The Modern Solution
For Owner-Initiated Deal Flow
Stratus builds inbound origination infrastructure for lower-middle-market buyers, helping business owners in your target sectors contact you before they enter a formal sale process.
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Trusted by lower middle market acquirers accross North America
Who We Help
Built for Lower-Middle-Market Buyers With Defined Acquisition Mandates
Private Equity Firms
Looking to generate more owner-direct conversations around specific platform or add-on criteria.
Independent Sponsors
Looking to build proprietary pipeline before a competitive process begins.
Strategic Acquirers
Looking to reach owners in specific sectors, regions, or service lines.
M&A Advisors With Buy-Side Mandates
Looking to support clients with earlier, owner-initiated conversations.
Traditional Sourcing Channels Have a Ceiling
No Deal Control
Brokers send the same opportunities to dozens of buyers, leaving you with no leverage and no client exclusivity.
Pipeline Inconsitency
Referral networks and manual outreach deliver sporadic results. There is no system. When a deal closes, sourcing starts over.
Late-Stage Access
By the time most opportunities reach your desk, the seller has already spoken with other buyers. You are entering a process designed to work against you.
How it works
How Stratus Builds an Inbound Origination Channel
1. Acquisition Infrastructure
We deploy proprietary acquisition channels designed to reach business owners in your target sectors who are in early stages of considering an exit. The targeting is built around your acquisition mandate: sector, geography, deal size, and business profile.
2. Qualification and Filtering
Every owner inquiry is filtered through a structured qualification process aligned with your criteria. Assessing revenue, EBITDA range, sector fit, exit timeline, and intent. Your team only engages with owners who are genuinely aligned.
3. Direct Introduction
Qualified owners are introduced directly into your pipeline with full context: deal fit indicators, exit motivation, financials summary, and call notes. Your team engages a warm conversation, not a cold name from a database.
Let's map your deal flow system.
What we build
Everything is built to your mandate. Deployed under full confidentiality.
Inbound Origination System
Proprietary acquisition channels reach business owners showing early signs of exit intent in your target sector, geography, and deal size range.
Qualification & Filtering
Automatically reach out and qualify business owners with your exact deal criteria so your team only speaks with serious, qualified sellers.
Specific Targeting
The infrastructure is built around your specific buy box. Not generic. Every element of the system reflects your sector focus, deal size, and acquisition thesis.
CRM Integration
Qualified introductions flow directly into your existing or new CRM with full context attached. Deal fit summary, financials range, owner motivation, and next-step recommendation.
Follow-Up
Owners who are not ready to engage immediately are nurtured through a structured follow-up sequence. Long-term pipeline builds without requiring your team's ongoing attention.
Reporting & Optimization
Clear visibility into pipeline volume, qualification rates, and conversation quality. Continuous optimization against your criteria to improve results over time.
Why Inbound Sourcing Works
6–18 Months
Most business owners begin exploring exit options long before they formally list or engage a broker. Capturing early interest gives your firm access before competitive processes begin.
Before Market
The highest quality opportunities are sourced before they reach brokers, auctions, and intermediaries. Inbound sourcing creates direct owner conversations earlier in the decision cycle.
1 System
Traditional sourcing is inconsistent and difficult to scale. One repeatable acquisition and follow-up system creates predictable deal flow without relying on brokers, referrals, or manual outreach.
Results
What others are saying
after working
with Stratus Holdings
Altenbruck Capital
24 mandate-aligned owner-initiated conversations in 60 days - 2 signed LOIs
"Working with Rylan at Stratus Holdings was a strong decision for our firm. The campaign generated dozens of genuinely prequalified business owner leads aligned with our acquisition focus. The targeting was disciplined, the messaging resonated, and the introductions were organized and actionable. For firms serious about sourcing off-market opportunities with precision, Stratus is a valuable partner."
