Key takeaways
- Deal flow is the input; sourcing is the work that creates it.
- Funds manage it as a pipeline: new, screening, meeting, diligence, decision.
- Most deals end in a pass. A clear, recorded reason helps if the company comes back.
Where deal flow comes from
- Inbound: founders apply through a form, email or the fund's website.
- Referrals: portfolio founders, angels, lawyers and other funds introduce companies.
- Outbound: the team researches a market and contacts companies first.
- Programmes and events: accelerator cohorts, demo days and pitch competitions.
The stages of a deal flow pipeline
| Stage | What happens | Typical owner |
|---|---|---|
| New | Deck and basic facts arrive and are logged once | Analyst |
| Screening | Checked against the thesis; gaps listed as questions | Analyst or associate |
| First meeting | Call or interview with the founders | Associate or partner |
| Diligence | Claims checked against documents, customers and references | Deal team |
| Decision | Invest, pass or revisit later, with the reason recorded | Partners or committee |
How deal flow shows up day to day
For a small team the hard part is rarely finding deals. It is reading every deck, spotting the same company arriving twice, replying to founders in reasonable time and remembering why a company was passed. Many lean funds still run this in a shared inbox and a spreadsheet.
Delsivo is designed to bring inbound deal flow through the fund's own branded portal, suggest duplicates for an analyst to confirm and queue each deal with its thesis screening, all planned for the Pilot release.
Common confusions
- Deal flow versus deal sourcing: sourcing is the activity, deal flow is what it produces.
- "Proprietary" deal flow usually means deals a fund sees before others, not deals nobody else could see.
- More deal flow is not better if the team cannot review it properly.