Honest positioning
Who DealSource Systems is not a fit for.
Most origination pitches only ever describe who they are for. That is marketing, not information. This page describes who we are not a fit for, plainly, so you can rule it out yourself in five minutes rather than on a call with Martin.
01A vague mandate, not a real thesis
"Good businesses in industrials, five to twenty million in EBITDA" is not a thesis, it is a category. The engine works by turning a specific thesis into machine-readable targeting: scoring companies 0 to 100 against 50-plus signals, and detecting the events that mean an owner is ready to move. A brief that vague produces a target list that technically qualifies and that you would never actually buy. If you cannot write your thesis in three sentences, the honest next step is to sharpen it first, on your own or with us, before any outreach starts.
02Nobody able to take the call within days
Origination fails on the receiving end as often as it fails on the sending end. When a founder responds and wants to talk, someone on your side needs to take that call within a few days while the moment is live. If nobody on your team can do that, reliably, the conversations we open will cool before you reach them, and the engagement will look like it failed when the actual failure was capacity on your side of the line.
03Wanting a list, not conversations
A database subscription gives you a list. What we build is direct founder conversations, with an experienced operator reviewing every message before it sends and handling the replies. If what you actually want is a spreadsheet of company names to work yourself, a data platform is the right purchase, not an origination partner. See how the engine works for where that line sits.
A list is not origination. Origination is what happens after the list, and it is the part most tools quietly skip.
04Expecting closed deals, not qualified conversations
An origination function produces qualified conversations with owners who fit your thesis. It does not produce closed deals, and any provider who prices or promises against closed deals on a fixed timeline is either taking a success fee that changes their incentives, or overselling what origination can control. Diligence, negotiation, and close are your team's work, on your timeline, once the conversation exists.
05Not ready to give it real weeks
Even our fastest results took real, calendar weeks, not days. Merritt Healthcare Advisors had 14 qualified conversations in the first three weeks. Agency Futures took 60 days to its first sell-side mandate. Blue Turtle Capital's 34 thesis-fit opportunities arrived across a full first month. If the expectation is meaningful volume inside the first week, that expectation is the mismatch, not the engine.
What this looks like when it fits instead
The three named engagements above ran for months, not weeks, and two of them expanded outreach volume after the early results held up. Merritt now runs at roughly 13 new qualified conversations a week, and Agency Futures has sustained 8 a week for over four months. That is what it looks like when the thesis is real, the capacity to take calls exists, and the firm gave it the time origination actually needs. The full detail is on the client results page.
06Who this is for instead
Private equity firms with a defined acquisition thesis, M&A advisors and boutique banks who want a fuller top-of-funnel of sell-side mandates, and portfolio companies who want the same engine pointed at their own customers. If that describes your situation and the five points above do not disqualify you, see the three solutions this engine is built to run.
Frederik Jakobsen is the founder of Danish Lead Co, the parent group that builds and operates DealSource Systems.