Sourcing Method Research - best way to categorize sourcing strategies?

searcher profile

January 24, 2026

by a searcher from Brigham Young University in Palo Alto, CA, USA

Hi everyone, I'm conducting a study of sourcing methods across 357 searchers who successfully closed on a deal. This started as a project for my own learning, but I think some of you might benefit from it, so I'm drafting a brief report of best sourcing practices + any interesting tools and methods that worked for these searchers. From this small sample, it feels right to bucket sourcing approaches as follows: 1) Publicly intermediated (e.g., online marketplace listings; 32% of deals) 2) Privately intermediated (e.g., broker-led; 23% of deals) 3) Network-led origination (e.g., off-market referrals; 25% of deals) 4) Proprietary outreach (direct, off-market origination; 12% of deals) 5) Creative proprietary sourcing methods (essentially an "other" bucket; 8% of deals) From your perspective, are there categories you would add/different ways you would combine these?
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commentor profile
Reply by a professional
in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Curious if the report would also have the time involved from each of the methods, as well as the size of the deals, and any data point on the multiples based on industry and sourcing method, and whether any particular method secured better multiples on deals.
commentor profile
Reply by an intermediary
in Charlotte, NC, USA
The only other one I would add, and it's small so might be part of your #5, is carve-outs. Source of these are more complex because the Parent-Co keeps these tight and may limit to IB for strategics. However, if you can get wind of them, can be nice acquisitions.
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