Deal sourcing in the lower middle market is still mostly manual: spreadsheets, cold calls, and refreshing listing sites. On this episode of The M&A Mastermind Podcast, host Nick Olsen talks with Danny McKeon, founder and CEO of PrivSource. It’s a deal sourcing platform built for lower middle market M&A, used by more than 5,000 dealmakers. Danny started at a VC-backed tech startup, then sourced deals for a private equity firm and a family office. He launched PrivSource in 2020 wAIith two friends he played high school golf with, and the company has been bootstrapped from day one. He explains where AI helps M&A advisors today, where it can make more work for you, and how to build a stronger buyer list in minutes.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Why Danny left tech for deal-making, and how studying Buffett and Munger changed how he looks at businesses
- The manual sourcing work that took about 20% of his time on the buy side, and why he built PrivSource to fix it
- What AI is good at in M&A today, from drafting a CIM or teaser to testing ideas
- Why AI can be “confidently wrong,” and how to check its output so it doesn’t create more work
- How a 20-year friendship among three co-founders lets them make decisions faster
- Why staying bootstrapped led to better product decisions than outside funding would have
- How the Deal Network and AI Buyer List work, and when to use each one
- How PrivSource vets buyers to filter out tire kickers and confirm they can actually close a deal
- How to upload your existing buyer list and find new tier-one and tier-two buyers
- The one simple workflow advisors should try first
About the Guest:
Danny McKeon is the founder and CEO of PrivSource, a vetted M&A platform built for the lower middle market. It combines a private Deal Network of active buyout opportunities with AI Buyer List, an AI tool trained on real M&A transactions that builds ranked buyer lists with verified decision-maker contacts in minutes. Danny started his career at a VC-backed tech startup. He then sourced deals for a lower middle market private equity firm and joined the investment team at a family office. He launched PrivSource in 2020 with two longtime friends, and the company has been bootstrapped ever since. Learn more at privsource.com or connect with Danny on LinkedIn.
About the Show:
The M&A Mastermind Podcast provides actionable insights and effective strategies tailored for dealmakers in the lower middle market. Hosted by Nick Olsen, the show features conversations with leading industry experts who share valuable knowledge on topics such as industry intelligence, deal management, collaborative successes, and specialized expertise. Listeners who support small to medium-sized business owners will find practical tactics and advice they can immediately apply to advance their mastery in mergers and acquisitions.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review. It helps more lower middle market dealmakers find the show.
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Resources & Links:
- PrivSource: https://www.privsource.com
- PrivSource AI Buyer List: https://www.privsource.com/ai-buyer-list
- Danny McKeon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-mckeon-28bba689
- Nick Olsen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-olsen2328/
- Cornerstone International Alliance: https://cornerstoneia.com/
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