Richard Brown

Hi Richard — I'm from Zimbabwe, did M&A banking then growth equity at a European fund. Now running proprietary outreach to UK business owners. Put together a register of 322 UK companies open to sale — thought it might be relevant for Castelnau.

Hey Richard, looks like we share a similar IB → investing path, though I was in London at Greenhill not Morgan Stanley like you. origination was always the same story for me — clear thesis, decent relationships, but no proprietary system of record. the people, tools and ideas were never really connected. every deal virtually sourced from scratch, nothing compounding over time. curious if that's still how most funds operate or if I'm behind the times? — Russ

Hey Richard, looks like we came up through a similar IB → investment path, though I was at Greenhill doing M&A in London not at Morgan Stanley & Peel Hunt like you — and ended up on the buy side at a growth equity fund rather than running a permanent capital vehicle like Castelnau. the pattern I keep seeing with most funds is weirdly consistent — strong thesis, solid network, but no proprietary system of record. the people, tools and ideas are never really connected, so every deal is virtually sourced from scratch. nothing compounds on itself. curious if that resonates or if you've built something different at Castelnau? — Russ

hey Richard — no worries if the timing's off. most funds I talk to have tried some version of building origination in-house — analyst pulling from Pitchbook or Grata, maybe using ChatGPT to help qualify, dumping it into a spreadsheet. each piece kind of works, but there's no system of record tying it together. the people, tools and ideas are all disconnected, so nothing compounds. been helping a few funds like Mentmore work through that. curious if you've run into the same thing at Castelnau? — Russ

totally get it if origination infrastructure isn't top of mind right now — most funds have 10 things ahead of it on the priority list. the funds I've seen crack it early just tend to compound deal flow in a way that's hard to replicate later. if it ever moves up the list, I'm easy to find. — Russ

Hi Richard — similar-ish background. I'm from Zim and was a banker doing M&A at Greenhill, then moved into growth equity in London. Now I build proprietary origination systems for funds like yours across fragmented UK businesses. Over the past 6 months, one of my systems surfaced 300+ off-market conversations with owners across 10 sectors. I've put them together: 322 UK companies open to sale. One that looked relevant for Castelnau: A £50m+ technology firm providing AI-driven digital marketing and automated search platform management for global retail and shopping channels. Here's the link: https://sample.searchloop.ai/ Worth a quick call? I can walk through how I got this and share some of the actual names. — Russ linkedin.com/in/russellt23 PS: if this isn't relevant, reply no and I'll leave you in peace. might even go for a walk.

Hi Richard — similar-ish background. I'm from Zim and was a banker doing M&A at Greenhill, then moved into growth equity in London. Now I build proprietary origination systems for funds like yours across fragmented UK businesses. Over the past 6 months, one of my systems surfaced 300+ off-market conversations with owners across 10 sectors. I've put them together: 322 UK companies open to sale. One that looked relevant for Castelnau: A £50m+ technology firm providing AI-driven digital marketing and automated search platform management for global retail and shopping channels. Here's the link: https://sample.searchloop.ai/ Worth a quick call? I can walk through how I got this and share some of the actual names. — Russ linkedin.com/in/russellt23 PS: if this isn't relevant, reply no and I'll leave you in peace. might even go for a walk.

Hi Richard — quick second note in case this got buried. The list is here: https://sample.searchloop.ai/ It is anonymised, but it should show the shape of the work: sector, scale, owner motivation, and enough to judge whether the source is useful for Castelnau. Worth 15 mins to map what an origination loop could look like for Castelnau? Useful whether you're moving on something now or just want a plan in your back pocket for the next 6-12 months. — Russ linkedin.com/in/russellt23 PS: if this isn't relevant, reply no and I'll leave you in peace. might even go for a walk.

Hi Richard — last nudge. The useful bit is not really the list. It is the system behind it: direct owner conversations, matched to buyer theses, across fragmented UK sectors. One more example that mapped to Castelnau: A £10-25m specialist consultancy providing data strategy, architecture design, and integration services to enhance corporate information technology infrastructure. Worth 15 mins to map what an origination loop could look like? Useful whether you're moving now or just want a plan in your back pocket for the next 6-12 months. — Russ linkedin.com/in/russellt23 PS: if this isn't relevant, reply no and I'll leave you in peace. might even go for a walk.

Richard — I'll leave it there. Link's here if useful later: https://sample.searchloop.ai/ — Russ linkedin.com/in/russellt23 PS: if this isn't relevant, reply no and I'll leave you in peace. might even go for a walk.