Best Practices For Proprietary Sourcing (Excluding Sourcescrub)?

people:

searchers

investors

intermediaries

lenders

lawyers

accountants

consultants

insurance

tasks:

getting started

see job postings

share your PPM

see my deals

read interviews

browse posts:

industry news

self funded

australia

women in search

networking

acquisitions

single sponsor

operating

europe

deal sourcing

getting funded

latin america

accounting and legal

corona

tip for the week

interview

north america

getting started

traditional

case studies

bestof

africa

deal making

asia

09/28/2020 Redacted Redacted

New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business

BEST PRACTICES FOR PROPRIETARY SOURCING (EXCLUDING SOURCESCRUB)?

Newly launched search fund and am pre-funding. Looking for most cost-effective options to being proprietary search outside the broker channels and more expensive tools (i.e. SourceScrub, LinkedIn Sales Navigator).

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searcher Rice University - Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business University of California, Berkeley Columbia University Willamette University - 09/28/2020

We are also researching cost efficient list building tools for proprietary search. AtoZ Databases is good, however one has to copy emails manually, and seems like only about 50% of search results come with emails. We had a call with Cyndx, competitor to SourceScrub, and that might be a viable option that is cheaper, however we are still evaluating the value proposition versus other options. We plan to have a Demo with few other database options such as Uplead.

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searcher Georgetown University The George Washington University - School of Business - 10/27/2020

Hi Jigar - Did you end up choosing one? We are connecting with the ones you've mentioned and hoping to make a decision very soon

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searcher Rice University - Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business University of California, Berkeley Columbia University Willamette University - 10/27/2020

Yas we haven't officially kicked off the search so have not lined up a database yet. I got an updated price from Seamless which I will message you with. I know Searchfunder (Luke) is also looking into group pricing (kind of like IBIS reports) so that's something I am also interested in. I plan to reach out to Luke for an update.

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searcher Washington University in St. Louis - Olin Business School - 09/29/2020

https://www.searchfunder.com/post/does-anyone-have-experience-using-sourcescrub

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searcher Columbia University - Columbia Business School London Business School Northwestern University - 09/29/2020

It's hard to get an edge without targeting industries and regions a little better. From there, you could develop a proprietary process that would require some scripting, but then you would own it.

Since we are SaaS focused, my partner and I have develop a process to find SaaS companies that have added themselves to one of the 20+ directories online. From there you step down the ladder to get company details from LinkedIn and then get emails using one of the APIs.

If you have a region / industry focus, it may be easier to get that edge. Shoot me a message if you want to trade some ideas.

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searcher Georgetown University - The McDonough School of Business Temple University - The Fox School of Business - 09/29/2020

Trevor - Can we chat regarding the use of an API for LinkedIn?

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searcher Georgetown University - The McDonough School of Business Temple University - The Fox School of Business - 09/29/2020

I'm interested in this topic. I've evaluated nearly 10 different lead generation platforms and haven't made a decision yet. Leaning towards seamless.ai currently.

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admin Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Sloan School of Management Taylor University Stanford University - Graduate School of Business - 09/29/2020

Searchfunder is currently evaluating potential partnerships with data providers to help with proprietary sourcing. We would love feedback from our community on favorites if we could pull off something similar to what we have with IBISWorld.

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searcher Rice University - Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business University of California, Berkeley Columbia University Willamette University - 09/30/2020

This is a great idea and something we discussed with Cyndx on the Demo call. I do not have much experience with such tools as we are still setting up infrastructure for our search and thus we are still investigating different options (thus far Cyndx and Seamless.ai seem interesting; we will also look at Uplead). However, few things that I think will be material to searchers:

1. Database that is strong in the lower middle market space / private company space;
2. Database that easily allows searching for companies (via keywords, SIC codes, industries, etc.) AND owner contact in the same query so one can download company information / descriptive elements and owner contact all as a bulk download;
3) Cost... as a Self-Funded searcher this is critical for us. There are some fancy expensive options and some less fancy cheaper options.. So perhaps Searchfunder can partner with couple of different providers giving searchers couple of options...

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searcher Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management Georgia Institute of Technology - 09/30/2020

Agree with Jigar...especially on the cost front. IBISWorld is nice, but even with the partnership, it's still very expensive.

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searcher Georgetown University The George Washington University - School of Business - 10/27/2020

Hi Luke - Any updates on this?

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searcher ICFAI University University of Toronto - 09/30/2020

Capiq and Pitchbook potentially too

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New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business - 10/01/2020

thank you all - this is very helpful

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New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business - 10/01/2020

Concerned re. the long gestation period for proprietary deals. There is a benefit of knowing upfront whether there is a desire to sell - and I imagine this is one benefit of broker-led channels.

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professional Pepperdine University - Graziadio School of Business and Management California State University, Fullerton - 10/19/2020

Hey, Peter. I'm the Marketing Manager at SourceScrub, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. We do offer lower rates for Search Funds. You can message me here or email me at [redacted]

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searcher Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Sloan School of Management University of Virginia - 10/19/2020

Brief shameless plug: I've spent 6+ months developing a tool and process to do this significantly better than anything else currently available on the market. I'm happy to provide one free list to any searcher interested in testing it out in exchange for feedback on the list.

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searcher University of Alberta - School of Business - 10/19/2020

Hey William - I would be interested in testing out a list for you. Feel free to shoot me an email - [redacted]

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searcher Georgetown University The George Washington University - School of Business - 10/20/2020

Hi William - interested as well. Would be great to connect. I'm at: [redacted]

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searcher Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Sloan School of Management University of Virginia - 10/20/2020

^[redacted]‌ and ^[redacted]‌ thanks for being willing to try it out. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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searcher Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management Georgia Institute of Technology - 10/20/2020

Hey ^[redacted]‌ - Likewise, I would be happy to help test and provide feedback. I'm at [redacted]

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searcher Claremont McKenna College - 10/22/2020

I am interested as well. I will shoot you a message.

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searcher Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management Indiana University at Bloomington - 10/20/2020

I'd be interested as well - [redacted]

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