Search Party

searchparty
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Search Party is a video-podcast dedicated to elevating knowledge of the Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) strategy, an increasingly popular model for private investing and wealth creation. The thought-leadership series is hosted by private capital journalist David Snow, and features expert commentary by Next Coast Legacy’s Dustin Sellers and Anthony Walker, two veterans of the ETA strategy. Search Party explores the ”searcher” model for wealth creation in the lower-middle-market, and offers expert guidance about career building, investment sourcing, due diligence, deal structuring and operating value-creation techniques. Search Party is produced by Elatromme. Season 1 of Search Party is sponsored by Next Coast Legacy, Avidbank, Mayer Brown and Boulay.

  1. 4D AGO

    Chris Sigala Left Private Equity For the ETA Journey

    Chris Sigala took an unconventional path through ETA — no MBA, no traditional search fund syndicate, and a relatively brief search in a very specific healthcare niche. Sigala has now completed an ETA round trip, having sourced and acquired Renvio - which serves dialysis clinics by streamlining how they operate - led it it as CEO, and exited to a financial partner.  Sigala shares his journey in a fascinating conversation featuring Anthony Walker, a General Partner at NCL Partners, Brian Axelrad, a Partner at Kilpatrick, Townsend and Stockton, and Search Party host David Snow. Among the highlights of the conversation: • As a former private equity professional who had spent years evaluating small software businesses from the outside, Chris eventually decided he wanted to run one • Sigala acquired two companies simultaneously and merged them on a single closing day, an opening move that not every ETA searcher should attempt, according to Walker and Axelrad. • Whereas in days past, ETA searchers were more likely to cast a wide net, today's ETA searchers increasingly arrive with a specific industry thesis. Sigala's vertical software focus gave him a clear edge over larger firms that couldn't efficiently deploy capital at that scale. • When Chris sat down with the owners of the dialysis software company he was trying to acquire, he brought his father — a nephrologist — to the meeting, turning a business negotiation into a conversation among people who genuinely shared a passion for the space, and winning the deal in the process. Access the transcript and a searchable content archive at the Search Party Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/searchpartychannel/p/chris-sigala-left-private-equity?r=4tj90q&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Search Party Lead Sponsor NCL Partners https://www.nclpartners.com/ Search Party Sponsors: Boulay search fund team https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/ Oberle Risk Strategies https://oberle-risk.com/ Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton https://ktslaw.com/ #searchfunds #ETA #entrepreneurship #womeninbusiness #privateequity #sme #investing #deals #searchparty

    26 min

  2. APR 14

    Searching While Pregnant

    Sure, searching for a lower-middle-market business to acquire and run is challenging, but have you tried doing it while pregnant? Entrepreneurs-through-acquisition Ania Aliev and Courtney Dunn share their own searching-while-pregnant stories in a fascinating, inspiring and touching conversation with Search Party's Lauren Farkas. Aliev, now CEO of Life Support Systems, and Courtney Dunn, now VP Customer Success at Cerbo, began their respective ETA searches childless and between jobs and now are both moms and business owners.  Among the key takeaways in this episode of Search Party: • Pregnancy during search can function as a filter, not just a burden. When some sellers withdrew from conversations upon learning Aliev was pregnant, she reframed their reaction as useful signal: "If that's what you think about me because I'm having a baby, what else might not align between us?" • Dunn found that showing up visibly pregnant to meet Cerbo's team cut through their fears of a hard-nosed acquirer: "They were like, oh, she's not this bloodsucking Medusa person — she's a human being and she's creating a human being." • Both searchers have advice for anyone contemplating an ETA search, but worried about timing and the interference of big life events: stop waiting. Aliev distilled the lesson bluntly — "If you keep delaying doing certain things until this is all set or that is figured out, ultimately you never get to those things." Watch the full episode on the Search Party Substack: https://searchpartychannel.substack.com/p/searching-while-pregnant Search Party Lead Sponsor NCL Partners Search Party Sponsors: Boulay Oberle Risk Strategies Kilpatrick #searchfunds #ETA #entrepreneurship #womeninbusiness #privateequity #sme #investing #deals #searchparty.

