Seems like the investor means that they won't invest in the first deal that a searcher brings to investment committee (or to investors). I read the "rule" to say that the investor will invest with a first time Searcher (the person) but not until the searcher identifies several companies for acquisition and has gotten sufficiently deep in the funnel with multiple. In prior roles when deploying capital, evaluating that a sponsor had enough pipeline that they were also qualifying out deals was a fairly common "rule."

Thanks ^redacted‌. Shamil - you have a fair question. This is a sentiment I have heard - both in terms of first deal shown & first time searchers. I share ^redacted‌'s perspective on this subject. In general, reps with an investor will help you understand their investment objectives & perspective better. So by the 3rd, 4th, or 5th deal, you will understand their criteria better and naturally select investors that will be most interested. With that said, what you describes sounds like an investors due diligence process. He "doesn't do any first deal" because they want to see how the searcher operates and use reps to build confidence in the searchers capabilities. I believe you can get past the repetition/relationship building diligence with investors by building those relationships before you have your first deal. Build those relationships early so by the time you are showing your first "deal" they already have checked the diligence box on the searcher and can just focus on the underlying company.