Case Study: Building the Pipeline – Sourcing Proprietary Deal Flow for a LMM PE Firm

Deal Origination | Multi-State Coverage | Ongoing Engagement

The Opportunity

A lower middle market private equity firm focused on services and light industrials wanted to expand beyond banker-led deals and increase proprietary deal flow across the Southeast and Midwest. They needed a nimble partner who could identify qualified targets, build relationships with owners, and surface actionable leads aligned with their investment thesis.

Our Role

We became their external origination partner, driving top-of-funnel activity:

✔️ Thesis-Aligned Targeting
Refined industry theses into actionable sourcing briefs, focused on high-SDE, low-capex businesses with succession risk or under-optimized operations.

✔️ Scout Network Activation
Activated a distributed network of on-the-ground scouts in 10+ states—equipping them with custom outreach messaging, intake tools, and weekly training.

✔️ Lead Vetting & Handoff
Pre-screened deals using firm-specific criteria, including revenue/SDE thresholds, customer concentration, and ownership intent. Curated warm handoffs with pre-framed sellers.

The Outcome

In the first 90 days, we surfaced 22 leads, with 6 advancing to partner review. Two deals entered formal diligence, including a commercial maintenance provider with $1.8M in SDE. Our work expanded the firm’s deal pipeline, reduced time spent on unqualified leads, and helped them reallocate internal BD resources to closing and portfolio support.

Snapshot

Sector: Light Industrials / B2B Services
Client Type: Lower Middle Market PE Firm
Our Work: Proprietary Sourcing · Scout Enablement · Lead Qualification & Target Handoff