Better Search Selection is No Accident!
Exit Insights, a new research division of the Exit Group, has been helping our private equity clients crack the code for better search selection.
The single most difficult and complex decision any buyside M&A firm makes is which searches to take and which to turn down.
Search selection is the industry’s Gordian Knot. The Exit Group developed a way to slice through the problem by leveraging our deep experience in executing searches. Every analysis we deliver is enhanced by a significant body of proprietary data we’ve developed from hundreds of real-world searches. This integration of data and search experience answers questions like:
- Is this a good M&A search?
- How many add on acquisitions can we get done over the hold period?
- How much EBITDA can we acquire?
- What do valuations look like in the sector?
Traditional sources of data expertly curated and analyzed will of course go a long way toward answering these questions. When you overlay this data with a great deal of real-world search experience you add a kind of “secret sauce” to your analysis.
Recommendation: Build data sets around your searches. Clearly no two searches are the same. However, with the right data capture and analysis past searches inform future searches.
Over the past year, our first year Exit Insights has brought this thinking and expertise to over two dozen clients with great success. Deal teams that work with Exit Insights gain more conviction in post-acquisition M&A as a value driver and consistently uncover avenues for capital deployment that weren’t previously visible. Additionally, searches that start with Exit Insights launch faster, target more precisely, and ultimately deliver better results.
These results would not have been possible without close collaboration with each of our clients. What we’ve noted is that the analysis we produce in collaboration with our clients often reshapes their investment thesis in very meaningful and productive ways. Through a careful iteration and feedback loop we have rolled out a significant number of improvements over this past year. While we’re proud of our growth, we’re even more energized by what’s to come.
Over the coming months, we will deep dive the anatomy of an M&A market by breaking down the key factors we look for in every search.
In the meantime, if you’re evaluating a new space and want to pressure-test the opportunity before committing, that’s exactly what Exit Insights was built for. We’re here to partner on any thesis, diligence, or search you’re considering.