Off-Market Deal Sourcing | Using LinkedIn Triggers to find your next hot buy

investor profile

July 10, 2025

by an investor from Concordia University - John Molson School of Business in Montreal, QC, Canada

Since my last post on Off-Market deal sourcing was so popular, I received quite a few DMs asking where would I start from the list I gave. I'll do you one better; below is my formula, swipe it, use it, enjoy the leads. # New CFO LinkedIn Trigger | Weekly SOP ## 1. Ideal Target Filters - Headcount: 30–250 employees - Geography: Same time-zone or ≤3-hour flight - Sector: <INSERT YOUR THESIS VERTICAL> - EBITDA proxy: 1. Grab headcount from LinkedIn. 2. Multiply by industry rev-per-employee (e.g., $200k SaaS, $150k services). 3. Multiply by industry EBITDA margin (e.g., 20% SaaS, 15% services). → Keep if estimated EBITDA ≈ $1-8M. ## 2. Build LinkedIn Alerts - Sales Navigator → Saved Search Title contains: ("Chief Financial Officer" OR CFO OR Controller) Changed jobs: past 30 days Company headcount filter: 11-200 Industry: <INSERT> Save search and set weekly email. ## 3. Capture Leads - Export new profiles via Wiza CSV → Google Sheet “New CFO Leads”. Columns: Company | Website | New CFO | Hire Date | Headcount | Founder | Founder Email ## 4. Quick Screen (1-Minute Check) - Crunchbase: raised >$5M? (skip VC-heavy) - Founded ≥7 years ago? (maturity signal) - Multiple finance hires in last 60 days? (strong exit-prep signal) ## 5. Outreach Sequence Email + LinkedIn DM (≤75 words): Subject: Congrats on the new CFO at {{Company}} Hi {{Founder}}, Noticed you just welcomed {{CFO Name}}, a smart move when gearing up for a transaction. I run {{Search Fund}}, backed by operators who acquire and grow businesses like yours. If external capital or succession is on the 12- to 24-month horizon, could we grab 15 minutes? – {{Your Name}}, {{Calendly Link}} Follow-ups: Day +3, +7, +14. Stop after 3 touches. ## 6. Triage - Any reply mentioning “valuation / price / timeline / EBITDA” → auto-send Calendly link - No reply → move to Nurture tab; revisit if another CFO or Controller change occurs ## 7. Weekly Cadence Mon: Pull Sales Nav alert → add to Sheet Tue: Screen and tag HOT leads Wed: Send first-touch emails and DMs Thu: Check replies; book calls Fri: Log metrics (# leads, replies, calls, NDAs) Target: 30 new leads → 6-8 intro calls → 1-2 NDAs per week ## 8. Automation (Optional) - Zapier: Sales Nav email → Airtable row - n8n: Airtable HOT tag → Woodpecker sequence - Slack webhook: Calendly booking → instant Slack ping
5
1
114
Replies
1
commentor profile
Reply by a professional
from University of Southern California in North Palm Beach, FL, USA
What are the performance numbers? And the quality? And the results such as accepted LOIs? (Impressive outline, thanks.)
Join the discussion