A deal flow pipeline is four decisions and a habit. The decisions are what a record is, what the stages are, what is required, and who looks at it. Get them right and the pipeline answers real questions: on this site's worked example, 14 live mandates at a 35% close rate and a $12,000,000 average are worth $2,940,000 of expected fees. Get them wrong and it is a list nobody trusts and everybody updates before a meeting.
Decision one: what counts as being in the pipeline
A conversation is not an opportunity and a signed mandate is not the only thing that counts. Draw the line explicitly and apply it, because a pipeline whose entry criterion drifts cannot be compared to itself over time, which is most of what a pipeline is for.
Decision two: the stages, and there should be few
Six to ten observable stages. If picking one requires rereading definitions there are too many, and everybody will default to the safest-sounding option. Nine covers a full sell-side process: pitched, mandated, materials, in market, IOIs in, meetings, LOI, diligence, closed.
Decision three: one required field
The source. Every other field should be optional until somebody can name who reads it and for what. Required fields are a tax on the person entering data and a benefit to somebody else, and past a threshold entry simply stops.
Decision four, and the habit: who reads it, and how often
Fifteen minutes a week, off the screen showing the real state rather than a prepared summary. A pipeline read weekly is updated as people go; one read quarterly is reconstructed from memory the day before. The frequency of reading determines the quality of writing.
Questions people ask about deal flow pipeline
What belongs in a pipeline?
Whatever your explicit entry criterion says, applied consistently. A drifting criterion makes the pipeline incomparable to itself over time.
How many required fields?
One: the source. Add another only when somebody can name who reads it and why.
What is a live book worth?
On the worked example, 14 mandates at a 35% close rate and $12,000,000 average value is $2,940,000 of expected fees.