Business Development Associate: Deal Origination

Contrarian Thinking LLC; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 41,000 - 49,000; Full time

Job summary

Contrarian Thinking LLC in Austin, TX is seeking a Private Client outreach representative to cold-call small business owners, introduce BizScout, and assess interest in selling their business. Success comes from steady volume and genuine conversations, with on-site work at our Austin office.

You will grow the pool of qualified owners for the private client advisory team, leveraging networking, referrals, and persistence.

Qualifications

• Strong work ethic and ability to make a stranger feel comfortable on a call.
• Able to handle rejection and maintain momentum.
• Self-motivation and initiative to drive outreach.

Responsibilities

• Make outbound calls to small business owners to gauge interest in selling their business.
• Introduce BizScout and the Private Client service; qualify and hand off to the acquisitions team.
• Work from target lists, while expanding the pipeline through referrals and networking.
• Coordinate with the Head of Private Client and Acquisitions Manager as needed.

Skills

High-volume calling

Cold calling

Relationship building

Resilience

Job description

What BizScout Does

BizScout is a marketplace for buying and selling small businesses, connecting buyers who want their next acquisition with owners who are ready to sell, across every industry and deal size. We have more than 200,000 registered users and we're growing quickly.

What Private Client Does

Private Client is our advisory service for serious buyers. When someone comes to us ready to acquire a business, we pair them with a dedicated advisor who helps them find the right deal and close it. That service depends on supply: we need great businesses in the pipeline before any buyer can buy them, and building that pipeline is the role we're hiring for.

The Role

You'll call small business owners cold, introduce them to BizScout, and ask whether they'd be open to a conversation about selling their business. It's a straightforward pitch, but it takes persistence to do well. Most people will hang up, some will be rude, a few will be curious, and a small number will say yes. Your job is to grow that last group as much as you can, every day, through steady volume and genuine conversations.

We'll give you target lists to work from, but the strongest reps go further, networking, asking for referrals, and finding their own paths to the right owners. The qualified owners you bring in are handed to our Head of Private Client, the Acquisitions Manager, and the deal advisory team.

What We're Looking For

You don't need a résumé full of sales experience - What matters more is your overall work ethic and whether or not you can make a stranger feel comfortable and curious in the first few seconds of a call.

Beyond that, we're looking for someone who:

• Can make a high volume of calls every day without burning out or cutting corners
• Builds relationships instinctively rather than transactionally
• Treats a “no” as fuel rather than a stop sign
• Shows up ready to perform every day and brings their own drive rather than waiting to be managed
• Aspires to be a part of a growing business in a start-up environment

Compensation & Terms

• Expected five-month term at $4000/month with possibility to extend
• Based in Austin, TX and requires regular on-site availability at our office.

Why This Role

Most sales jobs pay you to move product. This one pays you to open a door for a business owner who is weighing one of the biggest decisions of their life, and that context shapes the whole job. Candidates who treat it as a pure numbers game tend to burn out. The ones who treat every call as a real conversation with a real person do well here and build a skill set that compounds throughout their career.

We're a small, fast-moving team. The people who thrive here take ownership, don't wait to be managed, and care about outcomes over activity.