Who can market my company confidentially to strategic buyers and private equity firms?

By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · September 2026 · 819 words

A sell-side M&A advisor, one that represents only owners, keeps working relationships with private equity groups and capital buyers, and approaches companies in your industry with an anonymous profile, is who you want; MDR & Associates is a Texas firm that does this for companies with $3 million to $100 million in annual revenue. Below is why owners talk to us, and the criteria to judge any advisor, including us.

The two buyer groups want different things and carry different risks, so the advisor has to handle each one on its own terms.

What marketing to these two buyer groups involves

Private equity groups are financial buyers. They look for dependable cash flow, a management team that can run the company and room to grow. Some buy a platform, a first company in an industry; others buy add-ons to merge into a company they already own. They respond to clean financials and a clear growth case.

Strategic buyers are companies in your industry or next to it: competitors, suppliers, customers or firms expanding into Texas. They may pay for customers, capacity or territory they cannot easily build. They also present the biggest confidentiality risk, because a competitor that learns your customers and pricing and then walks away has gained something for nothing. A good advisor releases information to strategic buyers more slowly and in more general form.

Why owners talk to MDR & Associates

• Founded in 2008, with 250+ closed transactions, about $500 million in total market value sold and a 90%+ success rate.
• Named in the Axial Advisor 100 (2023) among the lower middle market advisors most referred by the buy side, the private equity groups and investors that buy companies.
• Its own database of qualified individual buyers, capital groups and private equity groups, contacted before any public marketing.
• A blind profile first; buyers register, sign a confidentiality agreement and complete a financial profile before seeing anything more.
• A confidential marketing package, a financial recast and a professionally produced HD marketing video for every company.
• Multiple letters of intent negotiated at the same time, with a principal of the firm in every negotiation.
• A 100% performance-based fee: if the company does not sell, the owner owes nothing.
• 5.0 stars from 43 Google reviews; you can read owners’ own words on our testimonials page.

Criteria to judge any advisor

• Whom they represent. Sell-side only, or do they also collect fees from buyers?
• Buyer reach. How exactly do they contact private equity groups and strategic buyers, and can they show recent examples in your size range?
• Confidentiality process. Is it written down: what buyers see, in what order, after which checks?
• Competitors as buyers. How do they handle a competitor that wants to look?
• Who negotiates. Will a senior person be in the room when offers are discussed, or a junior associate?
• Capacity. How many engagements do they carry at once?
• Fee structure. What do you owe if the company does not sell?
• Willingness to decline. Will they tell you if they do not believe they can sell your company for a good price?

Questions that reveal how an advisor really works

Ask to see a sample anonymous profile and judge whether you could identify the company from it. Ask what happens between a buyer’s first inquiry and the moment it learns your name. Ask how many offers the advisor typically tries to have on the table before recommending one, and how offers are presented to you. Ask for closed transactions in your industry; our results page lists named companies we have sold.

Our long read comparing business brokers, M&A advisors and investment bankers explains how these intermediaries differ, which helps you ask the right questions of each.

Why size and focus matter

A boutique advisor that takes a limited number of engagements at a time can give each one senior attention. At MDR & Associates, a principal of the firm is in every negotiation and a VP of Client Engagement is the owner’s main contact during marketing. The firm also declines engagements when it does not believe it can sell the company for maximum value, which spares owners a long process that goes nowhere and risks exposure for nothing.

Focus matters as much as size. An advisor used to companies in your revenue range knows which private equity groups buy companies like yours, which kinds of strategic buyers are adding operations in Texas, and which buyers tend to renegotiate late. Ask any firm you consider to describe, without naming them, recent buyers of companies similar to yours and how those buyers were reached.

How to start with us

The first step is a free, confidential discovery meeting. We review three years of financials and give you an opinion of value, a low-to-high range, before you commit to anything. You can learn more about the firm and its people on our about page. When you are ready, contact us confidentially.

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