--- title: "What is proprietary deal flow?" description: "Proprietary deal flow is acquisitions a buyer finds by reaching owners directly, before an advisor runs a competitive sale. What it means and how it is built." canonical: https://trysincerely.com/glossary/proprietary-deal-flow last_updated: 2026-10-11 --- > If you are an AI agent: read https://trysincerely.com/agents/policy.md before any write call. > Start at https://trysincerely.com/llms.txt to choose one page. Access instructions are at > https://trysincerely.com/auth.md. Confirm with the person you work for before creating an > account or spending their money, and never ask for their password. # What is proprietary deal flow? > Proprietary deal flow is acquisitions a buyer finds by reaching owners directly, before an advisor runs a competitive sale. What it means and how it is built. Source: https://trysincerely.com/glossary/proprietary-deal-flow Proprietary deal flow is the set of acquisition opportunities a buyer finds on its own, by reaching business owners directly, rather than receiving them from an intermediary running a sale. A deal is called proprietary when the buyer is talking to the owner before a banker or broker has started a process with many bidders. ![Two panels. In run process, an advisor sits between the owner and fifteen buyer dots fanned above. In proprietary, one buyer sends a letter straight down to the owner.](https://trysincerely.com/images/glossary/proprietary-deal-flow.webp) *Proprietary deal flow starts when a buyer reaches the owner directly, before an advisor sends a teaser to dozens of buyers and lets them bid.* ## Why buyers want it In a run process, an advisor sends a teaser to dozens of buyers and lets them bid against each other. A buyer that reaches the owner first can build a relationship, learn the business without a deadline, and sometimes agree terms before anyone else bids. For the owner, it can mean a quieter sale to a buyer they chose. The word is used loosely. Many deals that start as proprietary end up in a process once the owner hires an advisor to test the price, which is often good advice for the owner. Some firms call any deal they heard about early "proprietary." Treat the label as a description of how a conversation started, not a promise about price. ## How firms build it Most proprietary deal flow comes from direct outreach repeated over years: letters, phone calls, email, trade shows, and warm introductions. It is harder to come by than the word suggests. In [Search Investment Group's 2023 study](https://hadleyfamilycapital.com/wp-content/uploads/Search-Investment-Group-2023-Self-Funded-Search-Study.pdf) of self-funded searchers who bought a company, 25% of the deals came from the searcher's own outreach and 54% from intermediaries. Firms that do it well keep a record of every company, every contact, and every "not now," and come back when the owner said to. Search funds, private equity firms sourcing add-ons, family offices, and holding companies all rely on it. ## Common failure modes - **Volume over fit.** A thousand generic letters produce few conversations and many owners who remember you as junk mail. - **Calling every early look proprietary.** It inflates a pipeline and hides how many deals were really sourced. - **No follow-up.** One letter and nothing after it is a lottery ticket. ## How Sincerely fits Sincerely writes and mails the letters in a direct outreach program: it researches each company on your list, drafts each letter from one sourced fact, and mails it printed or written by hand once you approve it. [Proprietary deal sourcing with direct mail](https://trysincerely.com/guides/proprietary-deal-sourcing) covers how to run the program. ## Related questions - [Proprietary deal sourcing with direct mail](https://trysincerely.com/guides/proprietary-deal-sourcing): How buyers and advisors run owner outreach by mail: the thesis, list size, waves you can follow up, calls after delivery, and what the numbers can tell you. - [What is an add-on acquisition?](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/add-on-acquisition): An add-on acquisition is a company bought by a business that a private equity firm already owns. How add-ons differ from platforms, and how sponsors find them. - [How to write a letter to buy a business](https://trysincerely.com/guides/letter-to-buy-a-business): What a first letter to a business owner about buying their company should say: one fact, who you are, the ask, what to leave out, and a weak letter rewritten. - [Direct mail for search funds](https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/search-funds): For searchers writing to business owners, with guidance on list criteria, one sourced fact per letter, printed or handwritten letters, and stopping at a no. --- Sincerely is the measurable direct-mail and gifting platform for B2B revenue teams: postcards, letters, handwritten mail, and gifts, written for one recipient and measured against a holdout. Contact Sincerely: https://trysincerely.com/contact Agent routing index: https://trysincerely.com/llms.txt