Fractional and internal business development for LMM private equity
OutSearched generates proprietary deal flow for lower middle market private equity firms across concurrent platform and add-on mandates. We operate under your firm’s brand as embedded internal business development, or under our own brand as a fractional origination function. Your choice.
Most LMM PE firms are sourcing below their fund's ambition.
These are not aspirations. They are the operating rules that define what we will and will not do on behalf of a client.
- 01
Internal BD caps out fast.
A single BDR can run one mandate well, sometimes two. Funds need platform sourcing and add-on sourcing for every portfolio company at the same time.
- 02
Banker channels deliver the same deals to your competitors.
Auction dynamics, rising entry multiples, and limited time to build a relationship with the owner before LOI.
- 03
Add-on pipelines starve while the platform team focuses on the next close.
Your buybox gets its own team and its own pipeline. In a competitive space, if you’re not sourcing across all mandates, your competitors are.
- 04
Building institutional-grade sourcing infrastructure is expensive.
Sourcing, training, and placing a business development rep is only half the battle. You also need dedicated technologist, a tech stack, and the right follow up sequences.
Capital deployment requires consistent proprietary flow. Most internal BD setups can’t scale to the number of mandates the fund actually needs to run.
Platform mandates and add-on mandates, run concurrently.
We staff platform sourcing and add-on sourcing as parallel functions. Run them together for a portfolio company strategy, or stand them up independently as your fund deploys capital.
- Platform Acquisitions
$2M to $5M
Target EBITDA
Founder-led and owner-operated businesses positioned for institutional capital. Sourced direct-to-owner before bankers run a process.
- Portfolio Add-Ons
$750K to $1.5M
Target EBITDA
Bolt-on acquisitions for existing portfolio companies. Built around the platform’s thesis, geography, and integration capacity.
Every mandate is built around the specifics of your buybox.
Geography
Single market, regional, or national. Mapped to your portfolio company footprint or platform’s expansion plan.
Service Lines
New or repeat service lines define our qualification criteria. New service lines expand capability while repeat realize cost synergies.
Management Layers
Founder-led, owner-operator, or management-team-in-place. We qualify by the ownership structure and transition dynamics that fit your thesis.
Embed us inside your firm, or run us as your external origination arm.
PE firms typically pick based upon their desire for banker/broker coverage or just a proprietary arm. We can do both.
Model 01
Internal Business Development
A trained, managed business development function placed inside your organization. Branded as your firm in all outreach. Integrated with your team, systems, CRM, Covers banked and proprietary channels. .
- White-labeled outreach under your firm's name
- Direct integration with your investment team and tools
- Covers proprietary and banked deal flow
- Mandate-specific outreach architecture per thesis
- Weekly pipeline reviews with your team
Best for funds that want a named internal BD function without the cost of building one from scratch.
Model 02
Fractional Business Development
Elite origination capability under our brand, run as a confidential outside team. Scaled, multichannel proprietary outbound at the output of an institutional BD team.
- Our brand to preserve confidentiality.
- Multichannel proprietary outbound at scale
- Mandate-specific outreach architecture per thesis
- Weekly pipeline reviews and reporting
- Concurrent mandates across platform and add-on theses
Best for funds that want institutional sourcing output without expanding internal headcount.
OutSearched augments your internal team, doesn't replace it.
Many LMM PE firms already have at least one business development hire. The question is not whether to have BD. It is whether your BD capacity matches the number of mandates your fund actually needs to run. We staff against the gap.
Add concurrent mandate capacity.
Your internal BDR runs the platform thesis. We run three add-on mandates for portfolio companies in parallel. Or any other split that fits.
Cover specialized verticals.
When a new sector thesis emerges, you do not have to hire a new BDR with that vertical experience. We stand up a mandate against the thesis in 21 days.
Take the headache off your plate.
Your internal team focuses on diligence, structuring, and closing. We handle target universe, enrichment, outreach, and qualification through to a delivered, qualified opportunity.
How LMM PE firms compare us to the other options.
The honest comparison. Internal hire, banker channels, and OutSearched. Each comes with structural trade-offs.
Option 01
Hire Internal BD
- $150K+ all-in per year before tools and data
- Six to twelve months to ramp to productive output
- Capacity tops out at one or two mandates
- Departure means pipeline restart
- Tech and data stack built from scratch
Option 02
Banker and Broker Pipelines
- One buyer in a competitive process
- Auction dynamics drive entry multiples up
- Limited ability to shape deal structure pre-LOI
- Minimal seller relationship before bidding
- Off-cycle from your fund's investment thesis
Option 03
OutSearched
- Fixed retainer plus the lowest closing fees in the category
- Active outreach within 21 days of mandate kickoff
- Multiple concurrent mandates per client
- Direct-to-owner before a banked process exists
- Infrastructure already built and tuned
Proprietary EV Sourced
$
0
MM+
Across client mandates in 2025
LOIs Delivered
0
+
Across client mandates in 2025
Trustpilot Rating
0
From verified client reviews
Build the proprietary channel your fund needs.
A 30-minute strategy call. We will walk through your investment thesis, show you how we would build the engine for your platforms and add-ons, and tell you whether we are the right fit.