Deal Flow Management in Attio
Dealflow falls apart when records scatter, stages mean different things to different partners, and nobody trusts the pipeline number in the Monday meeting. Attio fixes that with a data model you control. You decide what a deal is, what stages it moves through, and who sees which view. This guide walks the setup we use when we move a firm off Affinity, step by step.
Start with the right object
In Attio, a Deal is a custom object, a record type you define. Where Affinity uses Opportunities living inside a list, Attio gives Deals their own object with attributes you set: deal size, stage, sector, source, owner, and any field your process needs. Link each Deal to a Company record and the People involved, so a partner opening a deal sees the founder, the firm, and every email in one place. During a migration we map Affinity Opportunities to Attio Deals and Affinity Organizations to Companies, so the relationships survive the move.
Define stages that mean one thing
Set a status attribute on the Deal object with your real stages. A venture pipeline might run Sourced, First Meeting, Diligence, Partner Review, Term Sheet, Closed. A buyout pipeline might run Sourced, NDA, IOI, Management Meeting, LOI, Close. Keep the list short enough that every partner reads each stage the same way. Attio shows these as a kanban board, so anyone can drag a deal forward and the change logs automatically.
Build views for each person and question
A view is a saved filter and layout. Build one per question the team asks:
| View | Filter | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| My pipeline | Owner is me, stage is active | Each partner |
| Diligence now | Stage is Diligence | Deal team |
| Stale deals | No activity in 21 days | Whole team |
| This quarter by sector | Created this quarter, grouped by sector | Partners |
Affinity saved views and filters map to Attio views during a migration, so the screens your team relies on come across rather than getting rebuilt from scratch.
Cut manual entry with automation
Attio automations run on triggers and actions. A few that earn their keep:
- When a Deal enters Diligence, create a task for the deal lead and notify the channel.
- When no activity logs for 14 days, flag the Deal and assign a follow-up.
- When a Deal closes, set the close date and move the Company into the portfolio view.
Because email and calendar sync log activity on their own, the pipeline reflects reality without anyone updating a field after every call. Read how that capture works in email and inbox sync in Attio.
Keep the data clean
Duplicate companies wreck a pipeline number. Attio's enrichment and merge tools catch duplicate People and Companies as they appear, so a Deal links to one canonical record. Set required attributes on the Deal object, deal size and source at minimum, so a half-entered deal cannot hide in the board with blank fields.
Report from the same records
Because every Deal carries size, stage, source, and date, you build pipeline coverage, conversion by stage, and sourcing-channel reports straight from the records. No export to a spreadsheet, no parallel tracker. The number in the report is the number on the board.
Moving your dealflow from Affinity
A typical migration runs about 15 hours and around $3,000 at $200 per hour. We map People, Companies, Lists and saved views, Notes, Opportunities, and Files, rebuild relationship signals with email and calendar sync, and verify each pipeline before cutover. Most firms save about $14,720 a year moving from Affinity Scale near $1,917 per month to Attio Pro near $690, with payback in roughly 2.4 months. See the relationship side in relationship intelligence in Attio and the inbound side in deal sourcing in Attio.
See what your firm saves switching to Attio →FAQ
- How are deals structured in Attio?
- A Deal is a custom object with attributes you define, linked to Company and People records. That keeps deal size, stage, source, and contacts together on one record instead of scattered across lists.
- Can Attio show a kanban pipeline like Affinity?
- Yes. A status attribute renders as a kanban board where anyone can drag a deal between stages, and the change logs automatically with a timestamp and owner.
- Do my Affinity saved views carry over?
- Yes. We map Affinity saved views and filters to Attio views during the migration, so the screens your team uses come across rather than getting rebuilt.
- How does Attio reduce manual data entry?
- Email and calendar sync log activity automatically, and automations create tasks, flag stale deals, and update records on triggers, so the pipeline stays current without field updates after every call.
- What does it cost to move our dealflow off Affinity?
- About 15 hours and $3,000 for a typical migration. We map People, Companies, Lists, Notes, Opportunities, and Files, then verify each pipeline. Email contact@dialed.tech for a free test migration.