By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.

SEETA conference follow up comes down to order: within 48 hours, text the investors, CEOs and lenders tied to a live decision, and close every intro you promised. Then keep the students and searchers from the four host schools warm with a reason every month, because this is a regional room you will see again.

It is Saturday afternoon in Durham. The closeout reception at the Fuqua Fox Center is winding down. Since Friday you have sat through a keynote in Geneen Auditorium, a reception at the JB Duke Hotel, two breakout panels and a lunch session. You met a Darden student searching in the Carolinas, an investor who backs Southeast searchers, and a CEO who bought a company two hours from campus. By Monday most of it will be a blur.

I run matchmaking for two communities, so the days after a room empties are where I put my attention. I have not attended SEETA. Here is how I would run the follow up.

What is SEETA, and who is in the room?

SEETA is the Southeast Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Conference, hosted by Duke Fuqua, UNC Kenan Flagler, UVA Darden and Georgetown McDonough. Its stated purpose is to educate, encourage and equip current and recent MBA students and mid career professionals in the Southeast to buy and run a small or mid sized business. The 2026 edition ran September 18 to 19 at the Fuqua School of Business, 100 Fuqua Drive, Durham. The next date was not posted as of October 28, 2026. Check the official site for dates.

The 2026 schedule is the key to follow up:

• Friday afternoon: opening sessions and a keynote in Geneen Auditorium, then the SEETA Kickoff Reception at the JB Duke Hotel, then “Additional Networking and Social Events by Invitation.”
• Saturday: breakfast, a main stage panel, six concurrent morning panels, seven Lunch N’ Learn sessions, the morning panels repeated in the afternoon, a closing keynote, then the closeout reception.

Late registration was $275 for professionals and $45 for students. That price gap tells you the room: lots of students and recent grads, plus the investors, CEOs and advisors who come to meet them. It is a regional crowd, so the searcher you met is likely looking for companies near you.

Before the event: who to research, who to book

The schedule rewards a plan, because the breakouts run in parallel and repeat.

• Pick two breakouts on purpose. The afternoon panels repeat the morning ones, so you can see two topics instead of one. Read who is on each before you choose.
• Investors who back Southeast searchers. Ask for 15 minutes at breakfast on one question.
• CEOs who bought in the region. They know the local brokers, lenders and owners.
• Students from the other three schools. A Kenan Flagler or Georgetown student searching in your industry is a future deal swap partner.

For where SEETA sits in the wider ETA calendar, see the best ETA conferences.

In the room: capture in 10 seconds

Most of the real conversations at SEETA happen at three receptions and a lunch, not in a seat. You cannot take notes with a drink in your hand. Capture right after.

One sentence per person: name, school or firm, the one thing they said, what you owe them. “[Name], Darden, searching in HVAC in Virginia, wants my lender contact.” That sentence is your follow up. Without it you send “great to meet you” to someone who told you their whole thesis.

What is the SEETA conference follow up order in the first 48 hours?

Sort by what is live. The general rules are in who to follow up first after a conference. For this room:

1. Investors tied to a decision. Anyone weighing your search or asking for your thesis.
2. Intros you promised. In a four school community, a missed intro gets noticed.
3. CEOs who offered help. A deal review, a call about the first year.
4. Lenders, brokers and attorneys in the region.
5. Students and searchers. Inside the first week, while the weekend is fresh.

Each message under 40 words:

“Great talking at the JB Duke reception Friday. Sending the thesis one pager we discussed. Would value your read on the Carolinas services market before I start my raise.”

“[Name], thanks for the time after the Lunch N’ Learn. Could I get 20 minutes next week on how you found your lender?”

“Promised you an intro to [Name], who bought a company outside Raleigh. Sending it now, he is expecting you.”

“[Name], good comparing notes at Fuqua. Want to swap owners we each passed on in industries the other is chasing?”

Text or email depends on how they gave you their contact. More in follow up text after a conference.

Who gets what, and when?

Who you met	Where you likely met them	First touch	Next real reason
Investor	Friday reception, breakfast	Within 48 hours	Your raise launch
CEO in the region	Saturday panel or lunch	Within 48 hours	After the call, report back
Lender or broker	Lunch N’ Learn, closeout	Within one week	A target under review
Student or searcher	Any reception	Within one week	Monthly deal swap
Panelist	After a breakout	Within one week	When you hit their topic

This is the part most people skip. SEETA is a student heavy, regional room. The investor may not write a check for a year. The student may not search for two. You need to know the next real reason before the first touch fades.

What should happen in the 30 days after?

The first week handles what is urgent. The month decides whether the weekend turns into a search.

• Close every loop. Every intro made, every document sent.
• Report back. If a CEO’s advice changed your thesis, say so.
• Set the next reason. Raise launch, a first LOI, graduation, a new region.
• Keep the regional circle alive. The searchers you met will see owners you never will. A monthly swap of passed deals is worth more than any panel.

The investor who said “keep me posted” in September and has not heard from you by November is going cold. “Keep me posted” has no deadline, so it never happens. More on this in the relationship side of ETA.

The system that does this for you

I built FRONT OF MIND because I watched operators meet the right people, have real conversations, then disappear for months. It turns this into 10 minutes a morning. Say a name and a sentence out loud, snap a badge or card, or take a selfie together, and the person is filed under SEETA. Each morning you get your 10 minutes for today, and every person has a one line reason why: you met at SEETA 9 days ago and never followed up, a follow up is due, they posted. Every draft is a text of 40 words or less, nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits.

Ask Liala “who do I know that is a searcher in North Carolina” and get the right people with why. It runs in your phone’s browser and saves to your home screen. Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them, and you can export or delete anytime.

Start free with your first 25 contacts and see who from that weekend comes up first. The full method is in the conference follow up system.

See how it works