Deep Water research

ACG DealSource 2026: PE Firms With AI Deal-Sourcing Pain Signals and AI Tool Pilots

Which specific named PE firms ($200M–$2B AUM) have a Head of Origination, VP of Deal Sourcing, or Director of Business Development who is a confirmed registered attendee at the ACG DealSource event (June 3–4, 2026, Regent Santa Monica) — the invite-only event controlled by Jeremy Holland (Riverside) and Tuan Hoang (Crowe) via the ACG LA PE/IB Roundtable Committee — AND who has posted publicly on LinkedIn or been quoted in PE Hub, Axial, PitchBook, or Mergers & Acquisitions between October 2025 and January 2026 specifically about (a) analyst bandwidth strain from elevated add-on deal flow, (b) evaluating or piloting AI-powered deal-sourcing or CIM-processing tools, or (c) frustration with SourceScrub or Grata's post-Datasite-acquisition pricing or workflow disruption — AND who is NOT already in the Riverside warm-network path through Holland, Landis, or Strom — so DeepSignal can identify 5–8 firms with a double-introduction path (Hoang/Crowe connection + ACG LA Roundtable referral) and documented public pain-point signals, enabling POC design-partner pitches timed to March–April 2026 that leverage the DealSource invite as the warm-touch mechanism and the ACG Demo Day (March 19) presentation as the proof-point?

Jun 29, 202640 sources reviewed

Executive Summary

DeepSignal's objective is to identify 5–8 private equity firms ($200M–$2B AUM) to serve as Proof of Concept (POC) design partners for its AI-powered deal-sourcing and CIM-processing tools. The go-to-market strategy relies on leveraging a "double-introduction" pathway via the ACG LA PE/IB Roundtable Committee to secure meetings ahead of the June 2026 ACG DealSource event, circumventing the network footprint of The Riverside Company.

Based on current intelligence, the key findings are:

  • Gatekeeper Control: The ACG LA PE/IB Roundtable DealSource is strictly invitation-only [24]. Tuan Hoang of Crowe serves as the Committee Chair and is the mandatory point of contact for firm attendance and sponsorship [23], [25].
  • The Riverside Exclusion Zone: Riverside is heavily entrenched in ACG leadership nationally (23 dedicated ACG member staffers in 2022) [18]. To avoid this network, DeepSignal must bypass Jeremy Holland (LA Committee) [2], [3], Bob Landis (NY Chair) [5], Cheryl Strom (Cleveland Board) [8], and Jonathan Zucker (LA Board) [16].
  • Alternative Double-Intro Nodes: Seven specific PE firms hold seats on the ACG LA Committee alongside Tuan Hoang and outside of Riverside's direct influence, presenting the highest-probability routing for warm double-introductions [6], [9], [12], [15], [17], [19], [21].
  • Critical Intelligence Gap: Current dataset limitations preclude the identification of specific attendees meeting the rigorous temporal social media/press criteria (October 2025–January 2026 mentions of SourceScrub/Grata, AI piloting, or bandwidth strain). Target identification requires immediate secondary data ingestion.

1. Event Architecture and Introduction Pathways

The ACG LA DealSource event represents a highly constrained environment. Because the event is strictly "BY INVITE ONLY" [24], standard outbound BDR sequences are unlikely to secure entry. Access is entirely mediated by the PE/IB Roundtable Committee.

Primary Node: Tuan Hoang & Crowe

Tuan Hoang operates as the Committee Chair for the ACG LA DealSource event [23]. Furthermore, any PE or IB firm attempting to attend, or any service partner seeking sponsorship, is required to directly contact Hoang [25]. He represents the absolute critical first node in DeepSignal's double-introduction strategy.

Secondary Nodes: Non-Riverside Committee Firms

To secure the second half of the "double-introduction," DeepSignal must leverage other committee members to build consensus or secure referrals. The following individuals and firms sit on the committee and are positioned to broker introductions to broader firm attendees:

  • Erica Curello (Mainsail Partners) [6]
  • Jamie Kim (Gallant Capital) [9]
  • Dulce Martinez (Zions Capital) [12]
  • Connor O'Byrne (Gemspring Capital) [15]
  • Matt Oehlmann (TELEO Capital) [17]
  • Larry Simon (Clearview Capital) [19]
  • Jordan Stone (Platinum Equity) [21]

Mapping the Riverside Exclusion Network

The strategic directive requires avoiding the Riverside Company's warm network. Riverside is exceptionally active in the lower middle market, routinely targeting buyouts with $10M to $35M in EBITDA [11] and raising specialized vehicles like the $350 million Riverside Value Fund I [20]. They deploy internal, specialized theses (such as their SSCRM focus) [22] and maintain a massive roster of 70 operating partners [14].

