Deal sourcing is where acquisitions are won or lost. The acquirer who finds the right target first—and moves fastest—wins. Traditional sourcing takes 6-12 months and yields 20-50 targets. AI-assisted sourcing compresses this to 2-4 weeks and analyzes 1,000+ potential targets.

Great target identification starts with crystal-clear acquisition criteria. What industry? What revenue range? What margins? What geography? What tech stack? What customer base? The more specific your criteria, the better the targets you'll find.

But criteria are just the starting point. The real art is detecting sell signals—founder age, growth inflection points, funding gaps, leadership changes—that indicate a company might be receptive to an approach. Finding targets that are both strategic fits AND likely to transact is the sweet spot.