While large investment banks are essential for major transactions, mid-tier banks are often better partners for proactively sourcing carve-out opportunities. They typically have to hustle more for deals, resulting in deeper, more personal relationships within potential sellers, which can unlock the off-market conversations that larger banks might miss.

Act as a strategic partner, not a vendor, by analyzing a prospect's annual reports, 10Ks, and shareholder letters. Use this research to inform them about strategic risks or business issues they haven't considered, immediately differentiating you from competitors who just ask basic discovery questions.

Blackstone’s credit decisions are deeply informed by its other business units. Owning QTS, a top data center developer, provides its credit team with proprietary insights for underwriting data center loans. This cross-platform intelligence creates a significant competitive advantage and drives better credit selection.

Private credit allows investors to act like chefs—deeply involved from ingredient sourcing (diligence) to final creation (structuring). Liquid market investors are like food critics, limited to analyzing the finished product with restricted access to information, which increases risk.

When entering the unfamiliar small-cap space, Julian Robertson tapped his own investor base for ideas. This unconventional approach turned Limited Partners into a valuable, proprietary deal flow network, demonstrating a creative way to leverage existing relationships for new opportunities.

To source proprietary hybrid capital deals, avoid the capital markets teams at PE firms, as their job is to minimize cost of capital. Instead, build relationships directly with individual deal partners in specific industries. This allows you to become a trusted, go-to provider for complex, time-sensitive situations where speed and certainty are valued over price.

In a world of commoditized capital, offering a full suite of solutions creates a competitive advantage. By providing fund investments, co-investments, secondary liquidity, and portfolio company debt, a firm becomes an indispensable strategic partner to PE sponsors, generating proprietary and superior deal flow.

To win highly sought-after deals, growth investors must build relationships years in advance. This involves providing tangible help with hiring, customer introductions, and strategic advice, effectively acting as an investor long before deploying capital.

Over 80% of TA's investments are proprietary deals with founders who aren't actively selling. Their strategy focuses on convincing profitable, growing businesses to partner to accelerate growth, framing the decision as "partner with us" versus "do nothing." This requires a long-term, relationship-based sourcing model.