One of our primary purposes is to help our clients – private equity buyout investors -to cultivate relationships with Deal Executives. When contacting Notch, please let us know if you consider yourself a Deal Executive or a Job Seeker so that we can present you with the most appropriate opportunities.
At Notch Partners, we define a Deal Executive as follows:
A Deal Executive is a visionary CEO-level leader who is committed to engage proactively with private equity firms to “make a deal happen.” These executives can develop and execute a proprietary deal thesis or provide significant value in one or more pre-deal situations. Oftentimes, a Deal Executive is seeking to complete an acquisition and lead the resulting company in partnership with a financial sponsor. The executive has a clear sense of how to create value in the sector he or she is targeting based on deep experience in that industry. These Deal Executives are not simply open to leading deals that are sourced by private equity sponsors, but are proactively seeking deal opportunities which they themselves can bring to the financial sponsor or work in concert with a sponsor to identify.
Deal Executives are typically “roll-up-the-sleeves” CEOs with a bias for action and a passion for creating value through revenue and profitability growth. Typically these executives have informed perspectives about where growth opportunities may exist in their industries. Additionally, Deal Executives possess an entrepreneurial spirit and an appetite to take calculated risks.
Some executives consider themselves to be both Deal Executives and Job Seekers simultaneously. While such a split focus may be possible, we advise executives who are serious about operating a private equity-backed company to make it their sole focus. Deal Executives looking to lead a deal situation and run an operating company need to have the financial wherewithal and the patience to work through a deal, which can take 6-12 months or more.
Strong Deal Executive candidates demonstrate the following characteristics to private equity investors:
- An understanding, through experience, of what it takes to rapidly create value for investors in an acquisition, turnaround, rollup or startup
- A passion about an investment idea or strategy, whether or not they have identified the specific target(s)
- A high level of recognition and connectedness among their industry colleagues
- A strong orientation toward building wealth through a meaningful equity stake in a private equity-backed company
Deal Executives who have not yet identified a specific deal target can nonetheless initiate and develop a strong relationship with private equity investors based on a compelling thoughtful deal idea or Deal Thesis. A Deal Thesis is a concept which a Deal Executive can define in three sentences, if pressed, but is usually presented in a short document or a PowerPoint presentation.
When contacting Notch as a Deal Executive, please give us some information about your deal idea(s). Specifically, we would like you to address the following:
- Your specific industry of expertise
- The approximate size of your target platform
- How you expect to create value in the investment
- How you expect to fill your management team
- Identified alternative platforms and/or pipeline acquisitions
- Efforts you have made to execute your deal thesis
To help guide you in your development of your Deal Thesis, please see our Deal Thesis Worksheet or via the Resources for Executives section.