Originated, By DealGen Partners
Issue No. 46
sponsored by DealGen Partners:
A quick intro, for anyone new here.
I'm Joe Zanca, and I run DealGen Partners. We outsource business development for private equity firms, family offices, and qualified buyers. We work as a partner, not as a vendor. In plain terms, we become your deal origination engine.
The work speaks for itself. On average, our clients are under LOI within the first 90 to 120 days. And we stand behind it: we'll bring you 10 qualified deals within the first four months, or we work for free until we hit that number.
So if you're looking for a new platform company to buy, or one of your existing platforms is looking to grow through acquisition, let's talk. We'll get into the industry, do a little market mapping, and start putting together a qualified list of targets.
Reach out to me directly at [email protected]
“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”
— Warren Buffett
Looking to buy or exit? Let's talk, Schedule a call
People ask me what a buy-side search actually produces. Fair question.
So here are five businesses our team found and put in front of buyers. Names stay off for confidentiality. Every number comes straight from our deal summaries.
1. Municipal pump, valve and motor distributor · Michigan
$7.7M LTM revenue, $2.4M EBITDA
Half of revenue from municipal water and wastewater, with in-house repair alongside distribution
Owner wants a full sale
Source: Cold call
2. Substation control panel manufacturer · Alabama
$10M to $12.5M revenue, $1.8M EBITDA
98% of revenue from utility and substation customers
Full exit
Source: Cold call
3. Family-owned conveyor manufacturer · Wisconsin
$25M revenue, $3M EBITDA
Serves manufacturing, distribution and logistics end markets
Full exit
Source: Referral partner
If you are open to reviewing some of the recent deals we've found, or search thesis' we've put together, lets schedule a call today.
4. Environmental contractor · Washington
$30M revenue, $2.9M EBITDA
Drilling, remediation and fuel services for government and private clients
Full exit, owner not involved in operations
Source: Cold email
5. Power generation and industrial engine distributor · Indiana
$89M revenue, $10M EBITDA
Distribution plus a service layer covering monitoring, testing and maintenance
Full exit
Source: Newsletter response
Two came from cold calls. One came from a referral partner, one from a cold email, and one from someone who replied to this newsletter. No single channel found all five, and none of these businesses announced themselves. Good businesses in the lower middle market rarely do. Somebody has to go find them, one owner at a time.
How many of the businesses in your pipeline right now did you go find, and how many found you?
This is the part of the newsletter where we open up the board.
Every idea you'll find here is a search we'd happily run with the right partner. An idea earns its spot one of two ways. Either it's a space where we're seeing strong deal flow right now and we're looking for a buyer to chase it with us — or it's a market we've watched fragment, where we see a real opportunity to build something through consolidation.
Feel free to click around and browse our idea database. If one of them fits what you're after, reach out and let's run it together.
If any of this resonates, I'd love to compare notes. schedule a call
If someone forwarded this to you and you want to receive Originated directly: Click here to subscribe now
In case you missed it:
Issue No. 43 — Money isn’t a reason to answer
Issue No. 44 — AI can’t make a call
Issue No. 45 — The best businesses never had to market themselves