The Partner-IR silo
IR professionals often find themselves duct-taping disconnected workflows just to survive. While many operational hurdles exist, one of the most persistent is the Partner-IR silo, also known as the “Doug” problem.
The "Doug" problem occurs when a firm’s key partners have critical interactions with investors that are never logged in a centralized system. These informal touchpoints—a casual coffee, quick phone call, or hand-written notes from a high-stakes pitch—often go undocumented because busy leaders simply don't have time to log every interaction in a CRM.
When this context is lost, the consequences for the IR team are significant:
- IR teams struggle to piece together the whole story of a relationship.
- Without knowing what was promised or discussed, follow-ups are less effective, and relationship building stalls.
- Missing information turns into friction points that make it harder to secure capital.
Moving from survival to scale
The solution isn’t asking partners to log more notes. It’s removing the friction entirely.
A connected platform designed for investor relations automatically captures relationship context.
- Instead of lost notes, partners can use voice apps to recap meetings, which are then automatically logged into a CRM.
- AI can analyze these recaps to automatically draft follow-up messages and sync next steps across Outlook and Teams.
- IR professionals can stop chasing updates and start using intelligent insights to identify the right prospects for new funds.
When CRM, fund data, portals, subscriptions, and reporting all operate from a single source of truth, institutional knowledge stops walking out the door after every meeting.
The bottom line
The “Doug” problem rarely exists in isolation. It compounds with other operational silos—between IR and fund admin, across IR team members, and between internal data and external research. The result is a fragmented operating model where no one has a true, real-time view of the investor relationship. But silos don't have to be a way of life. By replacing fragmented data with a single source of truth, IR professionals can move with the precision and agility necessary to win. To succeed in today's market, firms must transition toward "Operational Alpha"—the compounding effect of better decisions and faster execution built through a commitment to unified technology and culture.
Ready to eliminate the "Doug" problem?
Learn how Juniper Square transforms legacy workflows into a connected infrastructure that enables faster fundraising and builds lasting investor trust.