March 30, 2021 With competition among private equity firms more intense than ever, finding the right deals is crucial. Covid restrictions have made face-to-face meetings rare, highlighting the value of good deal origination processes. Today, limited partners are demanding an unprecedented level of professionalism in business development activities, as Mergers & Acquisitions explores in the cover story of our March issue. Even as the private equity industry matured and became more mainstream, the “deal finder” remained the person who found the deal, made the deal and nurtured the deal. At most private equity firms, there was no secret sauce or process in place for deal sourcing.