Forward deployed engineering for private equity and VC firms
Eric Friedman Co-founder, Railblocks
Short answer: Railblocks is a forward deployed engineering team for venture capital firms, private equity firms, and family offices. We embed with your team, connect the tools you already use, and build AI systems around how your firm works. You own what we build. Engagements are monthly retainers, starting around $10K per month.
Who we work with
Most of our investment firm work is with VC and PE firms, and the problem looks similar at both. A small team handles a huge amount of information across deals, portfolio companies and investors, and most of what the firm knows sits in inboxes, folders and people’s heads. Family offices often run into the same thing with an even smaller team.
Firms call us for one of a few reasons. Often a partner has built something in Claude Code or Codex, a deal screener or a script that reads updates, and it works. Now the rest of the team wants it, and it needs to reach the CRM, respect who can see what, and keep working when its author is busy. Or a workflow is eating associate time every week. Or the firm has bought plenty of software and the important work still happens in spreadsheets and email.
If an existing product already does the job, you should buy it, and we’ll tell you so. We compare the options in our guide to FDE partners, consultants, SaaS and internal teams.
What we build
The first thing we set up is usually firm memory: one place that holds what your firm knows, pulled from portfolio updates, email, documents, and your CRM, with the sources attached. The rest of the work draws on it.
On top of it, we build the work your team wants done:
- Dealflow: keeping the pipeline moving and answering questions about any company.
- Meeting prep: a brief before each meeting, drawn from what the firm already knows.
- Portfolio work: turning company updates into a searchable record, then drafting monitoring views and reports from it.
- Custom workflows: tools and agents for the recurring work specific to your firm.
These run on Firm OS, the building blocks we’ve developed through client work. You don’t start from scratch, and we shape each block around your firm.
How we work with you
We start by asking you to show us something: how a piece of work happens today, or the thing you’ve already built and want the team to use. If it’s a prototype, we don’t throw it away. It tells us what you want.
Then your team of two, an outcomes manager and a forward deployed engineer, works directly with the people doing that work. We build in short cycles and show you working software as we go. You react to the software, not a slide. We work with your IT team and your security requirements from the start, and we connect to the tools you already use rather than asking everyone to move.
Once it’s running, we stay on. We monitor it, keep it current, and build the next thing as your needs change, which is why we work on a retainer rather than a one time project fee.
What it costs
Our retainers start around $10K per month. Where you land depends on how many workflows and systems are involved and how much security and compliance work your firm needs.
Infrastructure and model usage are separate from our fee. Your firm is the Cloudflare customer and pays Cloudflare directly, so the account, the data, and the audit trail sit under your name, which is what your security and compliance reviews want to see. The paid plan starts at $5 a month before usage.
You own it
The data, the code and the memory belong to your firm. The system runs on infrastructure you control, usually your own Cloudflare account, and you hold the keys and decide who sees what.
You also choose your AI models. New ones arrive every few months, and your firm’s knowledge shouldn’t be tied to any one of them. If you ever stop working with us, everything stays with you. We wrote more about why this matters in Every Firm Should Own Its Memory.
Our work
Here are a few projects we’ve written up:
| Client | What we built | Result |
|---|---|---|
| a16z | An AI admissions system for the Ecosystem team’s programs | One operator screened about 1,300 applications in about 2 hours |
| Primer | A company brain on top of Notion | About 60 HQ staff on one system within weeks |
| Dfns | A move from Salesforce to a custom system on Attio | About 90% lower CRM spend |
| Lighthouse | The operating system behind its visa service | 150% month over month growth with no headcount added |
| ODF | A custom application system on Airtable | 15K+ applications a year and twice the program capacity |
Most of our work with investment firms is confidential, and we take that seriously, so there are no named investment firm examples here. We’re happy to talk it through directly.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Railblocks cost?
Monthly retainers start around $10K per month, depending on scope. Infrastructure and model usage are separate.
Is Railblocks a consulting firm or a software product?
Neither. We’re an engineering team that embeds with you, builds working systems, and keeps them running. Our reusable building blocks give you the speed of a product and software shaped around your firm.
Who owns what you build?
You do. That includes the data, the code, and the memory.
Do you work with family offices?
Yes. VC and PE firms are our main focus, and family offices often need the same things.
Do we have to use a particular AI model?
No. If your firm has already approved certain models or has cloud commitments, we build around them.
How do we get started?
Pick one workflow that matters to your firm, or show us something you’ve already built. We’ll look at how it runs today and tell you what we’d do.
How we can help
Bring us that workflow and the tools involved. Reach out.