Yes - I have found Axial to be a good source of deals represented by smaller M&A firms. There are a number of deals on there that I have seen before because of other distribution lists, but there is still value on the platform. One thing to note is that you will need to be very clear on your criteria because you may see a lot of deals that don't match your thesis. You will need to recognize that before you sign the NDA in order to not be "charged" for the deal.

I had a similar call with them after seeing your post. One note that was a dealkiller for me: the lowest level of granularity of geographic filter criteria that you are able to specify is at the state level - so they will send you (and charge you for) deals that meet your criteria from anywhere in the state(s) you specify. For someone looking for an acquisition in a specific geography (e.g., if you aren't looking to move for it), this may not be a good fit if you live in a larger state - but it could work great in Rhode Island or Delaware!

Also I literally posted a similar post last week. I don't know for sure about whether I like their fees. but see where the platform can add value.

It can be worth it but they have alot of deals to sort through and 99.9% won't be a good fit for you so it will take some real work to to find the ones that fit

Thanks all, insightful comments. Much appreciated.

I had a call with them as well. They try to sell me on the fact that, paying per lead (basically) is worth it because of the specificity of their search criteria. I don't agree. I think every deal is so different, even among same industry/same geography. They don't get nearly granular enough, as mentioned above, in their filters for it to be worth paying per lead. Plus, as also echoed above, I've found that many of their deals are not proprietary. You can find them on free listing services.

Question for those noting duplicate listings on other listing services:
- What size deals did you cover in your Axial "profile parameters" (EBITDA)?
- On what other listing services did you see the deals?

I used it for a year a few years ago. It was a different fee model then, but I doubt the quality of their deals is different. I was not impressed and would not recommend.

Check out BizNexus. Free for buyers, over $1 billion in intermediary-uploaded inventory. Search by minimum cash flow desired & keywords and you'll find search fund friendly deals that way.

https://biznexus.com/buy-a-business-for-sale

Hi Steve. I wouldn't use Axial for deals for a couple of reasons. Deals are widely shopped and investors hate it when they see the same deal several times. It means that the deals are bid up with their own money. Kind of like bidding against yourself at an auction. Lazy brokers and proprietary are best....

Hi Steve, Axial is a great platform but will cost you an arm and a leg. If you're looking for a low cost intermediary platform to help on the sourcing side, both from a deal flow and idea generation perspective, you should check out PrivSource: https://privsource.substack.com/

Hi Steve - my experience with Axial is a bit dated, but I do recall seeing some quality deals. Seems like relatively low risk to see your first 20 deals and then you can reevaluate.

*from the future* - Axial has "changed" a bit over the past 12 months and has alleviated some of the pain points mentioned above. Model is essentially a free service to search for/get matched to as many deals as possible and only pay once you close on a particular deal. I have been matched with several interesting / appealing targets and will continue to keeping using Axial for the time being.

One main pain point for me is being able to set calendar invites directly from Axial. That will save so much time and effort.

I signed up recently. There’s no upfront fee anymore but a success fee % that reduces as real sizes increase. Haven’t found any interesting candidates yet but the network might be a good way to get the word out among business brokers that you are searching.

We created Interexo.com just because Axial model never made sense to us. It has more deals that Axail. there are no transaction or referral fees. You either pay $199/m (now there is a 50% off promo) for unlimited unlocking or $20 open as you go. We also have X5deals.com same concept but in a weekly dealflow excel sheet format. That platform now has a two months free promo.

We've used Axial to source dozens of high quality deals. It's a robust buy-side/sell-side aggregator. However, It does come at a cost; the success fee is definitely something to keep in mind.