Cracking Proprietary Search: What’s Actually Working for You?

August 26, 2025

by a searcher from University of Washington in Chicago, IL, USA

I’m deep into my ETA journey and hitting a wall with proprietary outreach. Tools like Apollo and ZoomInfo don't have any SMBs that match my NAICS codes. -For those who’ve successfully built a proprietary search, what’s worked best for you? -How did you identify and source great SMB lists? -Any tools, data providers, or creative tactics you’d recommend? How do you focus on your specific NAICS/verticals without wasting months on dead ends? Would love to hear real-world approaches others have used to build a consistent pipeline of quality companies.

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Reply by a searcher
from Babson College in Syracuse, NY, USA

I bought a list of 29k industrial distributors nationally using an NAICS code from www.siccode.com for like $2-3k and scrubbed the list (eventually hiring interns to help me) by SIC code. I cold called 1k+ owners, left a message if I didn’t get them on the phone, and followed up with an email (emails and numbers and sometimes contacts if I didn’t have it from SeamlessAI which cost ~$1k). I had a ~20% response rate with ~25% of responses being open to talking. Happy to connect if you’d like to chat.

Reply by a professional
from Arizona State University in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

^redacted‌, great post and kudos for already running a proprietary search. That said, with more ETA buyers than ever, the bar for what qualifies as effective proprietary has changed. The old playbook of NAICS lookups, Apollo scraping, and broker outreach simply isn't enough to surface the best businesses consistently. Compared to some of the more sophisticated buyers, you're playing chess with pawns while they have a full board. For example, ^redacted‌ mentioned Grata in an earlier comment. That tool, alone, is a $20k/year/user investment (no current monthly offering). The chips are stacked against you when other buyers have firepower like that. And while you might still land a deal, you have to wonder what better opportunities were missed by not running a more rigorous, PE-style process. That gap is exactly why I founded Sorsa Capital, my boutique, white-glove buy-side advisory. At McKinsey, I worked almost exclusively with PE firms, specializing in optimizing proprietary deal flow engines. That included mapping entire verticals, enriching targets with multiple data layers, and converting owners through structured outreach. I saw firsthand how these firms consistently uncovered companies most searchers would've likely never found. And while capital plays a role, experience and process matter even more. Sorsa is a professional service where I fully run your proprietary search using a PE-grade playbook, sparing no expense. We meet regularly, align on strategy, review results, and iterate together. The process is tight, transparent, and focused, and the goal is simple: to put you in front of serious, off-market business owners who operate squarely within your BuyBox. Because the volume on that is what it takes to win today. Sorsa is just launching, and I'm being very intentional about quality over volume. I'm capping the number of clients I take on to ensure each mandate gets the depth and focus it deserves. For this first wave, I'm also offering a substantially discounted retainer to a limited group of serious buyers. Feel free to DM me if you're interested. Would love to connect and see if we can move the needle together.

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