- David Penrod
NextGen Fleet Solutions
39 mandate-aligned owner-initiated conversations in 60 days
"Working with Stratus has been a great experience. They spend the time and energy to truly understand your messaging and buy-box to create tailored ads that resonate with business owners. The inbound leads are populated on an easy to use dashboard. It’s been a valuable addition to our off-market sourcing efforts, and I look forward to our continued partnership. Overall, the process has been seamless and highly professional from start to finish."
- Nicholas Lee
Next Steps
Launch Your Off-Market Sourcing System
Stratus builds and deploys a complete off-market sourcing system designed to generate qualified business owner conversations based on your acquisition criteria. We handle campaign execution, qualification workflows, and automated follow-up end-to-end. Schedule a confidential call to review the model and discuss pricing based on your firm’s goals.
FOUNDER & CEO
Rylan Schebesch
Stratus was built to help lower-middle-market buyers reach owners earlier in their decision cycle, before a formal process begins and before an advisor shapes the market.
The company combines paid acquisition, owner psychology, sector-specific messaging, qualification infrastructure, and CRM routing to create owner-initiated acquisition conversations around defined mandates.
Every system is built around the buyer’s criteria. Every opportunity is routed with context. Every campaign is designed to create earlier, owner-direct conversations.
Contact: [email protected]
STILL NOT SURE?
Questions We Hear Most
These strategies are tailored to each client based on their needs.
What sets this apart from traditional deal sourcing methods like referrals or cold outreach?
Traditional sourcing channels usually have timing or consistency issues. Referrals are valuable but unpredictable, databases show who exists but not who is open, and cold outreach often interrupts owners before trust or timing exists.
Stratus builds inbound origination infrastructure around your mandate so business owners in your target sectors initiate the conversation before entering a broker-led process. The owner comes inbound. Your team responds.
How quickly can we expect to see results?
Most systems can launch within 10–14 days after mandate intake, assuming we have the information needed to build the campaign, landing page, qualification flow, CRM routing, and tracking.
The initial pilot runs for 45 days. The benchmark is 5 qualified owner-initiated opportunities. If that benchmark is not reached, Stratus continues managing the campaign at no additional management cost until it is reached. Ad spend remains client-funded.
Does this work for our specific sector or deal size?
Stratus works best when the buyer has a clear acquisition mandate, including target sector, geography, revenue range, EBITDA range, or owner profile.
Before launch, we review your criteria to determine whether inbound origination makes sense. If the mandate is too broad, unclear, or difficult to communicate to owners, we will say that before building the system.
Why is Stratus priced this way?
Stratus is priced to keep the upfront engagement clear while aligning both sides around closed transaction outcomes.
The $4,500 Origination Infrastructure Buildout covers the upfront work required to build the system around your mandate. The $2,000/month operating budget goes toward ads/marketing, software, tracking, and campaign tools, not a management retainer.
Stratus is primarily aligned through the success fee, which only applies if a transaction closes from an opportunity sourced through the system.
How is this different from hiring a sourcing analyst or using an outbound database?
A sourcing analyst or database helps identify companies that exist in a market. Stratus is designed to surface owners who are beginning to think about transition, succession, timing, optionality, or a potential sale.
This does not replace analysts, referrals, brokers, or outbound. It adds a separate owner-initiated channel where business owners self-identify interest and are routed directly to your team with qualification context.
Why would a serious business owner respond to a digital campaign?
Because the message is not a generic “sell your business” ad. The campaigns are sector-specific and built around timing, succession, confidentiality, legacy, growth options, and transition planning. The goal is to reach owners earlier, before they have committed to a broker-led process.
Are you acting as a broker or intermediary?
No. Stratus does not represent sellers, negotiate terms, value companies, advise on transactions, or run sale processes. Stratus builds the front-end origination infrastructure that helps buyers surface and qualify owner-initiated conversations.
What happens after an owner engages and submits a form?
The opportunity is routed to the buyer with the relevant qualification details, source context, and contact information. The buyer controls follow-up and the relationship from there.
See If Inbound Origination Fits Your Acquisition Mandate
Request a confidential review to map your target sector, current sourcing channels, and whether an owner-initiated system makes sense.
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