Has anyone used River Guides for deal flow?

Learn the best practices before you begin searching, and definitely before you outsourced to anybody for anything. If you don't know what should be done the right way how could you evaluate anybody who pitches you?

So, at the risk of sounding like an idiot, how do we generally define a "River Guide" in the context of M&A/Searching?

A) I was under the impression that a River Guide is anyone experienced in M&A that helps guide a buyer (and/or a seller) through the deal process once the introduction has already been made. In this context, the "River" is the deal itself, and the Guide isn't finding the river, she's helping navigate it as a consultant. This seems to makes a lot of sense in the Main Street/LMM context if there is no helpful broker involved, considering other professional advisors are expensive and bill by the hour, and presumably most owners (and Buyers) may not be particularly familiar with the M&A process.

B) On the other hand, it appears that a more typical definition would be a business advisor (lawyer, accountant, coach, pretty much any non-broker) that makes introductions and then may or may not provide paid transactional advice on any deal that subsequently follows. In this context, the "River" is the deal marketplace, and the "Guide" is helping the Buyer navigate to a target business.

Regardless of whether we're using A or B (or both...?), I don't see how it can hurt touching base with as many of these people as possible in a reasonably efficient manner in order to unearth potential opportunities. I know plenty of advisors that would be thrilled to save their clients a broker commission, have a warm intro to a successor business (and future client), and possibly make a few bucks on top of it. Plus it's never a bad thing to have deal professionals in your network, right? Good luck!!