Snowstone and ClearWork both help private equity operators see how a portfolio company runs. Snowstone reads email, documents and system records to build a ranked value creation plan. ClearWork goes deep on a chosen process area with the people who run it, down to every step, decision, exception, system and requirement, signed off and traced to its source.
ClearWork makes one of the tools in this comparison. We've described Snowstone as fairly as we can from its own site and Y Combinator page, as of the date above. If something is out of date, tell us at [email protected].
We compared both platforms on seven criteria that matter to private equity operating teams and portfolio company leaders:
Snowstone describes itself as "AI-driven operational value creation for private equity." With read-only access to email, documents, tickets and ERP and CRM data, it links every record into one knowledge graph and analyzes the whole data set rather than a sample. Its stated view is that interviews should "guide solutions, not discovery."
The output is built for an operating partner's workflow: a ranked value creation plan with an EBITDA bridge and workplan, in the firm's own template, with an owner, milestones and KPIs for each lever. It also produces a findings report, an operational risk register covering key-person risk and weak controls, workflow and organization maps, and a board deck. Each finding links to the record behind it. Snowstone says its work starts after closing, and it also offers bolt-on integration planning.
Snowstone is an early-stage company in Y Combinator's Summer 2026 batch, previously known as Cerenovus AI. Its site claims "7 days from kickoff to ranked findings" and names no customers yet.
Best for: operating partners who want a fast, quantified view of value creation levers across a portfolio company, drawn from its systems data.
ClearWork is an AI discovery platform for processes and requirements. Its agent, Clarity, runs async AI interviews, by voice or chat in about 20 minutes, with the people who do the work, and people can add screen recordings to show how a task is done on screen. It also ingests the documents that already exist, so interviews fill gaps instead of repeating what's written down.
ClearWork is built for depth. Pick a process area and it goes down to the level of detail the work needs: each step and its variations, the decisions and business rules behind them, exceptions and workarounds, handoffs between roles, and the systems and data each step touches. It covers more than the process map: the same discovery produces the requirements and the system picture a change needs. When a first round leaves gaps, you run another round on the same area, and the process owners validate each one.
Interviews reach what records can't: why a step happens, the judgment calls, the exceptions and workarounds, and the work done on the phone, on the floor or in someone's head. Findings go back to the process owners to validate and sign off, and every step in the map, every SOP line and every requirement is traced to the person or document it came from.
The outputs are current-state process maps, SOPs, requirements, traceability matrices, fit-gap analysis, and improvement and AI opportunities by role. Engagements start with a 30-day focus-area sprint, then move to annual contracts. Discovery takes one to four weeks depending on scope and complexity.
Best for: operating partners and transformation teams who need every step, system and requirement of a specific process area, confirmed by the people who own it.
Depth versus breadth. Snowstone is built to read everything a company records and size the levers. ClearWork is built to go as deep as one process area needs: every step, decision, exception and handoff, the systems and data each step touches, and the requirements that follow. When the first round leaves gaps, you run another round on the same area until the picture is complete.
Records versus people. Snowstone sees everything that leaves a trace in email and systems, at a scale no interview program matches. ClearWork hears what never reaches a system: the reasons behind a step, the workaround everyone uses, and the knowledge held by one or two people. Snowstone itself sends its consulting partners to interviews to test its findings.
What the company has to hand over. Snowstone needs read-only access to email, documents and core systems, approved by IT. ClearWork needs time from the people who do the work, plus the screen recordings and documents they choose to share. Which is easier depends on the company and the moment in the deal.
Plans versus working documents. Snowstone's main deliverable is a quantified value creation plan. ClearWork's deliverables are the documents teams use to change a process: SOPs, requirements, traceability matrices and fit-gap. Both trace findings to their source; ClearWork adds a sign-off by the process owners. ClearWork's private equity offer is built around add-on integrations, with 100-day plans, carve-outs and key-person risk as further use cases.
Choose Snowstone if you want a quantified, portfolio-wide view of value creation levers from a company's own data, the company can grant read-only access to its email and systems, and the output you need is an EBITDA-sized plan for the board.
Choose ClearWork if you need to go deep on a specific process area: every step and exception, the systems and data behind it, and the requirements to change it, confirmed by the people who own it and refined over as many rounds as it takes. See how ClearWork works, or how it supports transformation teams.
The two can work together: a records-based diagnostic to size the levers, then validated discovery on the processes behind the biggest ones.
Not as its main method. Snowstone reads company records and says interviews should "guide solutions, not discovery." Its site says interviews and workshops stay with the client or consulting team.
No. Process mining reads system event logs and task mining records desktop activity. ClearWork interviews the people who do the work, adds their screen recordings and existing documents, and produces validated, traced deliverables.
For sizing levers in EBITDA terms from company data, Snowstone is built for that. For the process detail behind a lever, and the SOPs and requirements to deliver it, ClearWork is built for that.
Yes. A records-based diagnostic can show where value sits, and ClearWork can then document and validate the processes that need to change.
As deep as the process area needs: every step, decision, exception and handoff, the systems and data each step touches, and the requirements that follow. You can run further rounds on the same area until the detail is complete, and process owners validate each one.
Neither publishes prices. ClearWork starts with a 30-day focus-area sprint, followed by annual contracts.
Snowstone facts were checked on November 13, 2026 at snowstone.ai (home, /how-it-works/, /capabilities/value-creation-plan/, /capabilities/operational-diagnostic/, /capabilities/bolt-on-integration-planning/, /who-we-serve/ pages) and on its Y Combinator company page.