I am a self-funded searcher looking for a small business to acquire ($300k - $2m EBITDA) in the Connecticut, New Jersey, New York areas. To me, it seems like going through a broker makes the most sense for deals at this size. How have others found the best brokers for regional searches? I've reached out and spoken with a number of brokers already, but wasn't sure if there were any tips to find the better ones (which I suspect are out there, but haven't met yet). Thanks.
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https://jordannovgrod.substack.com/p/used-car-salesmen-and-business-brokers
https://jordannovgrod.substack.com/p/emails-are-flying
https://jordannovgrod.substack.com/p/email-paused
I am not convinced that cold emails to business brokers is an effective strategy. For me, it led to many conversations with brokers offering buy side assistance and getting on lists of some brokers who are clearly not the good ones. When small 60K SDE business are being offered up for $600K, you can almost guarantee the broker is not a good one.
Your time is better spent looking at listed deals and getting reps in with evaluating them to see if they are a good match with you. Also, you can evaluate the brokers by their listings, CIMs, and communication with you. I have run across great brokers and terrible ones.