“Train our deal team on Claude, not generic AI.”
A Claude workshop is worth it when the team leaves having done real work.
A Claude workshop for a private equity team is a ninety-minute to two-hour session where one team works in Claude on its own documents: a CIM, an IC memo draft, a portfolio report. It covers what to hand to Claude and what not to, how to specify a whole task, and how much checking each answer needs. Judge it by whether every person leaves having done one real task correctly, with something saved they will use again.
By Tim Miner, founder and CEO · Published
A deal team that asks for Claude training usually has the licences already. What it lacks is the habit: most people tried Claude on a document they knew, got a confident wrong answer and stopped. A workshop exists to fix that on the team’s own material, in one sitting, with someone watching.
The outline
What does a Claude workshop for a private equity team cover?
Four parts, in the order they are taught. Roughly 40% is concept and 60% is the team working, each on a document from their own desk.
Your document and your process
Each person starts from a task they did last week, on the material they used, and sets it up in a Claude project that holds the deal’s files and the firm’s format.What not to delegate
Where Claude reads and drafts well, and where the judgment stays with the team: valuation calls, the investment view, anything signed.How to specify a whole task
Most disappointing output is a specification failure. The team learns to give Claude the firm’s process, not a one-line request.How much checking it needs
Which answers to trust, which to trace back to the page, and how to catch an invented figure before it reaches a memo.
On the documents
How does it work on a CIM, an IC memo and a portfolio report?
The documents decide the exercises. On a CIM, the team asks Claude for a first pass: the business model, the KPIs management chose to show, and the questions the numbers raise for the management meeting. On an IC memo, they draft one section from their own notes and the firm’s template, then mark which sentences need a source. On a portfolio report, they ask Claude to explain what moved quarter on quarter, and check each explanation against the numbers.
Where compliance prefers no live deal in the room, the session runs on a prepared set of files that mirror the firm’s own. Either way, the work happens inside the Claude plan the firm has already approved.
| Document | What the team does in Claude | What the team checks by hand |
|---|---|---|
| CIM | A first pass: business model, the KPIs shown, questions for management | Every figure against the page it came from, and what the CIM leaves out |
| IC memo | One section drafted from the team’s notes in the firm’s template | Each claim that needs a source, and the investment view itself |
| Portfolio report | What moved quarter on quarter, and a first explanation of why | Each explanation against the numbers and the operating partner’s view |
| Credit agreement | Covenants, baskets and definitions found and summarised | The wording of every clause the summary relies on |
Length and room
How long does a Claude workshop take, and who should attend?
Ninety minutes to two hours, for one team at a time: a deal team, a credit team, portfolio operations, IR or finance, each on its own material. Mixed rooms on generic examples are where training stops sticking. Keep it to 25 or 30 people at most, in person if you can, since a hybrid room tends to lose the remote half.
Senior partners often get their own short session. People ask basic questions more freely without their seniors in the room, and partners want a different thing from it: what to ask the team for, and how to read what comes back.
Preparation is part of it. A good workshop starts with a call with whoever owns the material, sometimes a short survey of the team, and a workbook sent the day before with prompts written for the firm’s own work.
Afterwards
What changes after a Claude workshop?
One workshop changes how each person starts a task. Each person should leave with one task done correctly, a Claude project or skill set up for work they repeat, and a clear line on what they won’t hand over. That is enough to show who will keep going and where the team needs more help.
Measure it a month later by counting how many people on the team use Claude well on their own work each week. That number tends to fall after a single session unless someone keeps working with the people who stalled, which is what a retainer is for.
Before you book
How do you judge a Claude workshop before you book one?
Ask the provider five things, and expect a specific answer to each.
Whose documents?
Yours, or a set built to mirror them. A session on public filings and sample decks teaches a different job.
One tool, one team?
A session should run on one tool and one team. Memory and projects work differently across tools, and people on the other tool switch off.
Who teaches it?
Someone who has done the work in a finance firm and can answer a question about a credit agreement or a waterfall.
Does it cover checking?
If verification is not a full part of the session, the team learns to trust answers it should trace.
What happens after?
A good provider tells you how adoption will be counted a month later, and what it offers if the count is low.
We run these workshops: 150+ workshops at 100+ firms, on Claude or whichever tool your firm has licensed. The format and what it includes are on our workshops page.
Which tool
Should the workshop be on Claude or on the tool we already have?
On the tool your firm has licensed and approved for deal documents. The method is the same on any frontier model, and training a team on a tool it can’t use at its desk the next morning wastes the session. If the firm is still choosing, settle that first. Our comparison of Claude and ChatGPT for a private equity firm sets out the plans and controls from each vendor’s own pages.
Buying Claude is the easy part. A workshop is the first step in getting the people who do the work to use it well, on the documents they already have open.
Questions on Claude workshops for private equity
Do we need Claude Enterprise before a Claude workshop?
No. A workshop can run on Team or Enterprise. For live deal documents, a firm usually wants Enterprise first, for SCIM, audit logs and custom retention, and a written policy on what may be uploaded.
Can a Claude workshop use real deal documents?
Yes, inside the Claude plan your firm has already approved and under its own data terms with Anthropic. Where compliance prefers no live deal in the room, the session runs on a prepared set of files that mirror your own.
How many people should attend a Claude workshop?
One team, and no more than 25 to 30 people. Senior partners often get their own shorter session.
Is one Claude workshop enough for a deal team?
It is enough to show who will keep using Claude and where they get stuck. Keeping the number rising usually takes follow-up work with the people who stalled, a month or two after the session.
What should a deal team prepare for a Claude workshop?
A task each person did recently and the documents they used, plus access to the firm’s Claude plan. The provider should send a workbook the day before with prompts written for your team’s work.
Sources
Planning a Claude session for your deal team?
Tell us the team and the documents. We will tell you what the session should cover, and say so if a workshop is the wrong first step.