What happened
According to Wall Street and Bain & Company’s 2026 report, private equity has accumulated around 33,000 unrealized companies worth $3.8 trillion. At the current pace of sales, liquidating this “backlog” will take about nine years — and that is a conservative estimate. A year ago, the figure was $3.6 trillion, and the number of companies grew from 29,000 to 33,000. Together with venture-backed unicorns, this amounts to more than a thousand large businesses that either cannot go public or cannot find a buyer. The industry is trapped: there is capital, but liquidity is limited.
How this is useful for business
The situation creates an unusual market gap. Thousands of companies need preparation for sale or going public, but PE funds’ internal resources are insufficient. This creates demand for external experts, platforms, and services that can help increase asset value and accelerate transactions. Entrepreneurs who are first to offer solutions in this niche will gain access to a multibillion-dollar market without needing to compete with major players on their own territory.
How to make money from this
The monetization logic is built on intermediation between “stuck” assets and potential buyers. You can build a business around three directions: consulting on preparing companies for sale, technology platforms for asset valuation and marketing, and services for selecting strategic or financial buyers. Every stage of the deal — from due diligence to post-acquisition integration — is a revenue generation point. The key advantage: demand is created not by marketing, but by the market structure itself.
Business ideas
- A platform for preparing unicorns for exit. A service that helps companies from PE portfolios structure financial reporting, audit processes, and remove barriers to sale. Subscription $15,000–$50,000 per month for a fund, plus success fee of 1–3% of the deal.
- A marketplace of “stuck” assets. An aggregator with a database of companies available for sale or partnership. Model: investor subscription $2,000–$10,000 per month, commission for each completed deal $50,000–$200,000.
- Repositioning consulting. Helping companies change positioning, scale revenue, or optimize unit economics to increase valuation. Project fee $100,000–$500,000 per engagement.
- Due diligence automation tool. A SaaS platform for accelerating company checks before a deal: data analysis, risk assessment, report generation. Subscription $5,000–$20,000 per month for funds and M&A teams.
- Strategic buyer matching service. A database and matching algorithms for finding corporations interested in acquiring companies from the PE backlog. Commission for a successful deal: $100,000–$500,000.
Risks and limitations
The main risk is dependence on the PE market cycle. If funds start selling assets more actively, demand for consulting will fall. The second limitation is a high entry threshold. Clients are large institutional investors that require a proven reputation and expertise. Finally, competition from the Big Four and specialized boutiques intensifies as the market grows. Clear positioning and narrow specialization are needed in order not to get lost in the segment.
7-day action plan
Day 1–2: formulate a hypothesis — choose one of the five services and describe the MVP. Day 3: conduct demand testing — contact 10–15 representatives of PE funds via LinkedIn and ask about pain points in the exit process. Day 4–5: assemble an initial offer and calculate unit economics. Day 6: launch a pilot with one client on barter terms or for a symbolic fee. Day 7: analyze feedback and adjust the product. How to launch further depends on the pilot results, but the foundation for market validation will be ready.
Original news: SaaStr · See other news in the news section.
If the idea fits your business, see which stages make up the cost of development and where it makes sense to start.
