Proprietary deal origination · San Francisco
The best companies are rarely for sale.
NorthSail Capital finds them for private equity sponsors — quietly, patiently, and always on the owner’s terms.
01Approach
We work the buy side, and only the buy side.
Bankers represent sellers. We represent buyers. NorthSail is retained by a select group of private equity firms to identify, approach, and introduce privately held companies that have never run a process — and may never have considered one.
The result is a pipeline of conversations a sponsor could not have started alone, with owners who are glad they took the call.
- 01
Chart
Set the thesis
We begin with a sponsor’s strategy — sector, size, geography, the shape of a good add-on — and map every company that could plausibly fit, including the ones no database lists.
- 02
Sound
Read the water
Before anyone picks up a phone, we study each business: its history, its people, its ownership, and whether a conversation would be welcome now or in three years.
- 03
Hail
Open the conversation
Partners reach out personally to founders and family owners. No mass outreach, no auction, no pressure — an introduction between people who may have something to build together.
- 04
Alongside
Make the introduction
When the interest is mutual, we bring both parties together and stay close through diligence, so the relationship that began quietly continues that way.
Made fast, made right
02For Sponsors
Proprietary flow, without the noise.
Auctions compress returns and reward the highest bidder rather than the best partner. We give you an earlier, quieter seat at the table — and the context to use it well.
- Thesis-driven mapping
- Every company in your target universe, not just the ones already advised.
- Partner-led outreach
- Senior people on every call. Nothing is delegated to a script.
- Platform and add-on
- Lower-middle-market founders and family businesses across North America.
- Aligned economics
- Retainers credited against success fees, so our interests sail with yours.
03For Business Owners
If we reached out to you, it was on purpose.
We contact a small number of companies each year, chosen because a respected investor believes they could help that business go further. You built something worth noticing. We would like to hear about it — whatever you decide.
A
There is no obligation.
A conversation with us commits you to nothing. Many owners simply want to understand their options.
B
Your name stays with us.
We never circulate teasers, lists, or your financials without your explicit consent.
C
Owners pay us nothing.
We are retained by the buyer. Our introduction costs you nothing, now or later.
D
The timing is yours.
If now isn’t right, we’re happy to stay in touch for as long as it takes.
04The Firm
A small crew, by design.
NorthSail is a partner-owned firm on the San Francisco waterfront. We keep our client list short so that every sponsor, and every owner, gets our full attention.
Discretion before volume
We work with a small number of sponsors and keep every name we hear to ourselves.
Patience is a strategy
Many of our introductions follow years of correspondence. We are comfortable with long passages.
Owners are not inventory
Every company we approach is treated as a prospective partner, never as a listing.
“The right introduction, at the right time, made by someone both sides trust.”
05Correspondence
Write to us.
Whether you invest or you own, every note is read by a partner and held in strict confidence.
Office
San Francisco, California
By appointment
Position
37°48′27″ N, 122°24′39″ W