming 3 weeks and 8 hours of leadership time, with a data collection cycle requiring manual chasing across the team
- Meeting Intelligence Loss: No systematic capture of meeting notes (team described as "great at talking, not great at writing structured meeting notes"), with follow-up cycles of 20-35 minutes per meeting
- Entity Management Overload: Operations Manager's entire working day consumed by entity administration, inbox triage (30-45 mins daily), and manual task creation (1-2 hours daily)
- Zero System Integration: All operational systems siloed (Excel, Folk CRM, Notion, DocSend) with 0% integration and duplicate data entry every quarter
- Tribal Knowledge Risk: 0% process documentation, with all operational knowledge held informally
Business Impact
| Challenge | Operational Impact | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|
| 3-week update cycle | Delayed investor communications, chasing culture | Critical |
| 8 hrs leadership time per update | Founder capacity consumed by admin | High |
| No meeting note capture | Lost relationship intelligence, forgotten follow-ups | High |
| 0% system integration | Duplicate data entry, manual reconciliation | High |
| Entity admin consuming full day | Operations Manager capacity locked in admin | Medium |
Lean Six Sigma Waste Analysis
ELab's analysis identified waste across all 8 categories:
| Waste Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Transport | Data moved Excel to Folk to Notion; documents duplicated across SharePoint/Notion |
| Inventory | Tribal knowledge in people's heads; meeting intelligence lost after conversations |
| Waiting | 3 weeks chasing analysts for update data; biweekly meetings to chase follow-ups |
| Over-Processing | AI templates requiring extensive manual modification; duplicate task list creation |
| Defects | Lost meeting intelligence; forgotten follow-ups; investor non-funding requiring alternatives |
| Non-Utilised Talent | Operations Manager on admin vs strategic work; Founder on task creation vs strategy |
Five Critical Process Areas Identified
- Investor Prospecting & Engagement (CRITICAL) - 20-35 min per meeting for manual follow-up
- Quarterly Investor Updates (HIGHEST PRIORITY) - 85% improvement opportunity identified
- Capital Call Management - "Huge process" consuming significant time
- Daily Entity Management - Consuming entire Operations Manager capacity
- Deal Sourcing - No automated scoring or CRM entry from deal identification
ELab delivered two major sprints across 9 months, combining strategic foundations with tactical implementation.
Sprint 1: Foundations (May - November 2025)
Discovery & Analysis (May - October 2025)
- 2 AI Advisory Discovery Sessions (May and September 2025)
- 4 major workshops: AI Fundamentals, Discovery, Lean Six Sigma CRM/IR Analysis, Handover Session
- 6 meeting transcripts recorded for knowledge extraction
- Comprehensive Lean Six Sigma process mapping across all 5 critical process areas
Strategic Outputs:
- Reverse Brief documenting business model, team structure, and opportunity analysis
- CRM Evaluation Report: Comparative analysis of Attio vs Affinity (selected Attio at ~$89/seat/month vs Affinity at $2,700/seat for transparency, customisability, and AI integration capability)
- Requirements Traceability Matrix mapping all requirements to solutions
- AI Roadmap with 100+ automation opportunities prioritised across three implementation phases:
- Quick Wins (2-4 weeks)
- Fill-Ins (4-8 weeks)
- Strategic Plays (8-12+ weeks)
AI Agents Deployed:
- Stoneview OS AI: Claude-based operational agent with Notion MCP integration for natural language querying of project data, task management, and operational intelligence
- SOP AI Agent: Extracts and documents tribal knowledge from meeting transcripts and interviews; generates structured SOPs, training materials, and onboarding documentation
Sprint 2: CRM Implementation (January 2026 - HKD $113,000)
Discovery & Design (13-15 January 2026)
- CRM Discovery Session mapping data model requirements
- CRM Design Review validating schema against SPV/LP/Asset relationship complexity
Attio CRM Implementation:
- Custom object schema designed for SPV, LP, and Asset relationship tracking
- Investor segmentation and tracking views configured
- Priority scoring formulas with transparent contextual logic
- Operational pipelines and dashboards for live raise visibility
- Post-close asset management workflow configuration
Data Migration:
- 9,071 contacts exported from Folk CRM, audited, and cleaned
