Nick Herbig.
100+ accompanied M&A processes, both sides of the table, €1–100M enterprise value. Today, systematic deal sourcing for PE funds in the DACH Mittelstand — the bridge between owners and the buyers who genuinely fit.
Founder
SourcingClub
Deal Origination · Hamburg
100+
Accompanied transactions
Sell- & buy-side, DACH Mittelstand
500+
M&A advisors & PE funds served
Over 4+ years at DealCircle
€1–100M
Enterprise value range
From trades to upper Mittelstand
Career
From a COVID exit to a deal-origination boutique.
Three stations, one thread: understand markets, build relationships, bring transactions to closing.
- 2018
Osvirol GmbH · Co-founder
First company, exit during the pandemic
Co-founded a COVID-era startup in hygiene products. Built sales and supply chains under extreme time pressure. A successful exit — and the owner's perspective of an entrepreneur from day one.
FoundingOperationsExit - 2020
Harvard Kennedy School
Machine Learning for Leaders
Executive programme at the Harvard Kennedy School. The foundation for a data-driven sourcing approach: read markets as datasets, identify patterns, make decisions quantitatively.
Executive EducationData-Driven - 2021
DealCircle GmbH · Hamburg
M&A Manager
More than four years at one of the leading M&A matching firms in the DACH region. Served 500+ M&A advisors, PE funds and corporates. Accompanied 100+ transactions, from a €1M trade business to a €100M Mittelstand company.
Sell-sideBuy-sidePE networkDACH - 2026
SourcingClub · Founder
Deal-origination boutique for PE funds
Founded the boutique. Specialising in systematic, technology-led sourcing of acquisition targets in the DACH lower mid-market.
Deal OriginationBuy & BuildPE mandates
Methodology
The Platform Puzzle: finding the missing piece before anyone else does.
Every PE portfolio is a puzzle. The existing portfolio companies define which add-on fits strategically: sector, region, size class, market position. Generic M&A advisors deliver longlists. SourcingClub delivers the missing piece — the company that completes the platform, identified before it lands in an auction process.
“Understand a PE client's portfolio deeply enough to identify exactly the company that completes the platform — before it reaches a competitive process.”
Background
A bridge between owners and the right buyers.
My path into deal origination did not start in finance — it started as a founder. Co-founding Osvirol in 2018 and steering it through a pandemic-era market taught me the owner’s side of a transaction from the inside: the operational pressure, the emotional weight of handing something over, and the difference between a buyer who understands a business and one who simply bids on it.
More than four years at DealCircle, one of the leading M&A matching firms in the DACH region, added the institutional side. Serving over 500 M&A advisors, PE funds and corporates and accompanying 100+ transactions — from a €1M trade business to a €100M Mittelstand company — made one thing obvious: the bottleneck in mid-market M&A is rarely capital or interest. It is access. The best companies are owner-managed, not for sale, and effectively unreachable through auctions.
SourcingClub exists to close exactly that gap. The approach combines what most providers keep separate: data-driven market mapping to find the right targets at scale, and the relationship discipline to approach owners credibly — with a concrete buyer behind every conversation. The Harvard Kennedy School programme in Machine Learning for Leaders shaped the data side; a hundred-plus transactions shaped the human side.
The sharpest results come from fragmented sectors with recurring revenue and a genuine succession dynamic — industrial services, IT and managed services, healthcare, facility management, building services (HVAC) and fire safety. In those markets, a systematic origination process consistently beats waiting for a banker to send a teaser.
In practice, a mandate runs from a sharp investment thesis to a defined search field, a complete map of the relevant sub-sector, discreet owner outreach, and a qualified, well-prepared introduction — never a generic longlist, but the specific company that completes a platform, identified before it reaches a competitive process. If that is the deal flow you are building, a first conversation is the place to start.
For owners, that buyer-first model matters more than it sounds. When an approach arrives with a specific, credible acquirer already defined — rather than a speculative “are you open to selling?” — the conversation starts from a position of respect and concreteness. It is the difference between being marketed and being matched, and it is why a real buyer mandate and absolute discretion are non-negotiable starting points for every search I take on.
Principles
Four principles behind every mandate.
No clichés, no 360-degree promises. Substance, directness and a standard of quality that does justice to the client.
Substance over self-presentation
Directness is demonstrated through content, not announced. Meta-commentary and self-description cost trust. What counts is the concrete work on the mandate.
Buyer before seller
A secured PE mandate is the prerequisite for credible seller outreach. An owner immediately senses whether a concrete buyer stands behind the approach — or whether someone is simply knocking on the off-chance.
Lean & efficient
Sceptical of over-engineering, unnecessary cost and bloated structures. A mandate should make money, not consume it — and that applies to the boutique itself as much as to the recommendations made to PE clients.
Uncompromising quality outward
Everything that goes out follows a clear quality standard: pitch decks, memos, outreach emails, longlists. Internally pragmatic and fast; externally polished and precise.
Core competencies
What I bring to the table
Transaction experience, network and a data-driven method — systematic instead of random.
Buy-side & sell-side experience
I know both sides of a transaction: the perspective of the owner as well as the requirements of institutional investors.
DACH network
A grown network of PE funds, family offices, corporates, tax advisors and M&A advisors across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Sector depth
Focused on sectors with high fragmentation and consolidation potential: IT services, healthcare, industrial services, facility management and more.
Data-driven approach
Systematic target identification based on the Bundesanzeiger (Federal Gazette), commercial register and proprietary databases — not random deal finding.
Next step
A first conversation is confidential and without obligation. Tell me about your company or your investment thesis — I will tell you honestly whether and how I can help.