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Operator playbook

Apex, day to day.

The hands-on guide to running targets, qualifying deals, and moving them through the pipeline.

Corp dev CRM Beta apex.vibetribe.studio

02 / 20

Mental model

Targets, deals, and gated stages.

A target is a company you watch. A deal is one pursuit of it. Every deal moves through four gated stages.

Stage 1QualificationScore the target against your thesis. Pass the gate.

Stage 2EvaluationDo the diligence. Complete the stage milestones.

Stage 3ActiveLive pursuit. Push the deal toward a close.

Stage 4AcquiredClosed and owned. The pursuit is done.

Every advance is gated. A deal can also be marked Passed (walked away) or On Hold (paused).

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Step 1

Add or watch a target.

Open Targets. Add a company to the registry, or drop it on the watchlist to keep an eye on it.

1

Open Targets

Find it under Pipeline in the sidebar.

2

Add the company

Name, industry, sector, country.

3

File it

Registry to evaluate, Watchlist to track.

apex.vibetribe.studio / targets

Targets

RegistryWatchlist

Company	Sector	Country
Northwind Robotics	Manufacturing	DE
Helio Systems	Software	UK
Meridian Freight	Logistics	NL

Registry · 128 companies

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Step 2

Start a deal.

Open the target and create a deal under it. A target can hold many deals over time. Each one opens in Qualification.

01

Open the target

Pick the company from your Targets list.

02

Create a deal

Name the pursuit. It lives under that target, alongside any earlier ones.

03

Land in Qualification

Every new deal starts at the first gate.

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Step 3

Fill the scorecard.

Qualification runs on a scorecard from your acquisition thesis. Rate each criterion, enter the financial numbers.

Weighted score

78

IFS Corp Dev Thesis v1 · out of 100

Strategic fit82

AI strength74

Financial profile88

Sanity TestPass

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Financial profile

Hurdle versus actual.

The Financial Profile section captures real numbers, each with a hurdle. Apex shows the hurdle against the actual.

Criterion	Hurdle	Actual	Status
LTM ARR growth	≥ 20%	32%	Meets
Gross margin	≥ 60%	71%	Meets
LTM EBITDAC	Context only	EUR 4.2m	Context

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The first gate

Pass the qualification gate.

A deal leaves Qualification when the Sanity Test passes and a Conclusion is written. Nothing else blocks the move.

Hands-off: the "Complete qualification scorecard" milestone completes itself the moment the gate passes.

Qualification gate 2 conditions

✓Sanity Test passedAt least 1 of 3 strategic-value questions is yes

✓Conclusion writtenA short call on the scorecard

›Advance to Evaluation opens

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Step 4

Put milestones on the deal.

Each stage carries milestones: the work that must be done. Apply the stage template, or add your own.

Apply a stage template

Each stage ships with a milestone template. Apply it in one click. Admins edit templates in Settings.

Add ad-hoc milestones

Something specific to this deal? Add a one-off milestone alongside the template ones.

Let the system ones run

Some milestones manage themselves, like the qualification scorecard gate. You never click them.

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Step 5

Give each milestone an owner.

Every milestone needs an owner and a target date. That is how Apex knows what is due, and who owns it.

1

Open the milestone

Click it on the deal.

2

Set an owner

The person accountable for it.

3

Set a target date

When it needs to be done by.

NDA countersignatureIn progress

OwnerJPJean-Pierre

Target dateFri, Jul 11

StageEvaluation

StatusPlanned → In progress

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Step 6

Advance when the work is done.

A deal cannot enter the next stage until its milestones are complete. Finish each with a note, then advance.

Drag it and it stays put. On the pipeline board, the gate blocks the move until the last milestone is done.

Evaluation › Active2 / 3 done

✓Initial outreach completed

✓NDA countersignature

›Site visit / management callAssigned to JP · complete with a note

1 milestone left🔒 Advance to Active

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Overdue

When a milestone slips.

