Frequently asked questions

What does NarrEx actually do?

NarrEx reads a deal document — a pitch deck, CIM, or management presentation — alongside the underlying financial model, and checks whether every claim in the document is actually supported by the numbers behind it. Each claim gets a clear verdict, with the source figure, the model figure, and a full evidence trail behind it.

What's the difference between the three modes?

Investor mode scores a pitch deck or CIM's claims for credibility against a metric registry, built for VCs and PE investors screening deals. Advisor/Preparer mode reconciles a CIM or deal document before it's sent out, built for M&A advisors and IBs preparing their own materials. Due Diligence mode flags misalignments in a target's materials as structured, risk-rated findings, built for FDD and transaction services teams working on behalf of a buyer.

What file types does NarrEx accept?

Deal documents as PDF, financial models as XLSX. Documents and models are uploaded directly. This is expected to expand over time.

How would a VC or investor use NarrEx?

Upload a pitch deck or CIM alongside the company's model. NarrEx maps the document's claims — growth rates, margins, projections — back to the model and flags where they don't hold up, before the investor spends time on deeper diligence.

How would an M&A advisory team use NarrEx?

Advisory teams typically build both the CIM/deck and the underlying model themselves, from a client's raw financials. Because these are often produced by different people on the same deal team under time pressure, they can drift out of sync. NarrEx checks the finished materials against the advisor's own model before they go out.

How does Operating Model, Deal Shape, and leverage affect extraction?

For Advisor/Preparer and Due Diligence workspaces, selecting an Operating Model, Deal Shape, and whether the deal is financed with leverage tells NarrEx which financial metrics to extract from your CIM. That makes extraction more deterministic and relevant to the transaction. Unlike the old system, these can combine, so a leveraged acquisition of a SaaS company gets both SaaS metrics and leverage metrics, not one or the other.

Operating Model sets the business metrics: Recurring Revenue/SaaS gets ARR waterfall, NRR, GRR, CAC Payback, Rule of 40; Staffing/Professional Services gets Bill Rate, Utilisation, Realisation Rate; Industrial/Manufacturing gets Capex, Inventory, Capacity Utilisation; Multi-Site/Location-Based gets Revenue per Store, EBITDAR, Same-store Growth; and so on across eight models.

Deal Shape controls combination metrics: Merger, Bolt-on/Add-on Acquisition, and Divestiture/Carve-out add Synergies, Integration Costs, and Pro Forma figures. Full Sale, Minority Growth Investment, and Refinancing do not, because no two businesses are being combined.

Financed with Leverage controls debt metrics: Net Debt, Leverage Ratio, Interest Cover, DSCR, and Cash Conversion only apply when the transaction involves borrowed capital.

Mode 2 firms (Boutique IB, M&A Advisory, Corporate Development, Restructuring Advisory) and Mode 3 firms (Financial Due Diligence, Transaction Services, Debt Advisory) select all three fields directly. That replaces the old setup where a deal could only be one of three fixed templates, so a firm running a leveraged SaaS acquisition previously had to choose either SaaS metrics or leverage metrics, never both.

How would an FDD/due diligence team use NarrEx?

A buyer engages an FDD firm to evaluate a target company. The FDD firm receives the target's materials — CIM, deck, and model. NarrEx checks whether the target's own materials reconcile with the target's own model, supporting the FDD team's broader independent analysis (QoE, working capital, cash flow, and so on). The FDD firm still produces and sends its own report to the buyer; NarrEx is one layer within that process, not a replacement for it.

Does NarrEx replace the human review process?

No. Every flagged output is reviewed by a person. NarrEx is decision-support, not an automated sign-off — nothing is fully automated end to end.

Does NarrEx do the same thing as UpSlide (or similar tools)?

Not quite. Tools like UpSlide check whether a document is internally consistent with itself — matching figures across slides and validating data linked in from Excel. NarrEx checks a document's claims against a separate, independently supplied financial model, whether or not the two were ever linked. Different scope.

Does NarrEx replace tools like UpSlide?

No. Keeping a document internally consistent while it's built, and verifying its claims against an independent model, are different jobs. A firm could reasonably use both.

How accurate is NarrEx?

We don't have a single accuracy number to quote yet, and we'd rather not invent one. What we do instead is publish our own testing process openly, including where the system gets things wrong, so anyone evaluating it can see real evidence rather than a marketing claim.

What happens when NarrEx gets something wrong?

We treat it as a defect to trace and fix, not something to quietly patch around. Our research page documents this process directly, including bugs found during our own synthetic testing and how each one was resolved.

Is NarrEx still in development?

Yes. We're looking for a small number of early design partners, and actively testing the system against synthetic and real materials to find where it breaks before a client would ever see it.

Where is data hosted, and is it secure?

Data is hosted in the EU (AWS eu-west-1), encrypted at rest and in transit, and isolated by firm.

Is NarrEx GDPR compliant?

We're working through GDPR and other applicable legal requirements. Full compliance documentation isn't finalized yet.

What does the design partner trial actually involve?

The first few engagements are free. After that, if it's earned its place, a discounted rate applies — one that stays discounted even after full rollout. Feedback goes directly into the roadmap.