AlphaSights

Question 1

Who are Alphasights main competitors?

Answer 1

Atheneum Partners

Third Bridge

Question 2

What differentiates them from competitors?

Answer 2

• SPEED: over 90% of projects delivered within 48 hours
• SPECIFICITY/RELEVANCE: provide super specific and relevant knowledge, where other firms might provide broad/general info that only looks good from surface

Question 3

Why am I a good fit for Alphasights

Answer 3

I also knew the job would help me become a confident communicator, allow me to gain project management skills and give me the opportunity to interact with some of the most influential thought leaders in the business world.

– Finally, I felt that my skill set, work ethic, and independent nature matched well with the culture of the firm.

– I love working with people and meeting new people and the Associate position allows me to do both on a daily basis.

– the short term length of projects suits me better. I enjoy a more fast paced environment.

Knowledge for Good initiative: non profit organizations can use alpha sights service for free.

ex. CDC Group and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)
- > organization that gives back to their community and be surrounded by an uplifting spirit.

Make an impact in a fairly new organization that is expanding and growing everyday.

Question 4

What do Alphasights do?

Answer 4

Alphasights essentially fills in the knowledge gaps that clients may have.

1. A client will come to AlphaSights if they need knowledge about a certain industry or a certain aspect of an industry in order to help them make a decision or better understand a market they may be interested in.
2. This is knowledge that is not readily accessible to them.
3. Once the client gives a brief of what they are looking for, AlphaSights research the industry of interest.
4. The company will then identify a few industry experts and contact them to determine their suitability for the client.
5. Once AlphaSights determines the suitable expert advisors, and there is usually more than one, the associates will write a description of each expert and send the descriptions to the client.
6. Once the client chooses an expert they would like to speak to, AlphaSights connects the client to the industry expert.

Question 5

BREAD Process

Answer 5

BRIEF

RESEARCH

ENGAGE

ASSESS

DELIVERY

Question 6

What do you think your day-to-day would look like if you get the job?

Answer 6

Dependent on what stage you’re at in the BREAD process

Question 7

Why do you want to work here

Answer 7

• AlphaSights is at the forefront of a new revolution, leading the charge into an exciting new field
  I see a rapidly growing new field. AlphaSights has already proven that the ability to rapidly connect with actionable insight to help shape key strategic decisions has a
• getting the opportunity to interact with advisors/experts from across a wide range of industries
• provides unbiased information so decisions can accurately be made
• also due to the fairly recent phenomenon of fake news that has occurred, people are losing faith in experts and I’d love to be part of a movement that shifts this perspective back to the important knowledge that experts bring to the table which I believe alpha sights embodies,

Question 8

Questions to Ask

Answer 8

1. I know not all projects are the same, but I was wondering the typical length of time spent on a project
2. how big are the teams normally for each client or is it one to one
3. Do client services specialise by sector or client size?
4. How much time do associates spend at client offices?
5. How much interaction do associates have with experts?

Question 9

Talk us through an ambitious goal you set for yourself, and how you went about achieving it.

Answer 9

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Question 10

Situation where you experienced a real risk of failure. How did you deal with it?

Answer 10

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Question 11

Tell us a time you had to sell an idea

Answer 11

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Question 12

What do you expect to learn and what will you add to the position?

Answer 12

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Question 13

3 words your friends would describe you?

Answer 13

Kind, Resilient, Driven

Question 14

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Answer 14

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Question 15

Who are Alphasights clients?

Answer 15

Different sectors from private equity, to management consultancies as well as your social impact section which includes your knowledge for good initiative. I admire how Alphasights uses its power for important social causes such as helping resolve exploitation in the garment industry in India etc

Question 16

Describe how you would change a strategy in order to become more competitive

Answer 16

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Question 17

Skills needed for associate job

Answer 17

Interpersonal (talking to clients)
Strong organisational skills
Project management skills.
Ambitious (performance driven environment)

Question 18

When have you demonstrated performance driven skills or KPIs

Answer 18

Startup I’m currently working at is completely driven by KPIs which we

Question 19

How to find experts?

Answer 19

1. System Search - refer to the existing expert network first to search for relevant experts. Allows for efficiency and quick delivery
2. Custom recruiting - when you run out of relevant experts, finding new ones through searches on LinkedIn or companies in the relevant industry

Question 20

Describe the growth of the expert industry

Answer 20

The industry is a prime example of disruptive innovation. It came in at a time where there was a gap in the market and really shook things up.

Clients no longer have to go to consultancies to seek expertise in a market.

