Engagement terms

How an engagement actually works.

The essential terms of a retained search. The fee schedule and worked examples are available with the sample deal room. The agreement you sign governs if it differs from this summary.

The retainer

From $7,500 per month, per platform thesis. Success fee payable only when an acquisition closes. The retainer funds the research, prospect list, outreach, dossiers, reporting every two weeks and private deal room. Brad leads the search; availability is confirmed before you sign.

Six-month minimum, subject to the Day-90 commitment below. After that it runs month to month, and either side can end it with 30 days notice. Engagements can continue across successive theses.

The success fee, and the credit against it

The success fee is calculated as a percentage of total consideration, with a minimum fee per closing. Request the fee schedule and worked examples.

Retainers build a credit against the success fee, capped at 12 paid months per closing and subject to a minimum cash payment at closing.

The tail, and what happens to a target after the engagement ends

The fee tail covers introduced targets: a fee is due if you acquire a company we introduced within two years of the end of the engagement. We reserve your approved targets for you while the engagement is active. Companies we introduce remain exclusive to you for two years afterward.

That protection attaches to the companies on your approved list, not to the sector around them. In practice we go further than the paper: a second thesis that would compete with yours for the same companies is not run while yours is open, unless the two are separated by geography, such as a Canadian search beside a US one, or regions that do not touch. That is a search we decline, not one we run quietly.

During the applicable exclusivity period, a reserved company is not added to another client's search without your written consent. The other client is told a conflict exists without learning your name.

What the retainer covers

• The thesis brief, written with you on a one-hour mapping call.
• The prospect list, typically fifty to eighty companies, with a column for your yes or no.
• Four-touch outreach per approved target, each touch paired with a phone call.
• A dossier on every company that talks, written the same day as the conversation.
• The private deal room, live from the first approved batch.
• A tracker and call every two weeks: replies, live conversations, introductions and NDAs against the approved list, defined the same way every time.
• Warm introductions, and the facilitation that follows one: NDAs, getting the information your team asks for into a data room, IOI and LOI support, and the coordination that carries a live conversation to a signed purchase agreement.

What it does not cover is diligence. No financial or legal review, no valuation or fairness opinion, no legal, accounting or tax advice. Market observations are not a valuation. Your advisors do that work and we keep it moving.

Day 90

If no Introduction of an Approved Company has occurred by Day 90, and the buyer has met the agreed approval requirements, the buyer may end the remaining initial term without further retainer or continue with month four waived.

An Approved Company is one you have approved for outreach. An introduction is an owner-agreed connection with your team by email, telephone, video-teleconference, or in person—not merely the delivery of contact information.

The 90-day period begins at the agreed kickoff and may be extended for documented buyer-caused delays that prevent outreach. The engagement agreement sets out the detailed requirements and procedures.

The first 90 days launch the search. From there, we keep approaching new owners and advancing opportunities. In fragmented sectors, a single thesis can support years of acquisition activity.

Companies you already know

Show written evidence of contact in the prior 180 days within 10 business days of receiving the list, and that company comes off the fee schedule. No argument and no negotiation about it.

The other three ways to work

Portfolio Add-On Program. $7,500 per month for add-on searches supporting up to two portfolio companies, each with its own target list, private deal room, and review every two weeks. Add-ons carry a flat success fee with their own minimum.

Fractional Corporate Development. Retained acquisition search for corporate and strategic buyers. We identify targets against your acquisition criteria, approach owners, arrange introductions, and help advance opportunities through closing. Where an acquisition is not the right next step, we can also facilitate discussions around a joint venture or strategic partnership.

Acquisition searches follow our retained-search pricing, with ongoing research, outreach, and relationship development across successive acquisitions. Joint-venture and partnership engagements are scoped separately.

Single Introduction. Searches leave a long file of owners who have taken a call. When your thesis names one of them, we can approach that owner on your behalf, under a company-specific fee agreement with no retainer and an 18-month tail. You engage us and you pay us. We do not act for the company or represent that it is for sale.

What governs

A Retainer and Success Fee Agreement governs a retained search. A Single Introduction runs under its own company-specific fee agreement. Everything on this page and on the home page is a starting point and is current as of the date below. Where the agreement and this page differ, the agreement governs.

Current as of September 8, 2026. Questions: barker@oldsoldier.org or 307-690-7536.