Deal Flow from Boutique M&A Advisors

Throughout my time searching and reviewing deals, I believe the highest-quality opportunities haven’t come from the high-volume, mass-marketed broker shops. They came from smaller, boutique M&A advisors. Lean teams. Relationship-driven. Often deeply trusted by the seller. Businesses that aren’t blasted to a bunch of buyers. These advisors tend to represent owners who care more about just headline price. And the processes are often more thoughtful, less auction-heavy. Proprietary outreach absolutely has its place. But I’ve come to believe that systematically building relationships with the right boutique intermediaries may be one of the highest returns on time invested. I’m launching a small side project to expand on this. The idea: • Form a cohort of up to 25 serious searchers (traditional & self-funded) • All focused on B2B services • Targeting $750k–$2M EBITDA As relationships are built with select boutique advisors, relevant teasers would be shared within the cohort. The goal isn’t to create another blast list. It’s to build a tight, high-quality group aligned on: – Professionalism with brokers – Speed + seriousness when reviewing deals – Respect for the advisor relationship Why join? • Access to boutique deal flow that may not hit broad distribution • Signaling effect — advisors know they’re dealing with committed buyers • Shared pattern recognition across similar buy boxes • Accountability + focus • A more curated channel vs mass broker lists This is not a fund. Not a guarantee of deals. Not a replacement for proprietary search. It’s simply a structured way to focus on what I believe is an under-appreciated channel. If you’re serious about B2B services in the $750k–$2M EBITDA range and want to be part of a small founding cohort, visit batoninvestments.com and put in your email. I’ll likely cap this at around 25 participants to preserve signal quality.