We move VC firms, PE shops, and relationship-driven teams off Affinity. What carries over cleanly: companies, people, custom fields, notes. What we rebuild together: lists, pipelines, permissions. What we can't bring with us: every old field change, Affinity's built-in enrichment, and email history for teammates who've already left.
Last verified June 2026
Why teams move
Affinity is purpose-built for relationship-driven dealmaking and remains a strong fit for many investment teams. The firms that talk to us about leaving Affinity tend to share the same four reasons.
01 · Product
Attio feels like a product built in the AI era. Native AI sits inside records, lists, notes, and reporting, so partners and analysts get drafting, summarization, and pattern surfacing without bolting on a separate tool. The day-to-day experience, fast navigation, clean record views, real keyboard shortcuts, is where teams notice the biggest jump.
02 · Model
Once a firm needs core objects beyond people, companies, and opportunities (LPs, Funds, Commitments, Portfolio metrics, fund-administration records), Attio's flexible custom-object model gives more room to shape the schema.
03 · API
Attio's API is built for programmatic access at scale (100 reads/sec, 25 writes/sec, no monthly cap, stable attribute IDs, clean 429s). Integrations, agent-style workflows, and warehouse sync are easier to build and maintain.
04 · Fit
Attio handles multi-fund pipelines, LP relationships, portfolio tracking, and intro-source attribution cleanly once the schema is set up to match how your firm actually operates.
05 · Cost
Affinity is priced for enterprise relationship intelligence. For firms whose core need is a programmable, multi-fund CRM, Attio delivers more capability per seat at materially lower spend, often by enough to fund the migration itself.
Object by object
The set of objects every Affinity migration touches, with the standardized taxonomy: Direct mapping (carries over with default behavior), Caveats (needs a schema decision or workaround), Unavailable (cannot transfer; plan around it).
What's different
Affinity and Attio both center the workspace around people and companies. Affinity supports several company relationships on one person by default. Attio usually treats one company as primary and uses attributes to capture the other roles.
How we handle it
We import companies and people directly and keep the Affinity record identifiers as internal matching keys during the migration. After coverage checks, we use domain-based deduplication to consolidate duplicate company records. When a person needs more than one company relationship, we model the additional roles with reference attributes in Attio.
What's different
Affinity lists often carry more meaning than a simple saved view. A single list can act as a working queue, an event roster, a fund proxy, an LP prospect list, a mentor group, or a watchlist. Each list needs to be classified before it can move into Attio cleanly.
How we handle it
For each list, we decide whether it should stay an Attio list, become a custom object such as LP, Fund, or Commitment, or collapse into a global attribute. We make those choices during scoping so the migration preserves how the team actually works.
What's different
Affinity notes can be attached to several records at the same time. Attio notes attach to one primary record, so shared notes need a clear placement rule before they move.
How we handle it
Two options usually work. We can copy the note onto every linked record so each one shows it in its own activity, or we can attach it to one main record, usually the company, and reference the related people and deals inside the note. We choose the rule that best matches how the firm expects to find context after the migration.
What's different
Affinity dealflow can live in opportunities or in company lists. Many VC teams combine pipeline stage and pass reason in a single Status field, and multi-fund workspaces often use fund-specific lists as a stand-in for real fund architecture. Intro-source attribution is native in Affinity but has to be configured in Attio.
How we handle it
We use either Attio's standard Deal object or a custom Deal object, depending on how the firm runs pipeline. We almost always split the source Status field into separate Stage, Pass Reason, and Legacy Status attributes so reporting can separate current pipeline position from rejection reason. For multi-fund firms, we represent funds with lists or custom Fund records based on visibility needs, and we set up intro-source tracking with an attribute plus a workflow.
What's different
Affinity attributes include field type, allowed options, and historical values. The useful ones have a direct path into Attio attributes.
How we handle it
We migrate Affinity attributes into Attio after mapping field types, planning slugs, creating options, and reviewing how often each field is actually populated. Fields that are stale, duplicative, or barely used are identified and retired during the attribute review that happens inside the data export step.
What's different
Active users can rebuild their email and calendar history through Attio's native inbox sync. Departed-user mailboxes that have been deprovisioned cannot be backfilled through that sync, and standard Affinity API endpoints do not expose full email bodies.
How we handle it
For departed users, we preserve email and meeting metadata in a custom Interaction object so the context is still searchable. If full bodies or attachments matter, we evaluate the source data separately. Many firms also keep a frozen Affinity export as the historical archive of record.
What's different
Affinity stores files directly on records. Many VC teams prefer to keep documents in Google Drive or OneDrive and link the relevant folder from the Attio record instead.
How we handle it
We export files from Affinity, organize them by company in Drive or OneDrive, and link the folder back to the Attio record. Going forward, new folder creation can be automated from Attio events such as Deal stage changes.
What's different
Affinity and Attio use different access models, so permissions do not translate one-to-one. Sensitive LP data, fundraising commitments, and partner-only notes should be rebuilt intentionally rather than copied across in the same shape.
