Expert Networks as Research Workstations
Office Hours
The AlphaSights and Tegus combination shows that expert networks are turning into full research workstations, not just call brokers. Instead of paying one vendor to search broker notes and filings, then another to source private market experts, a fund can stay inside one product, ask a question, read transcript evidence, book a fresh call, and plug findings into models. That makes the platform stickier because each additional workflow makes the next seat easier to justify.
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Tegus changed the model by treating expert calls as a reusable data asset. It built a transcript library, sold access on subscription, and charged calls close to cost, so the real economic engine became the library and the workflow around it, not the one off call fee.
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That matters because public and private research had been split. Public market teams lived in filings, broker research, and models. Private market teams needed fresh conversations with operators, customers, and competitors. Combining both lets one seat serve hedge funds, private equity, and even venture teams doing diligence on the same platform.
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Competitors still lean on different moats. GLG wins on scale, compliance, and regulated verticals with about 1 million experts. Third Bridge leans on analyst curated transcript coverage. Office Hours goes the other direction, using self serve search, scheduling, and private transcripts to cut the service layer and widen usage beyond finance buyers.
The category is heading toward broader bundles with better search, more reusable content, and deeper workflow integration. The winners are likely to be the platforms that can capture live human insight, connect it to documents and models, and make the whole loop fast enough that customers stop stitching together separate public market and private market tools.