Deal Sourcing & Proprietary Outreach

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Frequent asked questions:

What is Searchfunder.com?

Searchfunder.com is an online community of searchers, investors, lenders, brokers and other professionals. Over 80% of those involved in searchfunds maintain a Searchfunder account to help them network, hire, and mentor others.

What are the benefits of membership?

In addition to accessing the most active online network of business buyers, Searchfunder licenses research that is simply not cost effective for individuals. Access over 15,000 industry reports and 50,000 transaction financials. You also get monthly credits for contact information for your company sourcing campaign with the option to purchase more at drastically discounted rates. Searchfunder has pre-purchased access from these data providers in order to empower individual buyers and to help searchers level the playing field versus private equity.

Do you have deals?

While we are primarily a buy-side network, we do have hundreds of brokers that regularly post deals to the community.

Can I find an internship on Searchfunder?

Absolutely! We have the industry's largest intern job board. If you are considering a search, the first step is to help another business buyer so you can hit the ground running.

What does it cost?

Searchfunder is a subscription service. We offer flexible monthly, annual and lifetime memberships.

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$79 / month

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$19 / month

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$432 / once

Those who maintain an account with us for over 4 continuous years are permanently added to the community without the need for a membership.

Do I need an MBA to join?

While a large number of our members come from dedicated programs at Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth, and other top programs, searching is no longer reserved for the elite. With the current abundance of dry powder in private equity, and an increasing number of business owners reaching retirement age, good deals rarely go unfunded.

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by a searcher from New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business
in New York, NY, USA

6mos ago

Deal Sourcing & Proprietary Outreach

First-time searcher here. I’m early in proprietary outreach and would really value perspective from those who’ve done this successfully: what one change most improved your owner response rate? For those who started with proprietary sourcing but ultimately acquired a brokered deal—what made you decide the tradeoff was worth it? I’m trying to be disciplined about outreach volume vs. personalization. For operators who’ve been through this, where did you land and why?

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reply by a searcher 5mos ago
from Harvard University in Greenwich, CT, USA

Experiment with lots of channels - email, phone, letters, social media, digital paid ads, bankers and brokers, CPAs and accountants, EO/YPO/entrepreneur mentorship groups, regional tradeshows, national events, etc. Think about where your target audience (business owners) hang out - online and offline. Think about how to get in front of them - yourself, through a person on your team, through another intermediary. If going through intermediaries, think about where they hang out (a lot of them are here, and most are on Linkedin or Twitter/X). Be systematic. Don't do everything at once - test for a month or two, then try something else.

reply by a searcher 5mos ago
from Texas A&M University in Irving, TX, USA

I suggest Richard Parker's resources whenever I can - He helped me narrow things down and once I picked a few archetypes of companies vs the 20 or so I was "open to" at first I was able to mail out with a lawyer's letterhead that made it look more official and got 20%+ response. Go narrow as you can.