Business Development - PE - Nashville

Soul Equity Solutions•Nashville, TN

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Business Development Associate will be responsible for driving this firm's proprietary deal origination efforts alongside the Managing Director of Business Development. This individual will take a proactive, high-activity approach to identify and reach founders and CEOs of lower-middle-market companies, converting early conversations into off-market investment opportunities. This role is a direct sourcing position, not focused on traditional banker and intermediary relationships, and is suited for someone entrepreneurial, comfortable with cold calling, and eager to build a career in private equity.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree required
1–2 years of experience in a sales, business development, or outreach-intensive role
Demonstrated comfort with cold calling, outbound prospecting, and rejection
Strong research and organizational skills; ability to build target lists, manage a high-volume pipeline, and track activity rigorously
Entrepreneurial mindset — comfortable building from scratch, operating with ambiguity, and working without a defined playbook
Genuine interest in private equity and a long-term orientation toward building a career in the industry
Low ego, collaborative, team-oriented
Strong written and verbal communication skills with professional presence engaging founders and senior executives

Nice To Haves

Non-traditional backgrounds strongly encouraged (pharma/med device sales, tech/SaaS sales, expert networks, executive search)

Responsibilities

Build and maintain targeted lists of lower-middle-market companies in Iron Path's core sectors through systematic research and market mapping
Conduct proactive outreach — cold calling and emailing founders and CEOs to introduce Iron Path and generate initial conversations
Attend industry conferences and networking events to build direct relationships with business owners in target sectors
Fill the MD's calendar with proprietary, off-market opportunities and manage the top-of-funnel sourcing pipeline with discipline
Research investment themes and develop sector-specific company lists aligned with Iron Path's strategy
Track industry trends and competitive dynamics to sharpen targeting and inform outreach approach
Maintain a proprietary database of target companies and relationship history
Provide regular reporting on sourcing activity, pipeline status, and conversion metrics
Coordinate with the investment team as proprietary conversations mature into active opportunities
Support Iron Path's "full immersion" model by extending direct sourcing capabilities to portfolio companies as the firm grows