If you are talking about a situation where a finder introduces a company to a self-funded searcher, then the so-called Lehman formula is market (5% of first $1M, 4% of the next $1M, 3% of the next $1M, etc). The fee is paid on EV. If you roll the fee into preferred equity, you would likely end up with ~ 2-5% of the total equity after paying for income taxes on the finder's fee and assuming that preferred equity is convertible to 20-50% of common stock.

redactedLuke Tatone‌ for the Tag. Finder Fees to me suggest that someone has found a company that they don't represent, and they just pass it along to someone else. Just an intro and no further help. We have done this a few times when we find a business that is a better fit for a PE firm than an individual (size or they want to sell a part of the company). Our expertise is helping individuals and companies find businesses for sale that are not listed on the open market (80% of the businesses that sell are not listed). This is a marathon and not a sprint, takes a lot of effort but well worth the investment. Typically a retainer for a short while then a success fee upon closing. 95% of our deals, we are the only one in them.