Are you getting paid enough? This week on Deal Sourcery, Dan and Matt break down the results of their industry wide comp survey and unpack some of the wider trends in BD comp over the past year - from why promotions are the fastest way to to increase your pay and what the real reasons are behind the discrepancy between pay for BD professionals and Investment Professionals. With data from over 300 BD professionals, you don't want to miss this one if you work in BD or hire BD professionals.

Learn more: Coastal Partners — coastalpartners.co | Tahoe Equity — tahoeequity.com

In this episode of Deal Sourcery, we sit down with Dan Ryan, Head of Business Development at MidOcean Partners, to explore what separates elite private equity sourcing organizations from everyone else. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience building business development functions—and insights gained from a small peer group of senior BD leaders across the industry—Dan shares his philosophy on relationships, talent, organizational design, and the future of the profession.

The conversation begins with Dan's career journey, including his decision to join MidOcean after more than a decade at Milestone, and why he believes the most valuable asset a sourcing professional builds isn't a CRM or network—it's a reputation. He explains his philosophy of being "long-term fair," why trust compounds over time, and how relationship capital ultimately becomes a firm's competitive advantage.

From there, we dive into what the best sourcing organizations do differently. Dan discusses how leading private equity firms think about business development as a strategic capability rather than a support function, the topics that dominate conversations among senior BD leaders today, and why there is no single blueprint for building a successful sourcing organization. We also discuss how the function has evolved over the past decade, how firms should think about team structure, and the often-overlooked ways business development creates value inside an investment firm.

One of the most unique parts of the episode centers on a behavioral assessment completed by a group of highly accomplished PE business development leaders. Dan shares the patterns that emerged, the personality traits most commonly associated with success in the role, and some of the findings that surprised him. The discussion explores whether there is truly a "type" that succeeds in PE BD, the importance of trust, reciprocity, and long-term thinking, the characteristics that can become liabilities, and whether great sourcing professionals are born or developed.

Finally, we discuss how data and AI are changing the profession, where technology is already improving sourcing workflows, and why human judgment and relationships remain difficult to replace. Dan closes with his thoughts on where private equity business development is headed over the next five to ten years and offers practical advice for professionals looking to build a long-term career in sourcing.

Topics covered include:

• Why Dan joined MidOcean after 12 years at Milestone
• The "long-term fair" philosophy for building relationships
• What distinguishes elite PE sourcing organizations
• Lessons learned from a peer group of senior business development leaders
• Common personality traits among top-performing BD professionals
• Whether successful sourcing professionals are made or born
• How to evaluate whether you're well-suited for a career in PE BD
• The hidden ways business development creates value inside private equity firms
• Using data, analytics, and AI to improve sourcing
• Predictions for the future of private equity business development

Deal Sourcery is brought to you by Coastal Partners, the only executive search firm focused exclusively on private equity business development.

We help private equity firms build world-class business development teams—and publish the industry's leading research on PE business development compensation, hiring trends, and market intelligence.

Whether you're making your next hire or simply want to stay ahead of the market, visit coastalpartners.co.

Learn more: Coastal Partners — coastalpartners.co | Tahoe Equity — tahoeequity.com

In this episode of Deal Sourcery, Matt Rooney and Dan Herr sit down with Ted Kramer of HKW to discuss how private equity business development has evolved from a “check-the-box” function into a genuine strategic differentiator.

Ted has worked in private equity sourcing since 2001, giving him a front-row seat to the professionalization of the role. He reflects on the early generation of sourcing leaders who helped establish BD as a legitimate long-term career path and explains why firm culture ultimately determines whether a sourcing professional can create real value.

The conversation explores what it takes to build a true competitive advantage in sourcing. Ted contrasts systematic, technology-enabled approaches with the more instinctive methods that defined the function earlier in his career. As firms move from broad, generalist strategies toward more thematic and sector-focused investing, sourcing teams must also rethink their referral networks, market positioning, and allocation of time.

Ted also offers a practical view of AI’s role in private equity. Rather than replacing relationships, he believes the best applications of AI will help professionals identify where to spend their time and ultimately create more opportunities for meaningful human interaction. In his view, sourcing remains a contact sport: when firms appear comparable on paper, trust and personal relationships often determine who gets the benefit of the doubt.

Other themes include the tradeoff between deal-flow quantity and quality, why the strongest sourcing models become most visible when few owners are selling, and how BD professionals can build credibility inside their firms. Ted discusses the significance of being invited into LP and fundraising meetings, and why that kind of responsibility signals that sourcing has become part of the firm’s core strategic leadership rather than a peripheral support function.

Key topics include:

The evolution of private equity business development

What separates strategic sourcing leaders from “check-the-box” BD hires

How firm culture affects the success of the sourcing function

Systematic sourcing versus instinct and relationship-driven judgment

The shift from generalist to thematic and sector-focused investing

Using technology and AI to improve time allocation

Why AI should increase face-to-face interaction rather than replace it

The tension between deal-flow quantity and opportunity quality

How relationships create the “benefit of the doubt” in competitive situations

Building internal credibility as a private equity BD professional

How sourcing leaders can expand into fundraising and broader firm leadership

Deal Sourcery is brought to you by Coastal Partners, the only executive search firm focused exclusively on private equity business development.

We help private equity firms build world-class business development teams—and publish the industry's leading research on PE business development compensation, hiring trends, and market intelligence.

Whether you're making your next hire or simply want to stay ahead of the market, visit coastalpartners.co

Learn more: Coastal Partners — coastalpartners.co | Tahoe Equity — tahoeequity.com