Finding and following up acquisition targets for search funds

Write your thesis down as checkable criteria, build the list from sources you’re allowed to use, and send short personal notes on a steady schedule that meets CAN-SPAM: honest sender details, a postal address and a working opt-out honored within 10 business days. An AI worker can research and draft. You approve every message and take every call.

How do you run it yourself?

1. Turn the thesis into criteria you can check. Industry, geography, size signals you can see from outside (employees, locations, trucks, years in business), ownership and exclusions. Each target passes or fails each test, with a note on how you know.

2. Build the list from sources you’re allowed to use.

• Your state’s business entity search, for formation dates and registered officers (what’s shown varies by state)
• Industry association directories, state licensing boards and trade show exhibitor lists
• The company’s own website
• Paid databases, within their license terms

Use LinkedIn by hand. Its User Agreement prohibits using “bots or other unauthorized automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts,” or to “send or redirect messages,” and prohibits scraping profiles.

3. Keep one tracker. One row per company: why it fits, owner name, the source for each fact, contact details, last touch, next touch, status and opt-out. Keep a single do-not-contact list that every sender checks.

4. Write short, specific notes. Who you are, why this company, and what a first conversation would involve. No invented referrals, and no subject lines that pretend to be replies.

5. Follow up on a schedule, then stop.

When	Touch
Day 1	First note
About a week later	Short follow-up
About two weeks after that	A letter by mail, or a call
Around day 30	Close-out
Six months later	A polite check-in, unless they’ve asked you to stop

6. Follow CAN-SPAM on every email. The FTC’s compliance guide says “the law makes no exception for business-to-business email.” It requires:

• no false or misleading header information, and no deceptive subject lines;
• a valid postal address;
• a clear way to opt out, honored “within 10 business days.”

You’re responsible for anyone sending for you, including a freelancer, a tool or an AI worker. The guide lists penalties of up to $53,088 per email. Whether a “would you consider selling?” note counts as commercial email is a question for your lawyer. Following the rules on every outreach email is the simple course.

7. Look after deliverability. Google’s sender guidelines require everyone sending to Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM for their domain and keep reported spam rates below 0.3%, with 0.10% as the target. Senders of 5,000 or more messages a day must also set up DMARC and support one-click unsubscribe for marketing and subscribed messages. Remove addresses that bounce.

What are your options?

Option	What it looks like	Who runs it	Watch for
Do it yourself	Criteria, a tracker, personal notes, a follow-up calendar	You	Stops whenever a live deal starts
Buy a tool	A private company database plus email sequencing software	You, inside the tools	Stale data, generic templates, and volume that hurts deliverability
Hire a freelancer	A research analyst or intern who builds lists and drafts notes	The freelancer	Training time; you’re still responsible for what they send
Bring in an outside team	An AI worker that researches against your criteria and drafts outreach, within limits you approve	The team, with you approving and taking every call	How they find contacts, how opt-outs are honored, and how you see every message

What can an AI worker do, and what stays with you?

An AI worker can do	Keep with you
Research companies against your criteria, noting the source for each fact	Setting and changing the criteria
Find the owner and a business contact from allowed sources	Approving each message, at least until its record is clear
Draft a first note specific to each company	Every conversation with an owner
Schedule follow-ups and send the ones you’ve approved	NDAs, letters of intent, valuation and anything about your investors
Sort replies and add opt-outs to the do-not-contact list at once	Deciding when to stop pursuing a company

Its research will sometimes be wrong: the owner sold last year, or the company is bigger than it looks. So each target arrives with its sources and each draft waits for your approval. Once you’ve seen enough drafts you’d have sent unchanged, routine follow-ups can go out on their own.

Operator is the AI worker we run. AI for lead generation covers outreach rules for other kinds of business.

FAQ

Does CAN-SPAM apply to emails to business owners? The FTC’s guide says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email. Ask your lawyer how it applies to your outreach, and follow its rules either way.

Can we automate LinkedIn messages? LinkedIn’s User Agreement prohibits bots or other unauthorized automated methods to send messages or add contacts. Use it by hand.

How many emails a day is safe? There’s no single number. Google’s guidelines set extra rules from 5,000 a day to Gmail accounts and a spam-rate ceiling for everyone.

Should an AI worker talk to owners on our behalf? It can send notes you’ve approved and sort the replies. The conversation with an owner who might sell their life’s work should be yours.