Midjourney / Prompt: “create an image in the style of ‘mythopoetic amusement park peaceful vibes solarpunk’ of someone looking through a magnifying glass. On the other side of the glass are skyscrapers”

I Tried to Acquire a Small Business. Here’s What I Learned.

Why and how I ran a search fund

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Naive question... Is it not possible to search for a business while also working full or part time? Why did you feel the need to quit your job and be fully dedicated to search?

Do you feel like you are on the path to a best-in-class skillet and/or specific industry experience right now? If not, what do you intend to do differently?

Adam Keesling almost 2 years ago

@tyler.a.gray Adam here. To answer your first question, yes it is. There’s not a gatekeeper or hurdle you have to cross to start searching. You can just… start. And many people do. It's a bit easier to stay focused if it's your full-time job, but if I did it over again I would either start searching from the stability of a full time job or save up more money (to me, two different solutions to the same problem).

For your second question, I’m getting closer. One path is to get in a spot where I’m driving value (selling to customers or building products) in an industry that I like that also is fragmented in a way that there are acquisition targets at a reasonable size. The other path I might go down is more the M&A route in which my role might eventually be closer to an “independent sponsor”. This is similar to a search fund except you hire an operator instead of doing it yourself. I still like the search fund idea a lot just want a bit more experience and financial stability before I take another shot.

@adamkeesling1996 Thanks Adam! This was a great post and I appreciate your thoughtful answers to my questions.

@carlile.brian almost 2 years ago

Any insight on how to search for a small business to acquire? Are there specific websites or other resources that you used to generate potential acquisition candidates?

Thanks for the great article, and even though you changed course, kudos to you for taking the leap.