Transforming traditional industries with AI

Hi everyone – Pavel here. Excited to join the Searchfunder community. I spend most of my time operating at the intersection of private equity, data, and AI. Through ZeroVC, I’ve been working with independent sponsors, searchers, and PE funds to identify where automation and AI can drive real margin expansion across portfolio companies. One of our core products is Dataspace – think of it as ChatGPT × File Manager. It ingests a company’s messy spreadsheets, PDFs, and ERP exports, cleans and structures the data, and then acts as an “AI analyst + orchestration engine.” In practice, this looks like: - Reconciling financials across fragmented sources - Automating reporting and pricing models - Enriching internal data with competitor feeds and market datasets - Drafting workflows that plug directly into CRMs and email systems We typically partner with investors during diligence and post-close to (1) run quick AI proofs of concept on sample data, (2) identify automation opportunities, and (3) build a roadmap that links operational efficiency to valuation. Looking forward to learning from this community and swapping notes with others who are exploring technology as an operating lever in lower-middle-market businesses. Happy to connect if you’re curious about case studies or want to compare notes on AI in due diligence and portfolio ops.