Q for searchers contacting intermediaries

November 29, 2019

by a searcher from Duke University - The Fuqua School of Business in Short Hills, Millburn, NJ, USA

I am doing a regional self-funded search and was going to reach out to some intermediaries (where I don't have a warm connection) with a cold email. My list has multiple people in the same organization and so I wanted to figure out whether I should contact just 1-2 folks or everyone on the list (in some cases its 5-6 people at the same firm).

If I go with just 1-2 people at a given firm, the question then becomes who I should target - most senior or mid-level executives. Selecting just 1-2 people is also a more time intensive exercise vs. email everyone on the list. I'd like to know how other folks have approached this issue and which strategy has worked better.

Reply by an intermediary
from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, USA

From an intermediary's perspective, I would say reach out to all of us on the list for a couple of reasons, First, that's what we expect that you are doing (so we aren't likely to forward your email on to others), Second, each intermediary is representing different sellers (or a few are teaming up on a transaction), but are likely to view your parameters in terms of the deals they are personally involved with. Third, we are always looking for good, well-qualified buyers, so sending a detailed (but concise) list of the parameters and types of companies you are interested in is really helpful (industries of interest and not of interest, geography, revenue range, EBITDA range, a little bit about your background, financial resources, etc.).

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