How Eminence Strategies Uses AI Researcher to Build Higher-Fidelity Buyer Lists

About Eminence Strategies

Eminence Strategies is a boutique M&A advisory firm supporting founder-led companies in the lower middle market. The team provides hands-on execution and strategic guidance across industries such as professional services, infrastructure, and recurring revenue businesses.

The Challenge

Despite using multiple research tools, the team struggled with data that was outdated, incomplete, or too generic. Their deals required focused buyer lists, not broad exports from static databases.

Refining lists often meant juggling multiple tools and performing time-consuming manual work, with no guarantee they were reaching the right decision-makers.

The Solution

Eminence added AI Researcher to their workflow to generate targeted buyer lists based on real M&A activity and firm focus. The tool surfaces high-fit acquirers with verified contact information, reducing the need for manual cleanup.

Even when the team had already identified 800 to 1,500 contacts, AI Researcher consistently added a new set of buyers with very little overlap. PrivSource approaches buyer discovery from a different angle, making it a valuable complement to their internal process.

How they use it:

• Start with known priority buyers
• Use AI Researcher to expand with net-new, relevant acquirers
• Review contact info (email, phone, LinkedIn)
• Export to Excel and track NDA/IOI/LOI outcomes

The Impact

AI Researcher is now used on 10+ active projects, generating 1,316 contacts—over 1,000 of which were net-new compared to their existing research.

Key benefits:

• Cleaner Data: Contacts are current, verified, and outreach-ready
• Broader Reach: Adds buyers missed by other tools, even at large scale
• Tighter Fit: Lists align with each deal’s nuances and criteria
• Faster Workflow: Saves hours previously spent enriching and deduplicating

“Most platforms have stale or incomplete data. With AI Researcher, we get a clean, strategic list that’s export-ready. We no longer waste time validating contacts.”

The One-Liner

"AI Researcher doesn’t just extend our reach. It delivers a completely different layer of strategic buyers we weren’t finding elsewhere."