Deal Origination Associate

We are a stealth vertical AI holding company building the world's largest distributor of AI to industries who will never buy it directly from model labs. We acquire hyper-niche vertical software companies serving the forgotten economy - lumber suppliers, elevator repair, marinas, mobile home parks, tow trucks, locksmiths, tattoo parlors, pest control, sign manufacturers, and 20+ other overlooked verticals. We buy the systems of record these industries already run on, then layer AI agents and embedded fintech on top to compound cash flow. Every acquisition is a permanent home for a founder's life work. More about who we are will be shared under NDA. The Role You are the tip of the spear. Your job is to find, engage, and build multi-year trust relationships with software founders in 25+ niche verticals so that when they decide to sell, we are the only call they make. This is not a warm-inbound seat. It's not investment banking. It's outbound origination + relationship compounding + deal quarterbacking - the exact function that separates Constellation's operating groups from every wannabe roll-up that has flamed out. What You'll Do... Own the top of funnel end-to-end. Build and maintain a proprietary pipeline of 2,000+ target companies across our buy box, mapped by vertical, ARR, ownership structure, and readiness-to-sell signals. Run heavy outbound. 100+ meaningful founder touches per week - cold email, LinkedIn, phone, handwritten notes, in-person visits. We measure conversations, not activity theater. Build 3-year relationships. Most founders in our verticals sell once. Your win rate is a function of being the trusted party in their inbox for years before the LOI conversation happens. Show up in the physical world. Attend 8–12 industry-specific trade shows per year. This is where the deals live. Qualify ruthlessly against the buy box (below). No happy ears. If a target doesn't fit, kill it early. Quarterback deals from first call to signed LOI. Financial pre-diligence, valuation triangulation, LOI drafting support with the M&A lead. Leverage our proprietary distribution. We already reach 50K+ founders and operators through owned channels - your job is to convert that audience into founder conversations. On Day 1 we expect you to have... 2-5 years in deal sourcing / origination at a private equity firm, holding company, or search fund. You've done cold outbound at scale and enjoyed it. If a cold email makes you flinch, this is the wrong seat. Financial literacy: you can read a P&L, calculate SDE/EBITDA add-backs, and sanity-check a 4x multiple in your head. High-trust operator. Founders will share their most personal financial information with you. You are their fiduciary before you are ours. You've read every Constellation Software president's letter. Or you will by Week 2. Nice to have... Domain experience in any of our target verticals or a prior small software exit. Who You Are not A banker looking for a comfortable seat and 2/20 econo