Why I Started Agathon Research Partners: A Founder’s Perspective
- Yash Duseja
- Sep 11
- 3 min read
Private equity firms have no shortage of data. Between subscription databases, tech-enabled sourcing platforms, and investment banks, the industry is awash with information. But early in my career working with private equity clients, I noticed something surprising. Even with support from these intermediaries and tools, private equity firms often struggled to find the right information, structured the right way, when they needed it most.
They weren’t struggling from a lack of data.
They were struggling from a lack of research that transforms disparate data points into clear, actionable insights.
This is the gap I built Agathon Research Partners to fill.
The Gap Between Data and Insight
Private equity firms, particularly middle-market firms, are under immense pressure to build informed views of fragmented markets and source proprietary deals. Yet the resources tailored for them are limited. Most data platforms, intermediaries, and advisory firms are built for scale, not depth.
More importantly, these resources can’t replace the human judgment that comes from deep secondary research:
Understanding what each company actually does beyond a single-sentence description.
Mapping complex, fragmented industries in an intuitive, strategic way.
Identifying nuanced company details that inform whether it is even acquirable.
I knew this because I’d seen it firsthand — firms attempting to use pre-packaged lists or automated outputs, only to still require hours of additional work cleaning, validating, and enhancing the data.
The Agathon Approach
I started Agathon with a simple premise: tailored, human-led research still wins when precision matters.
Every industry map, every M&A target list I build is crafted from scratch. No recycled lists, no automated scraping, no plug-and-play outputs, and no outsourcing.
This work is time-intensive, and it should be. But it ultimately saves clients time where it counts: in the quality of the intelligence they’re acting on.
Helping PE Firms Achieve One of Two Outcomes
In most cases, my research is designed to help private equity firms achieve one of the following outcomes:
1. Source Proprietary or Off-Market Deals
Many private equity firms are actively looking for family-owned or founder-led companies that aren’t yet in a sale process. Agathon’s research provides a curated, deeply vetted list of such targets, enabling firms to run direct outreach campaigns aimed at sourcing deals before intermediaries get involved.
2. Sharpen Expectations with Intermediaries and Advisors
Even when proprietary outreach doesn’t result in a deal, Agathon’s work still proves valuable. PE firms can use the market map or M&A target list when engaging intermediaries like investment banks or buy-side brokers.
For example, a firm might share my research under NDA and say:
“We’ve already covered this landscape thoroughly. What companies can you bring us that aren’t on this list?”
Similarly, PE firms working with expert networks can leverage my research to guide them in mining relevant executives from specific companies, helping them source expertise where networks may otherwise have limited visibility.
Exclusivity by Design
Agathon operates on a strict exclusivity model: each research deliverable is built for a single PE firm and never shared or repurposed.
While I retain the methodology and intellectual property, clients receive exclusive, perpetual rights to use the specific research I deliver, whether that’s a market map or an M&A target list.
This ensures PE firms can confidently leverage the insights without concern that the same work is circulating elsewhere.
A Boutique Partner for PE Firms
Agathon remains intentionally boutique. It’s a one-person operation, designed to work on one project at a time, ensuring depth over scale. For private equity firms that value discretion, rigor, and a tailored research relationship, this model fits.
Research isn’t just about gathering data. It’s about clarifying decisions. And that’s what Agathon is here to help with.
If this sounds like the kind of research partnership your firm needs, I’d be glad to start a conversation. Feel free to reach out to me directly at yash@agathonrp.com.
