Your daily schedule (as a Searcher)
April 23, 2024
by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in Boston, MA, USA
Hey all!
As I get ready to graduate and search full time, I wanted to ask you all to share your daily schedule in terms of structuring your time around various tasks. I know this will look different for many of you since there are so many different search strategies and different focus areas (i.e. brokered vs proprietary, email / mail campaigns, and so on). However, it would be very helpful to hear it anyway, and if you could also add any tips on structuring time and being efficient with your time, I’d really appreciate it!
PS: planning to start searchint as self-funded
from London Business School in New York, NY, USA
- 100 Introductory emails to target companies
- 100 cold follow up phone calls to target companies from the week prior
- Research on a new sub-vertical, push down priority of less desirable sub-verticals
- Create company mapping of new sub-verticals and compile a list of 100 contacts
- Speak with 1/4 of active investors each week
- Set up meetings around trade shows
- Speak with contacts at industry associations
**Brokered Search Goals (1 day a week)**
- Enter all new business brokers into database as identified (~10 per week)
- Email reminder to rotating list of priority brokers (1/4 a month)
- Call or email to “priority brokers”
- Call or email to “priority intermediaries”
""Day-based schedule""
- Meet with team to discuss work plan for the day and ensure team alignment
- Read up on industry/company to prepare for calls (5 to 15 minutes to get smart)
-Two 90 min outreach sprints:
Each Sprint
- 10 personalized emails to high priority target companies or 30 cold calls/texts
- 10 generic emails to low priority target companies
- 1 deep dive on a sub-vertical
- Add 20 companies amongst 3 sub-verticals of priority
- Twice a day (30 min): Respond to e-mails and clear inbox
- Conduct industry research (reading, Googling, checking recently closed deals in late-stage VC and Growth Equity, brainstorming)
-Check that reach-out e-mails are ready to be sent for the evening or next morning
- 1 hour networking call or in-preson
from Columbia University in Los Angeles, CA, USA
- repeat my purpose to myself. I have the luxury of leaving a previous industry and career that I realized wasn’t aligned with what I was excited to do. In realizing my purpose wasn’t met, I started searching for something I found that I’ve gravitated towards in my previous jobs (for me that was building something that impacted others’ lives meaningfully).
- Look at what tasks needed to get done. My search flow chart looked like this: Sourcing -> Engagement -> Diligence -> Negotiations. I’ve probably spent the most time on Sourcing and Diligence.
- It’s difficult for me to focus on any one task at any time, so I usually break down the aforementioned sections into smaller tasks: Filling out my company tracker, Doc reviews, doc prep, etc.
- There are days where I do nothing but go into a rabbit hole of research, absorbing content in an industry or issue I am unfamiliar with and need to be. These are usually my favorite days.
It’s taken me 14 months to find a company that checks all my boxes. I didn’t follow any schedule, but followed objectives over that time. There were days where I get so consumed with a task that I forget to eat until late into the night.
Good luck on your search!