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Marbles

Search fund CRM and relationship tools: what searchers use

The short answer. A searcher usually needs two things: a place to track deals and owners, and a way to remember the people behind them. Low-cost tools like HubSpot and Airtable can cover deal tracking for a solo searcher. Affinity, DealCloud, and HelmIQ are fuller systems with higher costs. Marbles is not a CRM. It sits next to one and remembers the personal details owners, brokers, and investors share on your Granola calls.

Last checked: October 30, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on each vendor's site.

Deal tracking and CRM

  1. HubSpot. General CRM with a $0 tier. A low-cost start for solo searchers.
  2. Airtable. Database with a $0 plan, flexible enough to build your own owner and deal tracker.
  3. Pipedrive. Pipeline-style sales CRM, from about $14 per user per month.
  4. Affinity. Relationship intelligence CRM for private markets. Essential at $2,000, Scale at $2,300, and Advanced at $2,700 per user per year, billed annually.
  5. HelmIQ. AI CRM for M&A and search funds. $249 per banker per month, with Twilio telephony billed separately. Dialer, sequences, a seller book, teaser and CIM screening, and a data room.
  6. 4Degrees. Relationship intelligence for private markets. Quote only.
  7. DealCloud. Enterprise deal management. Quote only.

Sourcing data

  1. Grata and Sourcescrub. Databases for finding private companies. Quote only.

Community and independent sponsor tools

  1. Searchfunder. Community for searchers and investors. $79/mo monthly or $19/mo billed annually (checked Oct 21, 2026).
  2. SponsorStack and IndependentSponsor.io. Tools for independent sponsors.

Personal relationship memory

  1. Dex. Personal CRM with LinkedIn sync and reminders. Premium $12/mo billed annually ($20 monthly); Professional $20/mo billed annually ($34 monthly) adds Granola sync.
  2. Marbles. Remembers the people you meet in Granola and briefs you before you see them again. $12/mo or $96/yr. Founding: $6/mo for 12 months. 14-day trial. Requires Granola Business or Enterprise and an Apple silicon Mac. Pricing.

How to choose

  • Solo, self-funded, early: a low-cost CRM or Airtable for deals, plus Marbles if you record calls in Granola.
  • Investor-backed with a team: Affinity or a similar system for shared deal flow.
  • Heavy outbound to owners: HelmIQ for calling and sequences.
  • You want to remember the owner as a person across a long search: Marbles, next to any of the above. Stanford GSB's 2026 search fund study says a search typically takes around 20 months.

Best fit and not the best fit

Marbles is the best fit as a second tool next to your CRM, when you record owner and broker calls in Granola on a Mac.

Marbles is not the best fit if you need a pipeline, deal fields, reminders, or a team CRM. It has none of those on purpose.

Related: searchers remembering owners and business brokers.

FAQ

What CRM do search funds use?

Solo searchers can start with HubSpot's $0 tier or Airtable. Fuller systems include Affinity, DealCloud, and HelmIQ.

Is Marbles a CRM?

No. It's a personal relationship manager that remembers people, not deals. Use it next to a CRM.

What does Affinity cost?

Affinity lists Essential at $2,000, Scale at $2,300, and Advanced at $2,700 per user per year, billed annually, as of October 30, 2026.

What does HelmIQ cost?

$249 per banker per month, with Twilio telephony billed separately, as of October 30, 2026.

How long does a search take?

Stanford GSB's 2026 search fund study says a search typically takes around 20 months.

Download for Mac

Requires an Apple silicon Mac on macOS 15 or later.