SMBash Follow Up for Buyers and Operators: Who to Text Before You Land at DFW
SMBash puts searchers, operators, holdco builders and SBA lenders in one Dallas room. Here is who to book, how to capture them, and who to text first after.
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.
SMBash follow up has one job: turn two days in Dallas into a lender who knows your deal, a few searchers who send you what they pass on, and an operator or two you can call when diligence gets ugly. The people to text first are the ones tied to a live deal or a live raise, inside 48 hours, with the exact thing you discussed.
You know the scene. Day two, late afternoon. You have had real conversations with a searcher in year one of ownership, an SBA lender who asked about your debt service coverage, a holdco builder who buys the same kind of business you want, and a CPA who does quality of earnings for deals your size. You have notes for maybe two of them.
I run matchmaking for two communities and have made over 1,000 introductions, so this is the moment I think about most: the end of day two, before the names blur. Here is how I would run it.
What SMBash actually is
Know the room before you plan for it. The official SMBash site calls it The National Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Summit and lists the next one as April 21 to 22, 2027 at The Rayleigh Underground in Irving, Texas. It is in person only, the number of attendees is limited, and recordings of every session go to ticket holders after.
The About page says it started in 2022 because the ETA community deserved its own event, and describes “hundreds of buyers, operators, lenders, and investors” coming to Dallas every April for “keynotes, events, workshops, parties” and networking aimed at real partnerships. Past agenda sessions include titles like “Alumni Panel: Year One Lessons from Searchers, Operators, and Holdcos.” Sponsors are lenders, legal counsel, diligence providers and software companies, per the sponsor page.
The official site does not name a single organizer or a meeting app. No matchmaking will book your calendar for you. That changes the whole plan. My view: the conversations that matter get booked, not found in a hallway.
Before SMBash: book the people, not the sessions
Because nobody schedules your meetings, the best conversations go to the people who booked them three weeks out. The sessions are recorded. The breakfasts are not.
Sort who you want into four groups:
- Capital. SBA lenders, independent sponsors, small fund investors. If you are under LOI or close to it, this is the most valuable hour of the trip.
- Peers one year ahead. Searchers who closed recently on a business like yours. They know which brokers actually return calls.
- Operators and holdco builders. People who buy in your industry or region. They pass on deals that might fit you.
- Advisors. Attorneys, QoE providers, insurance people. You will need them on the next deal.
When the 2027 speaker list goes live, mark the ones in your industry or geography. Then text the people already in your phone who you know are going. “Heading to SMBash in April? Grab breakfast Wednesday?” is enough.
Try to land five booked meetings before you get on the plane. Everything else is a bonus.
In the room: capture in 10 seconds
Two days, parties every night, and conversations that start mid sentence in a hallway. By the second night, faces blur.
The fix is a 10 second capture after every real conversation, before the next one starts:
- Their name and what they do. “Jen, SBA lender, likes home services.”
- The one thing that matters. “Asked about my DSCR on the HVAC deal.”
- The promise. Yours or theirs. “She will send her term sheet template. I owe her the CIM.”
Say it into your phone, snap the badge, take a quick photo together. The promise line is the one you will need Monday. If you need a longer system for this, read how to remember everyone you meet at a conference.
The 48 hours after: who first
Order by money and by promises. Not by who you liked most. That is the order I would use.
First: anyone tied to a live deal. The lender who heard your numbers. The investor who said send me the deck. The operator who offered to look at your model.
Jen, great meeting you at SMBash. Sending the CIM on the HVAC deal now. LOI date is May 15. Does 20 minutes next Tuesday work?
Second: anyone you made a promise to. Intros are most of what I do, and a promised intro that slips costs more than one you never offered. The searcher you said you would connect with your broker. The attorney you said you would refer.
Mike, as promised. Introducing you to Dana, who brokered my last two looks in Ohio. Dana, Mike buys home services in the Midwest. You two should talk.
Third: peers and operators who could send you deal flow.
Good to finally meet at SMBash. If you pass on anything in pest control under $2M EBITDA, I would love a look. Happy to do the same for you.
Fourth: everyone else. One line, the thing you talked about, no ask.
If you are deciding who goes first beyond SMBash, see who to follow up with first after a conference, and for more message examples, the follow up text after a conference.
30 days after: the real deal flow window
The SMBash crowd is mostly searchers and operators. Most of them are not a deal today. They are a deal in month five, when a broker sends them something outside their box and they think of you.
That only happens if you are recent. In the first 30 days:
- Close every loop. Every promise from the 48 hour list is done, or you have told the person why not.
- Send one useful thing to each person in groups one through three. A lender who fits their deal, a broker in their region, a teaser you passed on.
- Set the next touch. Lenders and investors every few weeks while your deal is live. Peers and operators every 60 to 90 days, with a real reason.
This is where I see most of the value of a trip leak out. Not in the 48 hours. In weeks three through twelve, when diligence on your own deal eats your calendar. If you are a solo searcher, the same rhythm applies to brokers, and how searchers keep 200 brokers warm without a VA covers it.
The system that does this for you
I built FRONT OF MIND because I watched operators meet the right people, then disappear for months inside a deal. It does the remembering. At SMBash you say a name and a sentence out loud, snap a badge, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under the event. Each morning it opens on your 10 minutes for today, with a one line reason next to each person: you met at SMBash 3 days ago and never followed up, a follow up is due, they posted, or a deal in your pipeline has been quiet 7 days.
Every draft is a text style message, 40 words max, and nothing sends without your tap. It learns from your edits. Ask Liala “who do I know that is an SBA lender” or “who from SMBash buys in Texas” and get the right people with why. 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 the room comes up first.