Proprietary deal sourcing is the most claimed capability in private capital and the least evidenced, because the word is used for anything from a genuinely unbanked approach to hearing about a process early. Making it real takes one narrow sector and about three years, and proving it takes one field. This page sets out what the work actually is and how to tell whether it is producing anything.
The definition, held strictly
Nobody else was asked. If a process exists and other parties are in it, the deal is intermediated however early you heard and however good the relationship was. Firms that hold this line find their genuinely proprietary share is a fraction of the claim, which is the useful starting point.
The work: one sector, published, over years
Being the firm that owners in one niche have heard of, through analysis they find useful and conversations with people who are not selling. It produces nothing measurable for about eighteen months and then produces opportunities for a decade, which is why it loses every budget argument against something with a quarterly return.
The proof: one field, recorded at entry
Source, from a short list, at the moment the opportunity is created. Two months into a live deal nobody remembers accurately how it arrived and the retrospective answer flatters, so a field filled in later is not evidence of anything. It is one dropdown and it is the whole measurement.
What it is worth when it is real
Less competition on price, more time to diligence properly, and a seller in conversation with you rather than in a process. Whether that justifies three years of sector work is a question a firm can only answer once the measurement exists, which is the argument for starting the measurement first.
Questions people ask about proprietary deal sourcing
What makes sourcing genuinely proprietary?
Nobody else was asked. Hearing early about a live process is intermediated, whatever the relationship that produced it.
How long does it take to build?
About three years in one narrow sector, producing nothing measurable for the first eighteen months.
How do you prove it?
One dropdown recorded when the opportunity is created. A source field filled in later is not evidence of anything.