VP Business Development

Overview

You're the VP of Business Development at a small private equity firm with $167M under management and 18 employees. Your job is split between supporting portfolio company growth (identifying partnerships, revenue channels, and potential acquisitions for their edtech and healthcare services businesses) and deal sourcing (finding new investment opportunities that fit their thesis around talent-driven services). You report directly to Managing Directors and work across 14+ portfolio companies at various stages.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Established PE firm with Fund II ($167M raised)

Size: 18 employees total

Growth: Made 14 investments, recently closed exit of Cloud for Good (Salesforce partner), active in edtech and healthcare services M&A

Market Position: Niche player focused on talent-constrained sectors, known for thought leadership (Ryan Craig writes for Forbes/TechCrunch on future of work)

GTM Reality

How This Works:

• You're not selling a single product—you're working across 14+ portfolio companies with different needs
• Portfolio includes: Beanstack (reading gamification app), SkillStorm (tech training), Westside Children's Therapy, RiseNow (procurement consulting), digital education platforms
• Each portfolio company has different BD needs: channel partnerships, customer acquisition channels, bolt-on acquisition targets
• You also source potential new investments that fit the thesis (tech services, healthcare services, edtech with talent development angle)

Revenue Model: PE firm generates returns through exits, not recurring revenue. Your success = portfolio company growth + successful new investments.

Support Structure: Small team—you're likely working with 1-2 junior BD/analyst resources if any. Mostly solo operator coordinating with portfolio company CEOs.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors (for deals): Other impact-focused PE firms, education-focused VCs, traditional middle-market PE firms eyeing edtech and healthcare services

How They Differentiate: Proprietary talent engine thesis—they claim to unlock growth in talent-constrained sectors by building recruiting/training infrastructure

Common Objections: "Why do we need a PE partner?" "Can you actually deliver talent at scale?" "Your fund size limits check size"

Win Themes: Thought leadership credibility (Managing Directors are authors/speakers), operational expertise in talent development, track record in edtech exits

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Portfolio Support (40%) | Deal Sourcing (30%) | Internal Strategy (20%) | Events/Network (10%)

Key Activities

• Portfolio Company BD Sprints: You rotate through portfolio companies (likely 1-2 per quarter as focus), mapping their partnership landscape, making intros to potential channel partners or acquisition targets, helping CEOs think through growth strategy. Lots of exploratory calls with potential partners.
• Deal Flow Management: You're constantly scanning for investment opportunities—reading industry news, taking inbound referrals, attending conferences, evaluating companies that fit the thesis ($20-200M revenue, tech/healthcare services, talent-constrained). Most don't go anywhere.
• Diligence Support: When the firm gets serious about an investment, you lead commercial diligence—validating market size, competitive positioning, growth potential. Lots of expert network calls and market research.
• Relationship Maintenance: The firm invests through relationships. You're constantly nurturing connections with: investment bankers who see deal flow, other PE firms for co-investment, executives who might join portfolio companies, industry associations in edtech/healthcare.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• You're spread thin across many portfolio companies with totally different businesses—one day you're thinking about K-12 reading software partnerships, next day you're evaluating pediatric therapy clinic roll-ups
• Small team means limited bandwidth. You can't deeply support all 14 portfolio companies, so you're constantly prioritizing and some CEOs will feel underserved
• Long cycles with uncertain outcomes. A partnership conversation might take 9 months and still fall apart. An acquisition target might get scooped by another buyer.
• You don't control the deal—portfolio company CEOs make final decisions, and they don't always take your advice
• Middle market PE is relationship-driven. If you don't have a strong network in edtech/healthcare services already, you're building from scratch
• Travel-heavy (conferences, portfolio company visits, investor meetings) despite small team

What Success Looks Like

• You close 2-3 meaningful partnerships per year that materially accelerate portfolio company growth (e.g., new distribution channel that adds $5M+ ARR)
• You source 1-2 investments that make it into the portfolio within 18 months
• Portfolio company CEOs actively seek your input on strategic decisions
• You build enough deal flow that the firm has options when they're ready to deploy capital

Who You're Selling To

Primary Relationships:

• Portfolio company CEOs (usually first-time PE-backed operators)
• Potential investment targets (founders considering selling to PE)
• Partnership targets (VPs of Partnerships, Head of Channels at potential partners)
• Investment bankers and intermediaries who bring deal flow

What They Care About:

• Portfolio CEOs: "Can you actually deliver something valuable or are you PE overhead?" "Do you understand my business deeply enough to add value?"
• Partnership Targets: "What's in it for us?" "Is this portfolio company stable enough to be a long-term partner?"
• Investment Targets: "Will PE ownership help or hurt our mission?" (big concern in education/healthcare) "What's the exit timeline?"

Requirements

• 10+ years in BD, corp dev, or operating roles in PE-backed companies—likely need prior PE or consulting experience
• Deep network in either edtech or healthcare services (ideally both, but unrealistic)
• Track record closing partnerships or acquisitions in middle market ($20-200M revenue) companies
• Comfortable being hands-on—this isn't a "strategic advisor" role, you're doing the work
• Can context-switch rapidly across different business models and industries
• Strong financial modeling and deal structuring skills (you'll evaluate acquisitions and partnership economics)
• Ability to work independently with minimal direction—small firm, no playbook
• Willingness to travel 30-40% for conferences, portfolio visits, and deal meetings