The BREAD Process: Alphasight’s Research Model

As part of our Alphasights review (from an adviser perspective), we came across a term which explains how the model Alphasights uses to organize their business: BREAD. The BREAD process describes a model consulting engagement for the Alphasights associates. As an adviser, this will give you some cues on how to position yourself in the recruiting discussion.

What is the BREAD Process?

The Alphasights BREAD process is an acronym for five stages of an engagement:

  • Brief – Understand the client requirements
  • Research – Identify where to find experts that fill that requirement
  • Engage & Access – Recruit and Arrange Client-Adviser Discussions
  • Delivery – Complete the Engagement

For those of you who want to work at Alphasights, being able to discuss this concept is apparently a key part of the recruiting process and the Alphasights case interview.

Curious about the career path and hierarchy within the firm? Alphasights posted a guide to their typical career path on their site here.

What is Alphasights business model?

Alphasights current business model is built around connecting industry experts with strategic decision makers. They specialize in helping connect investors and strategists with niche industry experts. The four use cases they talk about are:

  • Helping new teams quickly get up to speed on a market or industry
  • Facilitating identification of best practices via outside perspective
  • Helping identify innovations and market adjacencies
  • Providing perspective on industry shocks (tariffs, policy shifts, etc)

The BREAD process is the operational approach to fulfilling these requests. An associate will work with the client to understand what their management team is looking for. They will use research to identify highly credible advisers. At that point, they will reach out to advisers (access and engage) and set up the engagement (delivery).

One interesting note from an interview with their leadership. This interview indicates a strong bias towards recruiting engaged, working professionals instead of established experts. I’d definitely make sure you hit this point in your recruiting calls (as an adviser).

AlphaSights Competitors

Want to learn more about the expert network industry? Check out their top competitors!

Broader List of AlphaSights Competitors