More importantly, Riverside has systematically captured ACG chapter leadership across the United States. In 2022, the firm employed 23 staffers who were active ACG members [18]. To execute the exclusion strategy, DeepSignal must map and avoid the following individuals:

  • Jeremy Holland: Sits directly on the ACG LA PE/IB Roundtable Committee [2], [3].
  • Jonathan Zucker: Sits on the broader ACG Los Angeles board of directors [16].
  • Bob Landis: Chairs the ACG New York chapter [5].
  • Cheryl Strom: Serves on the board (and is a past president) of the ACG Cleveland chapter [8].

Committee Network Analysis

ACG LA Committee Member Firm Affiliation Double-Intro Viability Riverside Network Overlap Risk
Tuan Hoang Crowe (Chair) High (Mandatory gateway) [23], [25] Low (Independent Service Provider)
Jeremy Holland Riverside Company Zero (Excluded) [3] Absolute (Core Exclusion)
Erica Curello Mainsail Partners High [6] Low
Jamie Kim Gallant Capital High [9] Low
Dulce Martinez Zions Capital High [12] Low
Connor O'Byrne Gemspring Capital High [15] Low
Matt Oehlmann TELEO Capital High [17] Low
Larry Simon Clearview Capital High [19] Low
Jordan Stone Platinum Equity High [21] Low

2. Validating the POC Pitch Resonance: Market Pain Points

While individual social media posts from target attendees require further data collection, broader industry intelligence validates DeepSignal’s core messaging around analyst strain and tooling inefficiencies.

Analyst Bandwidth & Outreach Exhaustion

Developing proprietary deal flow requires relationship-based sourcing and long-term outreach to access off-market opportunities [10]. Firms cannot rely solely on brokered auctions, as these force buyers to play by the seller's rules, typically resulting in higher prices and reduced flexibility for creative structuring like seller financing or earn-outs [7].

However, achieving proprietary flow requires immense manual effort. In-house BDR teams and origination analysts frequently lack the bandwidth necessary to handle the high volume of outreach required to generate meaningful add-on or platform deal flow [1].

The Shortcomings of Legacy Databases

DeepSignal's positioning against traditional data workflows is supported by industry consensus. Traditional, self-serve databases like PitchBook and Capital IQ suffer from severe data decay; information is frequently outdated or incomplete [4]. When analyst teams rely on this flawed data for outreach, they suffer low engagement rates and wasted resources [4]. Furthermore, industry experts note that these surface-level databases routinely fail to track the majority of smaller, family-owned businesses [13]. This structural market failure validates DeepSignal's pitch for deploying AI-powered, non-traditional sourcing and CIM-processing workflows.

3. Limitations and Open Questions

The current evidentiary baseline provides the structural roadmap for accessing the ACG DealSource event but contains critical gaps regarding the specific DeepSignal POC target profiles:

  1. AUM Verification: The provided intelligence does not verify which of the committee firms (Mainsail, Gallant, Gemspring, etc.) specifically fall within the requested $200M–$2B AUM parameter.
  2. Confirmed Attendee Roster: Because the event is in June 2026 and strictly invite-only [24], a confirmed list of Heads of Origination, VPs of Deal Sourcing, or Directors of Business Development who have RSVP'd is not present in the current dataset.
  3. Temporal Signal Intelligence (Oct 2025–Jan 2026): The data lacks visibility into LinkedIn posts, PE Hub quotes, or PitchBook interviews from specific professionals discussing AI-tool pilots, analyst strain from add-ons, or direct frustration with SourceScrub/Grata post-Datasite acquisition.

Recommendation: DeepSignal must execute a targeted web-scraping and API query (via LinkedIn Sales Navigator and PitchBook) specifically cross-referencing employees of the 7 cleared committee firms (Mainsail, Gallant, Zions, Gemspring, TELEO, Clearview, Platinum) against the target job titles and keywords ("Grata", "SourceScrub", "Datasite", "AI", "bandwidth") to identify the final 5–8 individuals for the March–April 2026 outreach sprint.

Sources