Searchers Turned Operators

searcher profile

May 01, 2022

by a searcher from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Kenan-Flagler Business School in Austin, TX, USA

To all searchers turned operators:

Did you ever circle back around to the sellers to ask them what made them sell to you? What stood out about you or your offer that made them want to sell their business to you? This knowledge could be a game-changer for not only other searchers but for you as well as you launch future searches.

Personally, this is the data I really want to see in the Stanford Studies!

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commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, USA
Talk like a human, be a human, and demonstrate you have the right kind of experience (your story- very critical ) to actually run (and grow) their company.

Here is a story: I had several meetings with the owner of a software company, who ended up selling his businesses to a searcher backed by one of the well-known PEG funds that back searchers from top MBA schools. I passed for a few reasons - but it was a GREAT business. That said, he came to back me before he closed to say, "I'd rather sell this business to you b/c you actually have the skills to sell and grow my company - so if you'd like to reconsider, I'm open to structuring something with you..."

In the end I found my pot of gold and don't regret my decision to pass on this one.

There is another story here-- I prospected and did personal outreach like crazy and came across several good businesses. Then I closed on the one that was best for me.
commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from IE Business School in Munich, Germany
Very underrated question in my opinion! We asked the two founders we took over from and the main takeaway was that our (physical) letter remained on the top of their collection of letters they received over the years, because of a higher degree of personalization. Not the standard PE mass mailing type. And according to them we were able to confirm that positive first impression in the process of getting to know each other. Feel free to reach out for more details.
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