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B. Woods & Company, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a buy-side firm trusted by institutional capital managers to execute proprietary deal origination and business development mandates for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. The firm specializes in highly specific sourcing assignments, combining rigorous upfront research with a selective, relationship-driven approach to introducing outstanding founders to well-capitalized strategic acquirers and private investors.
Since founding the firm in 2020, Will Woods has stayed close to the work. Below, he explains how Grata helped him and his team drive efficiency and precision across their origination workflows.
Woods saw the need for a reliable data resource to support deal origination immediately after launching the company. The team turned to Sourcescrub.
“When I first started, I knew that we needed some kind of data resource. At the time, Sourcescrub was really the only one that I knew of on the market,” Woods explains.
Within a few months, Sourcescrub became central to the team’s workflow.
Woods later connected with Jackie Bonarrigo, Director of Investor Sales at Grata.
“She was wonderful to work with. We tested Grata thoroughly, but it wasn’t the right time for us to bring it on.”
As the Grata platform expanded over the next several months, Woods and Bonarrigo stayed in touch.
“Eventually, it made sense to bring on Grata concurrently with Sourcescrub. Over time, we really began to focus on using Grata more for top-of-funnel work. Now it’s our go-to.”
Grata has since become a core tool for B. Woods & Company.
“Grata is the perfect fit for us as we specialize in deal origination and sourcing,” Woods says. “The Grata platform enhances efficiencies in the business development function by addressing exactly what we need.”
For B. Woods & Company, precision at the top of the funnel is critical. The firm operates on tightly defined mandates where a narrow set of highly relevant targets matters far more than broad coverage. That makes data accuracy, ownership insight, and intelligent filtering essential — and leaves little margin for noise or generic outputs.
Today, Grata is the firm’s starting point for client engagements, ensuring that every mandate begins with a strong foundation of investment-grade data and insights.
“We rely on Grata very significantly. It is always our starting point,” Woods says.
By streamlining mandate development and target qualification, Grata allows the team to spend less time searching and more time engaging thoughtfully with founders and investors. The result is higher-quality conversations and more productive relationships.
B. Woods & Company has embraced Grata’s Agentic Search as a meaningful step forward in research and deal origination.
“I’ve tested a wide range of tools this year to stay ahead of AI-related disruption, and everything keeps coming back to Grata — especially its Agentic Search,” Woods says.
When tasked with dissecting a detailed and nuanced client mandate, Woods used Agentic Search to build a comprehensive target universe.
“I was extremely impressed with the first run. The automatically generated filters were better than what I could have created myself. Instead of at least an hour of work, it took seconds.”
In one recent mandate, the firm was asked to identify founder-owned businesses within a narrowly defined industry niche and ownership profile. Grata’s Agentic Search translated those requirements into structured filters almost instantly, producing a refined list that would previously have required extensive manual effort.
“Buy-side origination isn’t about having more data,” Woods adds. “It’s about having the right data and being able to interrogate it intelligently.”
For Woods and his team, Grata is more than just a tool — it’s a trusted partner.
“Out of all the vendors I work with, Grata stands out as a true partner I can always rely on.”
That trust extends beyond the platform itself. Woods describes the customer service team as “exceptionally high caliber” and values the consistent, high-quality support his team receives.
Woods views Grata as a strategic and necessary investment for firms operating serious buy-side origination efforts.
“Grata is a premium platform, and it is absolutely a worthwhile investment. I occasionally find myself working with clients’ junior and mid-level associates on their thesis development projects to show them how to research more effectively, and whenever anyone asks me about data vendors, I recommend Grata without hesitation.”
As B. Woods & Company continues to refine workflows and embrace innovation, the recent merger of Grata and Sourcescrub is a promising development.
“It’s the best of both worlds,” Woods says. “Now that there’s no longer a competitive dynamic between two excellent providers, everyone can focus on building truly new and differentiated capabilities.”
Looking ahead, Woods expects the combined platform to deliver even greater efficiencies and insight, helping his team stay ahead in an increasingly competitive M&A landscape.
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