For experts new to the model
Expert networks, explained for professionals.
An expert network connects experienced professionals with investors, consultants, and corporates who want to understand an industry better before making a decision.
If you have spent your career working in a sector, you know things that someone evaluating it from the outside does not. Expert networks exist so that those teams can pay you for a short, structured conversation about your area of expertise.
Watch: what is an expert network?
How the model works
A 45-minute call, paid at your rate.
A client briefs us on a research question — a market they are entering, a company they are evaluating, a technology they want to understand. We identify professionals whose background fits and send them a short description of the project.
If you accept, we arrange a call. It is usually 45 minutes, by phone or video, on a date that suits you. You speak from your own professional experience. You set your hourly rate. You are paid within 30 days.
Who is asking, and why
Mostly investment teams and consultants.
The clients are private equity firms, hedge funds, asset managers, investment banks, and strategy consultancies. Their analysts may have read every public report on a sector but still need to talk to someone who has actually worked in it. That is what they are paying for — the practitioner's view, not a written report.
Calls are research, not advice. You are not recommending any transaction. You are describing how the industry works, what the real operating constraints are, where the conventional wisdom is wrong, and what they should be asking next.
A long-established industry
Same model as GLG, AlphaSights, Third Bridge.
Expert networks have been a standard part of institutional research since the early 2000s. The larger names — GLG, AlphaSights, Third Bridge, Guidepoint, Coleman — all operate the same model. Most major investment firms use multiple providers.
Silverlight is a UK-registered specialist in the same industry, with a smaller, more deeply screened network.
What the call covers
Your general industry expertise.
Each call is about your general professional knowledge and views on the sector — the kind of insight you would share at an industry conference. You see the topic and the client's research question in writing before you accept.
Before every call
Our compliance team prepares each brief and agrees the topic and timing with you in advance. You always know exactly what the conversation covers before you accept.
The full professional terms are in the Expert Terms.
What it is not
Not a survey site, not a referral scheme.
You do not pay anything to take part. There is no subscription, no placement fee, no upsell. We are paid by our institutional clients, and we pay you. There is no minimum number of calls — many experts take one or two a year, others take several a month, and either is fine.