What Do You Wish You Knew About Industry Search at the Start?

by a searcher from Georgetown University - The McDonough School of Business

7 months ago

Such a green question from a person who just started the ETA journey.

I’m curious—what do you wish you knew about identifying the right industry when you first started your search? 

Specifically, how did you approach industry identification, and what key metrics did you find most valuable in evaluating potential opportunities early on? Also, any insights on leveraging brokers effectively from the get-go would be incredibly helpful.

Looking forward to hearing your experiences and advice!

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23 comments

searcher from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

I wish I knew more about identifying industries that are priming for private equity rollups.

2 months ago | like reply | 0 likes

searcher from Columbia University - Columbia Business School

The biggest things are things I couldn't have ever known. That said, I would recommending underwriting fairly conservatively to the expectations of your likely customer. For instance, if you are selling a service or product to accountants, then you are selling to a highly considered purchaser. There is little you can do to speed up that cycle, so don' try to force it in the pre-acquisition plan.

2 months ago | like reply | 0 likes

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