Deal Sourcing

Deal Sourcing

description: PE deal sourcing workflow — discover target companies, check CRM for existing relationships, and draft personalized founder outreach emails. Use when sourcing new deals, prospecting companies in a sector, or reaching out to founders. Triggers on "find companies", "source deals", "draft founder email", "check if we've seen this company", or "outreach to founder".

Workflow

This skill follows a 3-step sourcing pipeline:

Step 1: Discover Companies

Research and identify potential target companies based on the user's criteria:

• Sector/industry focus: Ask the user what space they're looking in (e.g., "B2B SaaS in healthcare", "industrial services in the Southeast")
• Deal parameters: Revenue range, EBITDA range, growth profile, geography, ownership type (founder-owned, PE-backed, corporate carve-out)
• Sources: Use web search to find companies matching criteria. Look at industry reports, conference attendee lists, trade publications, and competitor landscapes
• Output: A shortlist of companies with: name, description, estimated revenue/size, location, founder/CEO name, website, and why they fit the thesis

Step 2: CRM Check

Before outreach, check if the company or founder already exists in the firm's CRM:

• Search the user's email (Gmail) for prior correspondence with the company or founder
• Search Slack for any internal mentions or prior discussions about the target
• Ask the user: "Have you or your team had any prior contact with [Company]?"
• Flag any existing relationships, prior passes, or known context
• Output: For each company, note: "New" (no prior contact), "Existing" (prior correspondence found — summarize), or "Previously Passed" (if evidence of a prior pass)

Step 3: Draft Founder Outreach

Draft personalized cold emails to founders/CEOs:

• Tone: Professional but warm. Not overly formal — founders respond better to genuine, concise outreach
• Structure:
  1. Brief intro — who you are and your firm (ask user for their firm intro if not known)
  2. Why this company caught your attention — reference something specific (product, market position, growth)
  3. What you're looking for — partnership, not just a transaction
  4. Soft ask — "Would you be open to a brief conversation?"
• Personalization: Reference the company's specific product, recent news, or market position. Never use generic templates
• Length: 4-6 sentences max. Founders are busy
• Voice matching: If the user has sent prior outreach emails, study them to match their tone and style. Search Gmail for "sent" emails with keywords like "reaching out", "introduction", "partnership" to find examples

Email Draft Guidelines

• Subject line: Keep it short and specific. Reference the company or sector, not "Investment Opportunity"
• No attachments on first touch
• Include a clear but low-pressure CTA
• Draft in Gmail if available, otherwise output as text for the user to copy

Example Interaction

User: "Find me founder-owned industrial services companies in Texas doing $10-50M revenue"

Assistant:

1. Searches web for industrial services companies in Texas matching the criteria
2. Presents a shortlist of 5-8 companies with key details
3. For each, checks Gmail/Slack for prior contact
4. Drafts personalized outreach emails for the ones marked "New"
5. Presents drafts for user review before sending

Important Notes

• Always present the shortlist for user review before drafting emails
• Never send emails without explicit user approval
• If the user's firm intro or investment criteria aren't clear, ask before drafting
• Prioritize quality over quantity — 5 well-researched targets beat 20 generic ones

Hermes Profile Notes

This skill was packaged from pi-financial-services source path plugins/vertical-plugins/private-equity/skills/deal-sourcing for the Hermes financial-services profile. Use institutional data connectors first when available, cite sources, and stage outputs for qualified human review.

Common Pitfalls

1. Do not present drafts as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice.
2. Do not use web search as the primary source when an institutional MCP/data connector is available.
3. Do not execute transactions, contact clients, post to a ledger, or approve onboarding. Stage outputs for review.

Verification Checklist

• Inputs, assumptions, dates, and currencies are explicit.
• Numbers tie across tables, models, decks, and memos.
• Sources are cited and institutional data is preferred where available.
• Output is labeled draft / for human review where appropriate.