    24 min

  3. MAR 26

    Without Cybersecurity, Small Businesses Can Get a Lot Smaller

    Having acquired many small businesses over the years, entrepreneur Keith Burns observed a growing problem in the lower-middle-market - even the most talented CEOs have very little understanding of the evolving threats and opportunities around cybersecurity.  "People don’t recognize how much of their value is left exposed by not having the right security posture in place," Burns tells Search Party. "It’s basically like opening your wallet and leaving it out there — that’s what a lot of companies are doing because they don’t know what their true exposure is." Burns is now the CEO of CyberData Pros, having acquired it from founder and fellow panelist Chris Arrendale. Burns and Arrendale are joined by a customer of CyberData Pros - Jonathan Taylor of AEK Technology. - who shares his experience as the CEO of a small defense contractor trying to meet the rigorous new standards and certifications required by his own customers. "At the highest level, you just will lose revenue opportunities" if your company does not invest the time and resources in cybersecurity certifications like CMMC, SOC 2 and ISO 27001, Taylor says. "We’ve actually started to see CMMC requirements placed in government solicitations. If you do not meet those requirements, you’re just not going to be able to bid on them." Key takeaways from this episode of Search Party: • For the entrepreneurs who've staked their net worth on a single acquired business, cybersecurity isn't a tech expense — it's the same kind of insurance policy you'd take out on the building, and skipping it leaves the most valuable thing you own sitting wide open. • If you're planning to sell to a PE firm down the road, getting your cyber house in order before the deal process isn't optional anymore — buyers are showing up with forensic-level audits, and a messy security posture will come straight off your EBITDA or your multiple. • AI has completely changed the math for criminals targeting small businesses — it used to take effort to attack a company; now a bad actor can hit 5,000 businesses in ten seconds, which means the neighborhood drycleaner and the 12-person aerospace distributor are just as much in the crosshairs as the Fortune 500. • Recently-acquired, private equity-backed businesses are often the target of cyber attacks immediately after the deal announcement is release. Access the transcript and a searchable archive on the Search Party Substack: https://searchpartychannel.substack.com/publish/post/192230318 #eta #search #privateequity #investing #ceo #cybersecurity

    12 min

  4. FEB 23

    For Searcher CEOs, Exit Planning Begins at the Beginning of the ETA Journey

    An Entrepreneur-Through-Acquisition is like the captain of a ship meant to deliver rewards to many constituants, and yet those rewards are uncertain and variable based on decisions made early in the life of the investment.  In particular, the personal wealth-building of an ETA searcher may be compromised if certain tax consequences are not considered at the outset of the journey, a panel of experts tell Search Party. In this episode,  Francis Burton, a Managing Director at ECA Partners, Nathan Faith, Wealth Management Partner at Boulay and Ryan Turbes, a Partner at Boulay, share best practices for exit planning - whether the planning involves a cold-facts assessment of the health of the business, operational upgrades meant to impress the next buyer or structural choices meant to maximize the wealth of the searcher in the happy event an exit is achieved.  Francis, a specialist in executive search for ETA investments, also is an exited ETA searcher, having found himself in 2017 unexpectedly in the CEO seat of his family's business following the tragic passing of his father. Francis shares with Search Party his efforts to understand and right the business for a sale and the many decisions he made along the way impacting the performance of the business as well as economic outcome for his family.  Discussed in the episode: • Personal wealth planning starts on day one: Searcher-CEOs should define their personal financial independence goal at the outset and structure the deal (tax, equity, timing) with the end in mind, because early choices materially shape flexibility, returns, and after-tax outcomes  • Deal structure can dramatically change net proceeds: Tax treatment (e.g., capital gains eligibility, 83(b) elections, depreciation recapture, allocation issues) can mean the difference between keeping most of the proceeds or losing up to half to taxes. • Preparing a business to run independently of the founder, strengthening financial visibility, and aligning employees, investors, and leadership are essential to achieving a premium outcome and avoiding late-stage surprises  • Whether and how much equity to roll into the post-exit company must be given serious consideration: Choices such as rolling over equity versus taking cash, setting “end zone” targets, and building tax-advantaged wealth buckets should reflect a clear personal plan—balancing risk, legacy goals, and long-term financial security

    29 min

  5. JAN 5 ·  VIDEO

    How Are ETA Investors Really Faring? Yale Has Some Answers

    ETA search investing is more "hits-driven" than previously thought, and aspiring Entrepreneurs-Through-Acquisition can face steep odds delivering a performance of more than one-times invested capital, according to new research out of the Yale School of Management.  This episode of Search Party features a lively, candid, deep-dive conversation about the findings of the new paper, "How Are Search Fund Investors Really Faring?" with two of its three authors: A. J. Wasserstein and Daniel Lazier. Also joining the conversation are Dustin Sellers, Managing Partner of ETA private equity firm Next Coast Legacy, and Search Party host David Snow.  A. J. Wasserstein is the Eugene F. Williams, Jr., Senior Lecturer in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management, and Daniel Lazier is a search fund entrepreneur and the founder of Skyline Crest Partners, a California-based search fund. Also contributing to the research was Jacob Thomas, the Williams Brothers Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Yale School of Management. (Access the full report here: https://som.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2025-10/How%20are%20Search%20Fund%20Investors%20Really%20Faring.pdf) Among the topics of discussion: Theories as to why some 58% of ETA investment outcomes are below a 1.9 multiple of invested capital (MOIC) Why a broader pool of ETA investments does not necessarily lead to better returns Why "high-status" ETA investors enjoy advantages in a hyper-competitive market Why realizing at least one investment "gryphon" - defined as a MOIC of more than 10x - is so important to portfolio outperformance Why dishonest sellers may be a cause of weak returns Why ETA remains a major opportunity for entrepreneurially minded MBA graduates Follow the Search Party video-podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/search-party-channel Search Party Lead Sponsor: Next Coast Legacy https://lnkd.in/eSAuRW5p Search Party Sponsors: Avidbank https://www.avidbank.com/ Boulay – Contact Boulay's Search Fund Team: https://lnkd.in/eFF88SVf Oberle Risk Strategies https://oberle-risk.com/ Plexus Capital https://plexuscap.com/ Kilpatrick https://ktslaw.com/en/Services/BusinessFinance/Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition-Search-Funds #privateequity #sme #investing #deals #searchparty #lending #eta