How we handle it
We typically define operating roles for partners, principals, analysts, and external admins, and then handle exceptions separately. Sensitive information lives on restricted lists or restricted custom objects, and we treat field-level privacy as a planning constraint rather than something Attio handles automatically.
What's different
Historical Affinity field changes cannot be inserted into Attio's native audit log. Attio's audit log begins when the migrated workspace starts operating in Attio.
How we handle it
If the previous change log matters, we preserve it in archived Affinity exports or send it to a warehouse as reference data. Reporting and workflow plans should account for the fact that Attio's native history starts at the migration.
What's different
Affinity's proprietary enrichment values are tied to Affinity's own data product and provider relationships. Once those values leave Affinity, they stop updating.
How we handle it
We do not migrate proprietary enrichment as a live source of truth. We use Attio's built-in enrichment as the baseline and add Apollo, Clay, or Harmonic where the firm needs deeper or fresher coverage.
Migration playbook
Kickoff agrees on the data model and timeline. Cutover usually happens in a short weekend blackout window.
Principle 01
We key imports on Affinity record IDs, not on email or domain. That lets us run multiple passes without creating duplicates and makes completeness checks deterministic.
Principle 02
Merging removes legacy IDs. If we merge early, we lose our upsert keys and our ability to verify completeness, so we import everything, confirm coverage, and then merge.
Principle 03
No fabricated SLAs or pricing. Timeline ranges come from our actual track record. Cost is scoped per workspace once we understand the data.
We start with a working session to agree on the data model and confirm scope. The engineering team walks every Affinity attribute and decides what stays, what gets renamed, and what gets retired. This is the engineering work that opens the project, not a separate sales deliverable.
We configure the Attio workspace around the agreed schema and run the first import as a dry run. The import is keyed on Affinity legacy record IDs so that completeness checks stay deterministic across multiple passes.
We configure lists, views, and day-one integrations, and then the team connects their inboxes so interaction history can backfill. We set the inbox auto-create policy before connection so new records are created intentionally.
Cutover happens in a short blackout window. We run the final Affinity export, then upsert the delta against the legacy record IDs. We validate the result against record counts, per-field population, and value-level spot checks, and we pause any tool that writes to Attio for the duration of the window.
We run the deduplication pass through Attio's Duplicate Detection app, the team reviews the matches, and we bulk merge through our tooling. The legacy record IDs are removed once the merge is complete.
Phase two covers the deeper integrations, advanced reporting, and any API rewrites for non-critical scripts. Most teams run Attio for a few weeks before deciding which of these are worth scoping.
Guides
Before you migrate
Eight questions we hear most often on Affinity discovery calls.
Straightforward engagements typically take 1 to 3 weeks from kickoff to go-live. Multi-fund workspaces, schema redesign, or email and meeting history work extend that. We give you a dated timeline at the start of the project, before any data moves.
We migrate companies, people, custom fields, lists, notes, pipeline records, reminders, and interaction metadata. Lists can land as Attio lists, custom objects, or global attributes depending on what each one is actually doing, and notes carry over with the single-record attachment workaround. Email bodies are not exposed through standard Affinity API endpoints, so body recovery is a specialized path, and historical field-change history cannot be inserted into Attio's audit log.
Active users' interaction history rebuilds via Attio's native inbox and calendar sync, typically within an hour or two of connection. Departed-user mailboxes that are no longer connected will not backfill. We bring interaction metadata into a custom Interaction object via Affinity's API to preserve the searchable signal, but email bodies are not available through the API. Plan access for departed-user records while the Affinity subscription is still live.
Yes. Multi-fund firms typically use Affinity lists as a substitute for fund architecture. We model this two ways in Attio. The lighter pattern uses one Deal object with fund-specific lists for pipeline views. The more structured pattern creates a Fund object related to Deals, LPs, and Commitments, which makes cross-fund reporting and LP-data permissions cleaner.
Permissions are rebuilt in Attio, not mirrored from Affinity. Sensitive LP data, fundraising commitments, and partner-only notes go on restricted lists, restricted custom objects (LP, Fund, Commitment), or are kept off the general dealflow surface. A common VC permission map uses three operating roles (partners, principals, analysts and external admins) plus exceptions. Treat field-level privacy as a planning constraint, not an assumed feature.
We do not migrate Affinity's proprietary enrichment values. Those fields are tied to Affinity's enrichment product and underlying data providers. Imported values would go stale immediately after the firm leaves Affinity. We rely on Attio's built-in enrichment for the baseline and layer in Apollo, Clay, or Harmonic where the data matters and stays fresh.
Scoped per firm because the work depends on workspace volume, history depth, integration count, permissions complexity, and whether the firm wants a clean migration or a broader rebuild. Book a discovery call and we'll walk through what your scope looks like.
Auto-renewal is one of the most common triggers we see. The most useful stance is factual and prepared: confirm the signed term, notice date, export rights, and read-only access options in writing. Once the migration project is underway we work to a dated plan you can reference during renewal conversations, separating contract negotiation from the operational question of whether the firm is ready to leave.
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Book a 30-minute discovery call. We'll walk through your Affinity workspace, the multi-fund modeling you need in Attio, the renewal timing, and what a scoped plan looks like.