Off-market means pre-process
The owner has not hired a banker, circulated a CIM, or invited buyers into an auction. The advantage is timing: the buyer conversation starts while the owner is still deciding what the next chapter could look like.
Definition
Off-market sourcing is not a target list with better labels.
The useful standard is narrower: identify companies that fit the mandate, reach the owner directly, qualify whether the owner will entertain the right buyer, and create a conversation before advisors control the process.
The owner still has to talk
Databases, AI screens, and research memos can identify companies. They do not answer whether the owner is open, tired, succession-bound, capital-constrained, or willing to meet the right buyer.
Direct has to be specific
Owners hear acquisition interest all the time. The call needs a specific buyer, a specific market reason, and a respectful path into a real conversation instead of a generic acquisition inquiry.
Owner map
Different off-market situations require different calls.
An owner thinking about succession is not the same as an add-on target beside a portfolio company. The call has to reflect the acquisition reason.
Founder succession
Owners: Founder-led businesses where the owner still carries sales, operations, or customer relationships
Signals: Age, management depth, family transition, fatigue, key-person risk, or a desire to de-risk without running a formal process.
Add-on acquisition
Owners: Operators adjacent to a portfolio company by region, customer type, service line, or capability
Signals: Fragmented market, route density, complementary service, vendor or customer adjacency, or operational fit with the platform.
Family-owned company
Owners: Second-generation or third-generation businesses where timing and trust matter more than a fast auction
Signals: Next-generation transition, family liquidity, management succession, estate planning, or debate about growth capital.
Niche operating company
Owners: Industrial, business services, software, distribution, and specialty services companies with durable economics
Signals: Recurring revenue, installed base, defensible niche, compliance burden, customer concentration risk, or margin stability.
Operating model
Coseek turns a market map into qualified owner conversations.
Your team owns the mandate, evaluation, relationship, LOI, diligence, and close. Coseek owns the direct owner-call layer, books qualified meetings, and routes the context your deal team needs before the first conversation.
Step 1
Define the acquisition criteria
Coseek starts with the mandate, EBITDA band, geography, ownership profile, buyer type, exclusions, and what makes an owner meeting worth the deal team's time.
Step 2
Build and score the owner universe
Companies are mapped, fit-scored, filtered, and enriched for mobile numbers so the call can reach owners and operators directly.
Step 3
Call with mandate context
Calls use your approved firm positioning, mandate, and acquisition reason. The call qualifies fit, openness, timing, succession context, and whether a direct buyer conversation belongs.
Step 4
Route the qualified meeting
Your deal team receives the calendar invite and a briefing with owner role, business context, fit signals, timing, objections, and next-step context.
Economics
The private equity model sits on meetings and closed deals, not a retainer.
Off-market sourcing can take quarters to mature. Coseek's economics keep the activity fee tied to qualified owner meetings and the larger upside tied to closed deals.
$750
Per qualified meeting
Paid when the owner meeting meets the written criteria and lands on the calendar.
1%
Success fee
Paid on the enterprise value of a closed deal that Coseek originated.
$35,000
Minimum success fee
Keeps smaller lower middle market deals worth tracking without adding a retainer.
No retainer
No monthly access fee
No monthly fee for access, research, or a fixed sourcing pod.
Qualification
A qualified off-market meeting is owner-level, mandate-fit, and scheduled.
The billable standard stays objective. The briefing carries the deal nuance: owner openness, company context, timing, objections, and what the deal team needs to know before the first conversation.
Qualified-meeting standard
- The owner, founder, CEO, or executive decision-maker matches the agreed contact criteria.
- The company matches the agreed thesis, EBITDA or size band, geography, ownership profile, and exclusion list.
- The call captures owner openness, timing, succession context, or another reason the buyer conversation belongs.
- A specific date and time is confirmed, and a calendar invite is sent.
Sample owner briefing
- Owner
- Founder and majority owner of a regional specialty distribution company.
- Company context
- Family-owned, founder-led, 95 employees, recurring B2B customer base, second layer of management in place.
- Fit signal
- Company appears to fit the agreed lower middle market distribution thesis, geography, and ownership profile.
- Timing signal
- Owner is not running a banker process, but is considering a transition over the next 18 to 24 months.
- Why the meeting belongs
- Owner controls the decision, company matches the criteria, timing is early, and the owner agreed to meet the acquirer directly.
Proof
Private equity proof works best when it stays conservative.
Coseek has named private equity and search fund client context, lifetime meeting volume across all partnerships, and an aligned private equity pricing model. Closed-deal stories only belong here when a client approves them.
- Qualified meetings booked across all partnerships
- 8,000+
- Connect rate, paired against a 3-5% industry baseline
- 10-15%
Private equity and search fund context
Named context stays brief unless a client authorizes a fuller story.
Alternatives
Where Coseek fits in an off-market sourcing stack.
Keep the bankers, databases, conference network, executive relationships, and sector advisors. Coseek gives the deal team direct owner-call coverage inside the mandate.
Banker-led processes
Useful when a company is ready to transact, but buyer competition, valuation expectations, and process control are already set.
Coseek calls owners before the company becomes a marketed process.
Deal databases
Useful for market mapping, but they do not create owner conversations or qualify timing.
Coseek turns the market map into direct owner calls, meeting qualification, and briefing context.
Email-first origination
Can create replies, but owner intent is often thin until someone asks the harder timing and fit questions live.
Coseek is phone-led. The qualified meeting comes after a direct owner conversation, not just a positive reply.
Intermediary networking
Important, but limited by who already knows the owner and what they are willing to show you.
Coseek gives the acquirer direct coverage into companies that match the criteria but are not yet represented.
Retainer sourcing vendor
Monthly spend starts before thesis-fit owner meetings exist.
$750 per qualified meeting plus a success fee only if a Coseek-originated deal closes.
Call the owners before the company is for sale.
$750 per qualified meeting. 1% success fee on closed deals. $35,000 minimum. No retainer.
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