- 1,219 deals mapped and migrated with field mapping
- Contact-note relationship mappings preserved
- Quality assurance validation completed
- Result: ~55% noise reduction to ~4,000 qualified records
Integration & Training:
- Microsoft 365 setup (email sync, interaction capture)
- Training delivered to Founding Partner and Operations Manager
- AI knowledge base documentation for Claude agents
- System administration knowledge transfer
Three-Layer Architecture Delivered
| Layer | Platform | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Operational Data | Notion | "The Brain" - project logic, task management, operational intelligence |
| Relationship Data | Attio CRM | "The Heart" - investor relationships, capital structures, pipeline tracking |
| Communication Data | Circleback (recommended) | "The Ears" - meeting capture, structuring, and CRM entry |
Solutions Deployed
- Attio CRM Platform: Custom-configured for investment management with People, Opportunities, and Raises tables
- Stoneview OS AI: Natural language operational intelligence via Notion MCP
- SOP AI Agent: Tribal knowledge extraction and documentation
- DocSend Integration: Automated investor document view tracking with CRM sync
- Smart Lists: Automated follow-up recommendations based on engagement signals and priority
- Custom Claude Skills: AI access to query and update CRM data directly
Achieved Outcomes
| Metric | Result | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Contact database cleanup | 9,071 to ~4,000 records (55% reduction) | Data migration logs |
| Deals migrated | 1,219 mapped and imported | Migration records |
| Automation opportunities mapped | 100+ identified and prioritised | Opportunity register |
| AI agents deployed | 2 operational (OS AI, SOP AI) | Deliverable count |
| CRM platform selected | Attio (at ~$89/seat vs $2,700/seat alternative) | CRM Evaluation Report |
| Workshops conducted | 4 major sessions | Workshop records |
| Meeting transcripts documented | 6 transcripts for knowledge extraction | Documentation |
| SOPs generated | Tribal knowledge now extractable via SOP AI | AI agent capability |
Projected Outcomes
From AI Roadmap and Lean Six Sigma analysis - implementation ongoing, realisation to be validated
| Metric | Current State | Target | Projected Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investor update cycle | 3 weeks | 3-5 days | 85% reduction |
| Leadership time on updates | 8 hours | 1-2 hours | 75% savings |
| Meeting notes capture | 20 minutes | 5 minutes (automated) | 75% reduction |
| Daily task creation | 1-2 hours | 30 minutes | 75% automation |
| System data entry | Manual, duplicated | Auto-sync | 90% reduction |
| Overall productivity | Baseline | Measured uplift | 30-50% target |
Value Delivered
Operational Foundation
- Three-layer digital architecture established, connecting operational, relationship, and communication data
- CRM purpose-built for complex SPV/LP/Asset relationships unique to the investment model
- Clean, qualified contact database replacing degraded legacy data
Knowledge Preservation
- SOP AI agent captures and structures tribal knowledge from transcripts
- Operational intelligence accessible via natural language queries through OS AI
- Foundation for rapid onboarding of new team members
Strategic Clarity
- 100+ opportunities prioritised with clear implementation phases
- CRM selected with rigorous comparative analysis (cost, capability, AI integration)
- Three-year roadmap aligned to 50-70% AUM growth objective
The CRM implementation established a foundation for ongoing optimisation and expansion. ELab continues to support through managed services.
Quick Wins Phase (2-4 weeks):
- Meeting transcription automation (Circleback + voice-to-text)
- Email triage and AI drafting
- Expanded CRM automation
Fill-Ins Phase (4-8 weeks):
- Investor update automation (targeting 3-week to 3-5 day reduction)
- Payment tracking dashboard
- Automated relationship cadence tracking
Strategic Plays Phase (8-12+ weeks):
- Capital call automation sprint
- Compliance and entity management automation
- Custom AI integration for investor relations
- AI Foundations Workshop
- AI Readiness Assessment
- Strategic AI Roadmap
- AI Policy & Governance
- Pilot Implementation
- AI Coworker Deployment
- Managed AI Services
- vCAIO Advisory
Document Control: v2.0 | Last Updated: February 2026 | Author: ELab
For more information, contact ELab at hello@elab.co.nz or visit www.elab.co.nz
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