Common questions.Clear answers.

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 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.

First multichannel sequence live within three weeks of kickoff. 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 it's included in every engagement, Regional and National alike.

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. 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, 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.

Pivot the buy box anytime by mutual written agreement. We restage the buy box and the search keeps running.

Sourcing and cultivation to a signed LOI is what we're built to do. From there, we connect you with a vetted network of M&A attorneys, SBA and acquisition lenders, and QofE providers who've actually closed deals this size before, when you want an introduction.

These are introductions to people we've vetted, not services we provide directly and not a guarantee of fit for your deal. You choose who you work with.

The agreement continues month-to-month until either party gives 30 days' notice. Nothing ends automatically.

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. We sign off on the change together so the new buy box is on the record.

A monthly retainer through the engagement and a 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. We walk through the exact numbers on your strategy call.

A percentage 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 reduced by whatever you've already paid. We walk through the exact percentage on your strategy call.

The fee applies for 36 months from Target delivery, even after the engagement ends, stepping down on a declining schedule after termination. Full terms are in the engagement agreement.

No fee owed on businesses you find and acquire entirely outside our sourcing.

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.

Owner timing and diligence sit outside any sourcing firm's control. What we control is fit: 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.

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 Analyst 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.