Miss a target date and the milestone goes slipped. Apex flags it. Reschedule to un-slip it, or reopen a finished one.

!

Milestone slipped

2h ago

NDA countersignature was due Friday on Northwind Robotics. It is now overdue.

•

Due this week

Today

Site visit / management call is due Thursday. Assigned to you.

Reschedule and it un-slips. Reopen a done milestone if the work resumes.

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Step 7

Log interactions and tasks.

Record calls and meetings on the deal. Add tasks with due dates. The deal keeps its own history.

1

Log an interaction

Record a call or meeting on the deal.

2

Write what happened

A short note keeps the history straight.

3

Add a task

Give it a due date. Attach it to the deal.

Management call logged

Northwind Robotics · notes attached

Jul 8

Send follow-up deck

Task · owner JP

Due Jul 12

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Step 8

Build a report.

Open Reports. Pick an entity, add columns, add a filter. Every number is live and permission-scoped.

apex.vibetribe.studio / reports / new

Entity

DealsTargetsContactsMilestones

Columns

DealStageLeadARR growth %

FilterARR growth > 20%

Deal	Stage	Lead	ARR growth
Northwind Robotics	Active	JP	32%
Helio Systems	Evaluation	JO	24%

Preview · top 15 rows. Export CSV for the full set.

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Step 9

Reorder columns, then export.

Drag the grip handle to set column order. Preview the top 15 rows. Export CSV for the full set.

1

Drag the grip

Reorder columns by hand, or use arrow keys.

2

Preview the top 15

Check the shape before you export.

3

Export CSV

The full result set, not just the preview.

⋮⋮Deal

⋮⋮ARR growth %

⋮⋮Stage

⋮⋮Lead

⋮⋮Gross margin %

Preview (15)Export CSV

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Cmd K

Ask in plain English.

Hit Cmd K anywhere. Type the question the way you would say it. Read the answer, and what it assumed.

⌘Kdeals James is leading

3 deals · James Okoro leads

Northwind Robotics · Bolt-on talksActive

Helio Systems · 2025 approachEvaluation

Meridian Freight · Roll-upActive

Confidence: highAssumption: James = James OkoroFilters dropped: noneClaude Haiku

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Board deck

Generate a board deck.

Apex assembles a board-ready narrative for a deal from its own data. Fixed report types, AI-assisted drafting.

DECKNorthwind Robotics · Bolt-on talks

01Deal_Summary

02Financial_Profile

03Thesis_Fit_and_Scorecard

04Milestones_and_Timeline

05Risks_and_Next_Steps

5 sections, auto-built from the deal. Edit before you present.

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The network

Build the deal's network.

Add the people at a target with an owner and a strength. Link an intermediary, like a banker, to the deal.

Contact

Priya Nair

CFO · Northwind Robotics

Relationship ownerJP

StrengthStrong

TypeExecutive

SourceReferral

Intermediary

Goldman Sachs

Advisor · DACH industrials

Linked dealBolt-on talks

RoleBanker

CoverageManufacturing

ContactM. Bauer

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Notifications

Tune your notifications.

Choose what reaches you, and where. Every type has an in-app and an email switch. Email is on by default.

Notification typeIn-appEmail

Upcoming milestone

Slipped milestone

Assigned to me

Stage moves

Settings, then Notifications. Per type, per channel.

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Good habits

A few shortcuts worth keeping.

Cmd K. Search anything. Query the whole database in plain English, from any screen.
All / My. Re-scope on the fly. Flip any report, the dashboard, or the milestone timeline to just you.
Milestones. See what is due. One page, grouped by slipped, this week, next week, later.
Focus pins. Keep deals close. Pin the deals you care about on the Dashboard.
Replay the tour. Super admin only. Re-run the first-run walkthrough from Settings, then AI Spend.

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One more thing

It is beta. Tell us.

Report anything broken or strange through Settings, then Suggestion. That is how Apex gets better, fast.