Business leaders know how to take advantage of opportunities that occur in the normal course of operating their business. These "organic growth" opportunities can most often be seized with internal company resources and require the same skills and knowledge used in the day-to-day execution of the business. But when these natural growth opportunities fail to satisfy the company goals, or if management wants to explore new directions, more aggressive and creative methods must be used. 

Many companies create new opportunities by acquiring other businesses. Some may license new technology for commercialization. Selling a business unit to focus or fund growth in a core business area is also common. To successfully execute any of these requires unique skills, experience, creativity and training.

In most cases, the professionals inside the business are ill prepared to initiate expansion efforts, or are simply too busy. As anyone who has  failed at such ventures can tell you, using catch-as catch-can resources leads to disappointing results. Large companies (with sales exceeding $100,000,000) may be able to effectively leverage the cost of in-house resources (such as legal services, negotiation specialists, due diligence teams, and others) across a large volume of growth opportunities, but smaller companies have episodic needs for these specialized skills. For these companies, hiring permanent in-house staff would not be cost-effective. These company principals may assume the tasks themselves and accept the formidable risks. Or, they can look outside to a specialized group with a proven track record.