TL;DR: SolQ (Solar) booked 8 meetings from 1,200 LinkedIn connection requests. 12 top private equity firms evaluated the deal and 3 made formal offers. Reachium mapped the PE firms most likely to acquire a solar asset and ran outreach from SolQ's founder to their partners and principals.
SolQ was a solar company ready to sell. 3 of its 8 PE meetings ended in a formal offer, a 37.5% rate Platform data. The goal of its LinkedIn campaign was a short list of private equity buyers looking at one deal. SolQ did not want to depend on a single banker's contacts to find them.
Key Takeaways
- 12 top-tier PE firms evaluated the deal, 8 meetings were booked with decision-makers, and 3 firms submitted formal offers.
- The whole campaign ran on 1,200 connection requests, and 380 were accepted.
- Reachium first mapped which PE firms were most likely to buy a solar asset, then targeted people at those firms.
- Every message came from SolQ's founder and carried a clear deal thesis.
- Founder Wyatt Phelps said the process gave SolQ leverage it would not have had through a banker alone.
What was SolQ up against?
SolQ's business was strong, its numbers were clean, and its thesis was compelling for the right PE buyer. The usual route to that buyer runs through a banker's rolodex. That meant working on someone else's timeline. It also meant hoping the right firms were in the banker's network at all.
How did Reachium set it up?
Reachium started with research, not messaging. It mapped the private equity firms most likely to acquire a solar asset. Outreach then went on LinkedIn from SolQ's founder directly to partners and principals at those firms. Each message laid out a clear deal thesis, so a reader could judge the fit quickly.
What happened?
Reachium sent 1,200 connection requests and 380 were accepted Platform data. Those connections produced 105 replies and 8 meetings booked directly with decision-makers Platform data. By the end, 12 top-tier PE firms were evaluating the deal and 3 had submitted formal offers. With several bidders in play, SolQ negotiated from a position a banker-only process would not have created.
Wyatt Phelps, SolQ's Founder, summed it up: "Twelve PE firms at the table. Three offers. We had leverage we never would have had going through a banker alone."
How did SolQ's funnel narrow from 1,200 requests to 3 offers?
SolQ's campaign narrowed at every stage, from a list of mapped firms to a few bidders. Only 3 of the 1,200 requests, or 0.25%, became offers Platform data. The four stages below come from SolQ's own numbers, from the first connection request to the final offer.
- Accepted: 380 of 1,200 requests, or 31.7% Platform data.
- Replied: 105 of 380 accepted connections, or 27.6% Platform data.
- Met: 8 meetings from 105 replies, or 7.6% Platform data.
- Offered: 3 formal offers from 8 meetings, or 37.5% Platform data.
For comparison, across the platform, Reachium's industry acceptance study found Financial Services targets accepted 20.49% of cold requests Platform data. That is platform-wide context, not a measure of SolQ's campaign. SolQ's reply rate of 27.6% matches the 27.6% of accepted connections that reply in Reachium's 2026 LinkedIn outreach benchmark Platform data.
Founders preparing a sale can have the Reachium agency map buyers and run the outreach. Those who prefer to send from their own profile can review Reachium's account pricing. For more results, read the Aera Capital and Limited case studies.
FAQ
How did Reachium choose which PE firms to contact?
It mapped the private equity firms most likely to acquire a solar asset. Outreach then went to partners and principals at those firms.
Who sent the messages to the PE firms?
SolQ's founder. The LinkedIn outreach went from the founder's profile directly to partners and principals.
What did the outreach messages contain?
A clear deal thesis. The goal was to make the opportunity easy to assess and hard to ignore for the right buyer.
How many PE firms engaged with SolQ?
12 top-tier firms evaluated the deal. SolQ held 8 meetings with decision-makers and received 3 formal offers.
Why not rely only on an investment banker?
A banker's rolodex runs on the banker's timeline and may not include the right firms. Direct outreach let SolQ reach the buyers Reachium had mapped, on its own timeline.
What does it take to run a buyer outreach campaign like SolQ's?
A mapped list of likely acquirers, a clear thesis and a founder's LinkedIn profile. Reachium's pricing is per LinkedIn account, and the done-for-you team can handle the mapping and outreach.