The questions buyers ask most often before they sign, about the methodology, the guarantee, the fee structure, and what happens when a deal doesn't go through. If yours isn't here, bring it to the strategy call.
The retainer pays for the work during the search: data tooling, contact validation, handwritten mail, and a real M&A operator running owner conversations across six to nine months. Pure success-fee shops can't fund that. They cherry-pick the warmest 10% of a list and leave the rest, which is where most proprietary deals actually live.
The retainer also credits dollar-for-dollar against the 1% consulting fee at close. So if you've paid six months of retainer by the time a deal closes, that comes off what you owe at the table. The retainer pre-pays a chunk of the close fee instead of stacking on top of it.
Two things. The data work goes deeper than a database export: fifteen filters layered against intent signals to find owners showing real movement. And an experienced M&A operator runs every owner conversation, not a sourcing analyst or BDR. Narrower funnel, better conversations.
Verified target list within 30 days of kickoff. First multichannel sequence by week six. First qualified owner conversations in the 30-to-45-day range.
We skip the 4-to-6-week sender warm-up most outbound shops need by keeping a standing roster of pre-warmed inboxes in good standing with the major providers.
Owners in this segment spot templated marketing from across the room. A real handwritten note in ink, sent by USPS, is one of the few channels they can't filter or delete. Older founders and trades operators read every piece of mail their assistant puts on the desk, even when they ignore email entirely.
It's the highest-lift addition you can make to a digital sequence in this segment, which is why the Lower Mid-Market engagement is our most common.
Sweet spot: Main Street and lower mid-market, EBITDA roughly $500K to $5M. Sectors we've run searches in include manufacturing, dental and other healthcare services, HVAC and trades, light industrial, specialty distribution, MRO, and B2B services. If your sector isn't on that list, bring it to the strategy call.
The engagement runs month-to-month, built around our 90-day guarantee: 5 pre-vetted, buy-box-fit opportunities in front of you within 90 days, or you don't pay until we do. Month one builds the buy box and warms the sending channels. From there we run the multichannel sequences with cultivation continuing throughout.
The agreement continues month-to-month until either party gives 30 days' notice, so nothing ends abruptly. Cultivation matters because long-tail owners often reply later in the relationship.
Typically six to nine months from kickoff. First qualified conversations land in the 30-to-45-day range; the path from there to LOI runs another four to seven months. Most owners are six to eighteen months out from the moment interest turns into action, and the cultivation is what carries them across the line.
Add another two to four months after LOI for diligence and structuring. So kickoff to closed deal often runs eight to twelve months total. Some land faster. Some take longer.
Three options, all built into the agreement.
Keep running is the one we recommend. Outreach continues through LOI and into diligence, our 90-day guarantee stays in place, and a visible pipeline of alternatives gives you leverage at the table.
Pause once for the LOI. If you'd rather focus on the active deal, you can pause the engagement one time, up to 30 days, while you diligence an executed LOI on a Target we sourced. The guarantee survives. The 90-day window just extends by the pause length so you still get the full benefit of the guarantee. A second pause, anything longer than 30 days, or not resuming voids the guarantee.
Pivot the buy box anytime by mutual written agreement. We restage the buy box and our 90-day guarantee carries over.
The agreement continues month-to-month until either party gives 30 days' notice. Nothing happens automatically once we've delivered.
Most engagements keep going, because the long-tail owners (six to eighteen months from action) often reply later in the relationship. When you do wrap, you keep the full cultivation list as a self-managed CRM.
One thing carries over either way: the consulting fee still applies to any Target sourced through the engagement that closes within 36 months of delivery, on a declining schedule (see the next question).
Yes. We restage the buy box, re-tune the outreach inside a sprint, and update Schedule A. Same team stays on your search, and our 90-day guarantee carries over against the new buy box. We sign off on the change together so the new buy box is on the record.
A monthly retainer through the engagement and a 1% consulting fee at close. There's no enrichment deposit. The retainer credits dollar-for-dollar against the consulting fee, so it pre-pays the close fee rather than stacking on top.
It funds the enrichment phase between signing and launch: building the buy box, verifying contact info, and getting your target list ready to run. The list lands within 15 business days. The deposit credits against the consulting fee at close. We walk through the full mechanics on the scoping call.
1% of deal value at close, on any deal originated through the engagement. The retainer credits dollar-for-dollar against this fee, so the at-close payment is 1% minus whatever you've already paid.
The fee applies for 36 months from Target delivery, even after the engagement ends. Post-termination schedule: 100% in months 1–12, 60% in months 13–24, 30% in months 25–36, then nothing.
No fee owed on businesses you find and acquire entirely outside our sourcing.
In writing: if we don't put 5 pre-vetted, buy-box-fit opportunities in front of you within 90 days, you don't pay until we do. We don't hand you raw leads. Every owner is screened against your buy box (industry, geography, size, and financials) and qualified by an M&A operator before it reaches you, so the only opportunities you see are ones that actually fit.
The guarantee covers what we put in front of you: pre-vetted, buy-box-fit opportunities, on a defined timeline, with the diligence groundwork already started.
A few owners sit outside the count: ones that opt out of communications, businesses that close or get acquired during the term, and contacts whose email, phone, and postal all fail validation. Full terms in the Engagement Agreement.
It happens. Some engagements hand you a pipeline of warm relationships that turn into deals later. That's expected. Long-tail owners often open up further into the relationship, which is why most engagements keep going into the month-to-month period.
One thing to be clear about: the guarantee covers what we put in front of you, not the close. If we delivered 5 pre-vetted, buy-box-fit opportunities but the deal didn't reach LOI, that's owner timing and diligence, not the guarantee. The flip side: we're picky about which buy boxes we take on. Fit gets vetted on the strategy call before any agreement is signed.
Yes, with 30 days' notice. The agreement is month-to-month and fees aren't refundable once billed, except under our 90-day guarantee remedy.
Our 90-day guarantee is built around running the full sequence through the 90-day window, so it applies on engagements that don't pause for more than a couple of weeks or end before the window closes. Pausing or ending early is allowed; the guarantee just doesn't carry through.
Ending while under LOI on a sourced deal is allowed, but usually not recommended. Negotiations go better when the buyer is visibly working a pipeline of alternatives.
The consulting-fee tail survives termination: still owed on any Target sourced through the engagement that closes within 36 months of delivery, on the declining schedule above.
Two named roles, same people end-to-end. A Search Team Lead handles kickoff, criteria refinement, and the qualifying call with every responding owner. An Origination Coordinator runs the sourcing engine: buy box build, contact validation, outreach copy, send cadence, and weekly reporting.
Leadership sits in on every kickoff and stays reachable for anything that warrants senior attention.
Your thesis, target list, and any seller info shared through the search are confidential, used only for your engagement. We sign NDAs on request, and the target list and seller financials never leave the team running your search.
On competitor overlap: we may run similar mandates within the same broad sector or geography, never with direct overlap. The boundaries (industry sub-segment, geography, deal-size range) get drawn on the strategy call before any Engagement Agreement is signed. When an owner could fit two clients, only the client whose criteria fit most cleanly hears about that owner.
Bring it to the strategy call. Twenty minutes, complimentary, you leave with the report and a straight answer.
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