Question 21

3 Cs of strategy

Answer 21

Customers
Costs
Competitors

Question 22

Frameworks to develop corporate strategy

Answer 22

2x2 matrix
Experience curve
SWOT
Porters five forced

Question 23

Business model of learning networks

Answer 23

Connecting clients to experts to help make decisions

Question 24

What motivates you to work in this industry

Answer 24

Constant learning process, from learning from leading experts to learning new skills or negotiation and client management

The impact you can have in this industry such as knowledge search for a client which may shift an industry is so empowering

Question 25

Types of environments that give you energy

Answer 25

Environments that provide autonomy and flexibility. But also importantly one that has psychological safety. So where people can discuss problems and issues without the fear they’ll be shot down

Question 26

Brief

Answer 26

This is the first part of the process where a client will send the associate a brief which is simply a description of what information they need or what they need help with.

• sometimes it’ll just be a two line email with very little info. Need to get them on the phone (main challenge) and ask more questions about what they’re looking for and which experts would be best suited.
• find out TIMELINE, GEOGRAPHY and SPECIFIC ANGLES.
• what is their hypothesis

Question 27

Research

Answer 27

After gathering the needs of the client and identifying the industry of interest, the associate will need to do research on the industry to understand the market and its current trends so that they can properly identify appropriate expert advisors according to the client’s needs.

• researching in efficient way and having a quick framework, not deep and academic
• who are key suppliers, key customers, current trends in market
• need ability to spot red flags in terms of compliance and keeping clients safe

Question 28

Engage

Answer 28

After identifying potential advisors, the associate will then have to figure out how to get in touch with them. This is the engagement process, and it involves finding creative ways to get the experts’ contact information whether that be calling secretaries or doing intensive online research.

Find the right experts through various networks. Eg alpha sights own network and then other sources like LinkedIn.

Find contact info eg. Secretaries or which board they’re part of. Online databases with emails or phone numbers.

Question 29

Assess

Answer 29

• After getting in contact with the expert advisors, the associate needs to be able to assess the advisors through a phone call, which is often very short, around 10 minutes. During that time, the associate needs to be able to have an intelligible conversation about the advisor’s field of expertise while determining if the advisor suits the needs of the client.
• get them on the phone to discuss project and see if they have the knowledge the client needs.
• explain what alphasights is all about
• what is the project
• what answers we need
• how much we’ll pay them (logistics)
• PERSUADE; expansion of their network, new ideas for them, expanding their knowledge and good for their career
• CHALLENGE: difficult to assess in just 10 mins especially when also trying to persuade them about alphasights

Question 30

Delivery

Answer 30

• To use your own words, delivery is packaging all of those conversations into written statements, and then sending those statements to the client where they will read and assess them. They will then either request to speak with a specific advisor, or they will give further guidance
• putting all the convos with different convos into short written statements that we send over to a client who will review and either request to speak to them or give us further guidance
• statements: experts suitability, relevance and background
• strong client relationships necessary and persuasive skills to convince clients.

Question 31

Helping clients RAMP UP

Answer 31

Access to external knowledge empowers clients when faced with unfamiliar challenges.

Eg.

1. Investors assessing unexplored industries:

Solution; for expanding supply chain talk to business development director, multinational food producer (channel partner), commodities trader, COO (supply chain and customer), food products director (financial and operational) and biofuels manufacturer (operational and customer)

Gains 360 degree knowledge as client is provided with channel partner, supply chain, customer, finance and operational perspectives.

Talking to suppliers and customers helps them evaluate viability of acquisition.

2. Launching into foreign markets:

Solution; during European trip for energy company alphasights set up meetings with local industry advisors including distributors, installers, regulatory experts and former execs in key players in the market.

Therefore, they gained local familiarity and extended their European network to gain insight to the regulatory, distribution and marketing challenges

Question 32

Private equity (acquisition) examples

Answer 32

Former group COO of target company as well as other execs in the space.

Due-dillagane. Need deep dive into industry and target company.

Connect them to former deputy director of health in France who recently wrote a report of the industry.

• COO
• business development director
• unit leaders specific to industry

Question 33

Redesign experts

Answer 33

• former heads of business function
• CIOS and technical experts (software knowledge)
• industry experts

Question 34

Research and design experts (innovation)

Answer 34

When clients need to gain perspective out of their usual networks and exchange knowledge to spark creativity

GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR INNOVATION

• former senior director of product innovation and leading global company of industry
• former innovation officer at a leading company

NEW PRODUCT DEV

• former r and d director of company
• former VP it r&d Europe of industry
• former European r&d manager of industry

R&D Best practices

• chief technologists at a global company
• former r&d director at global company

Question 35

International business experts

Answer 35

• former chief of industry compliance office

- former CEO of leading global company