Mandate and buy-box
We define revenue band, EBITDA range, geography, ownership structure and explicit deal-breakers with your team. Writing it down is where most mandates are quietly broken.
Fractional Business Development Services
Proprietary origination, run by our team, under your brand.
Partners and Clients
In brief
Fractional business development is an outsourced origination function: a specialist team runs proprietary, direct-to-owner outreach against your mandate under your brand, without you hiring internally. OutSearched works with private equity firms, family offices, independent sponsors and search funds acquiring companies with $1M to $10M in EBITDA.
What it is
Fractional business development, defined for dealmakers
An elite origination team running scaled, proprietary, direct-to-owner outreach against your mandate. Confidential, under your brand, at the pace of an institutional BD function — without the cost or ramp of building one. In a buy-side context, it covers three things:
- Target universe construction — a sized, named universe of companies matching the buy-box, with ownership and contact data.
- Multichannel, direct-to-owner outreach — sequenced, messaged and run so volume does not read as spam to an owner who has never thought about selling.
- Qualification through to LOI — filtering for owners who will transact, not owners who will take a call.
The work is run by our shared origination team, not a dedicated headcount placed in your firm.
It is not a database subscription, and it is not a generic sales consultant. The term gets used broadly for both lead marketing help and acquisition origination. In the lower middle market, it means one specific thing: traditional people proprietary deal sourcing, run as a service. For counsel rather than execution, see buy-side M&A advisory.
Two models
Fractional or internal — two ways to run the same engine
Fractional BD · this service
Our team, your mandate
Our team runs proprietary origination for you, under our brand. Not a dedicated headcount. Focused on proprietary, off-market flow. The right fit when you do not need a named, full-coverage seat.
Internal BD · the alternative
A dedicated seat
A fully dedicated resource, committed to your firm alone, running under your brand. Owns proprietary outreach and the broker and banker conversations next to your mandates. The right fit when you want a named, full-time function. See internal BD.
How it runs
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Our origination team, staffed against your mandate
Target universe
We build and enrich the target list with proprietary data, configured per mandate — not recycled between clients.
Direct-to-owner outreach
Multichannel proprietary outbound at scale, with every reply managed and every meeting set. Owners hear from your brand, not a vendor's.
Qualification and LOI
Owners qualified against your mandate and followed through to LOI, so what reaches you is a conversation worth having.
Proprietary deal flow, without the headcount
Book A Strategy Call
Who it's for
Built for buyers who need proprietary flow without institutional headcount
Fractional business development fits the buyer who needs proprietary, off-market deal flow but does not need — or cannot yet justify — a dedicated, named inside seat.
- Private equity firms That need off-market flow alongside an existing internal function.
- Family offices Structuring direct owner outreach without building a team for it.
- Independent sponsors Who need a sourcing engine before they can credibly raise against a deal.
- Search funds Where the searcher is also the analyst, the caller and the negotiator.
- Corporate development teams Carrying a mandate without the headcount to run outreach at volume.
If you want the output of an origination function without the fixed cost of one, this is the model.
By the numbers
2025 results
Active mandate performance across the client portfolio.
$500MM+Proprietary EV sourcedAcross client mandates in 2025
16+LOIs deliveredAcross client mandates in 2025
4★Trustpilot ratingFrom 15 verified reviews
“Our BD Sourced services already performing well, but we hired OutSearched under the belief that no matter how well oiled our machine is, we're likely still missing great opportunities. Nate proved that quickly. Within three weeks, we were in active conversations with attractive acquisition targets. The speed, quality, and professionalism of his process stood out. I recommend Nate and his team more highly.”
How it compares
The honest comparison
Option 01
Internal BD hire
$80K+ all-in before leads. Six to twelve months to ramp. Capacity caps out at one or two mandates. Departure means pipeline restart.
Option 02
Broker and deal platforms
One buyer in a competitive process. Auction dynamics drive entry multiples up. Minimal seller relationship before LOI.
Option 03
Fractional BD with OutSearched
Our team running proprietary origination under your brand. First retainer plus the lowest closing fees in the category. Active outreach within 21 days. Direct-to-owner before a process exists.
See how we would build your origination engine
Book A Strategy Call
Your team
Who you work with
Nate Niehuus
Founder
Nate founded OutSearched and leads negotiation and structuring personally on every mandate. BBA in Finance, Texas State University; MBA candidate, University of Texas at Austin, Class of 2027. Previously Vice President, Industrial at SRS Real Estate Partners, and founder of two operating businesses.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How is fractional business development different from internal BD?
Fractional BD is our shared origination team running proprietary outreach under your brand, without a dedicated headcount. Internal BD is a named person committed to your firm alone, who also runs broker and banker conversations. Fractional is the right fit when you need the output of an origination function without the fixed cost of one.
What does a fractional business development manager actually do?
On a buy-side mandate: defines the buy-box with you, builds and enriches the target universe, runs multichannel direct-to-owner outreach, manages every reply, and qualifies owners through to LOI. It is origination work, not general sales management — the output is owner conversations, not a pipeline report.
Is a dedicated person assigned to us?
Not under the fractional model. Your mandate is staffed against our origination team, with a named point of contact for weekly pipeline rhythm. If you need a dedicated seat committed to your firm alone, that is internal BD.
When should we hire business development consultants instead of making a full-time hire?
When the mandate is live but the volume does not yet justify $80K+ all-in plus six to twelve months of ramp, or when you want proprietary flow proven before you commit to headcount. A full-time hire makes sense once mandate volume is steady and you need broker and banker coverage alongside outreach.
What does fractional business development cost?
A monthly retainer plus a closing fee. The retainer scales with mandate complexity and target universe size rather than being packaged into tiers. Book a call and we will give you a number on the first conversation rather than after three.
How quickly does outreach start?
Active outreach begins within 21 days of mandate sign-off. Buy-box definition and target universe construction take the first two to three weeks; first qualified owner conversations typically land around 60 days.
Do you work under our brand or yours?
Yours. Owners hear from your firm, not from OutSearched. That is the point of the model — the relationship you build in the first conversation is the one you carry into negotiation.
How is this different from a broker or a deal platform?
A broker runs a process, which means you are one buyer among several and auction dynamics push entry multiples up. A platform gives you database screens everyone else can also see. Fractional BD reaches owners directly before a process exists, which is where off-market entry is won.
Do you need to be local to work with us?
No. Origination runs remotely — mandate calls, target universe construction and outreach do not require us to be in the room. OutSearched is based in Austin, Texas and works with buyers across the United States on the same engagement model.
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