    27 min

  6. 11/03/2025 ·  VIDEO

    Two Friends Became ETA Searchers and, Miraculously, Are Still Friends

    An in-depth conversation with good friends Casey Schuler and Hutson Prioleau who, in late 2019, acquired PalCare, a healthcare technology company that powers nurse-call systems for assisted living and memory care communities. That's when the real pain began.  What began as an exemplary Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) investment quickly turned into a crisis when COVID-19 disrupted senior living facilities across the country. Within three months of the close of its acquisition, 80% of PalCare’s projects came to a halt as care facilities locked down. However, the duo's complementary strengths—Schuler’s operational rigor and Prioleau's sales chops—helped them prove PalCare's resilience. Working (and commuting) side by side, Casey and Hutson stabilized the business, cut costs, and automated their systems. Today, the company stands as a preeminent healthcare technology platform in senior care. In conversation with Search Party host David Snow, joined by Dustin Sellers, Managing Partner of Next Coast Legacy and August Felker, Founder of Oberle Risk Strategies, Schuler and Prioleau reflects on their journey from MBA classmates to stress-tested CEOs—and the lessons learned along their ETA journey. Some takeaways:  Partnership is power.  Schuler and Prioleau's experience confirmed the power of two. As Sellers notes, “When partnered searches work, one plus one equals four.” The duo’s trust in one another and delegated strengths proved decisive when “the worst-case scenario” hit. Operator-market fit matters more than margins. Early in their search, the pair passed on seemingly lucrative opportunities in industries they couldn’t see themselves running. “What’s your life going to look like for the next half decade?” Prioleau says, and “does this business need the skillset that you have?” Resilience beats timing. COVID put their company to the ultimate test, but it also proved the value of Palcare. "Even if everything goes to hell, people are not going to rip out their emergency nurse call systems," notes Schuler. Now, with a new COO and CRO in place, the founders are shifting from survival to scale—spending more time on culture, vision, and how AI might redefine senior care technology. “Let's keep growing a great business,” Schuler says. “Exit will take care of itself.” Follow Search Party on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/search-party-channel/ Search Party Lead Sponsor: Next Coast Legacy https://lnkd.in/eSAuRW5p Search Party Sponsors: Avidbank https://www.avidbank.com/ Boulay – Contact Boulay's Search Fund Team: https://lnkd.in/eFF88SVf Oberle Risk Strategies https://oberle-risk.com/ Plexus Capital, LLC Capital https://plexuscap.com/

    28 min

  7. 10/27/2025 ·  VIDEO

    From MMA to ETA: Quality Revenue Helped Diego Cuenca Fight a Covid Slump

    In the middle of COVID, when parking-garage volume was down 80%, Diego Cuenca, the first-time CEO of a parking garage tech platform called TickeTech, was feeling beat up.   Having acquired TicketTech just months earlier as part of an Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) search-fund investment group, Cuenca was beginning to have visions of himself as leading “one of the worst search-fund outcomes in history,” he tells Search Party.   Fortunately, Cuenca had a background in both entrepreneurial and fighter perseverance. In his darkest moment - while hand-delivering tickets to empty garage clients - Cuenca, a former wrestler and mixed-martial arts (MMA) athlete, remembered advice from his coach: Just score the next point.   The TickeTech investment ended up becoming a success notable enough that Columbia Business School now has a case study on it. In this Search Party episode, Cuenca, now a second-time ETA searcher looking to acquire a business with high-quality revenue, shares his TicketTech story with Katie Walker, Principal at Plexus Capital, Tatiana Gaspar, a Director at Next Coast Legacy and host David Snow.   Among the key takeaways of this fascinating conversation:   Revenue quality beats everything. After guiding Ticketech through crisis and exit, Cuenca says his next search fund is centered on one principle: “The biggest lesson from TickeTech is revenue quality.” His fixation on recurring, durable cash flow reflects his realization in the wake of TickeTech turnaround that the company was saved by high-quality revenue.   Understanding the business before the balance sheet. Before ever studying accounting, while living in the Philippines as a child, Cuenca says he learned about cash flow from his Filipina mother businesswoman, who made him tag along to collect rent. “I think I understood yield very early,” he recalls. That grounding in practical economics later gave him a unique feel for operational risk and opportunity—skills that proved invaluable as a CEO.   Don’t chase someone else’s thesis. Early in his search career, Cuenca admits he “chased after the winds of the past,” following sectors that had already yielded investment successes, rather than overlooked sectors primed for growth. He now believes true advantage comes from differentiated focus: “It gives you a distinct advantage coming in as a new CEO.”   Follow Search Party on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/search-party-channel/   Search Party Lead Sponsor: Next Coast Legacy https://lnkd.in/eSAuRW5p   Search Party Sponsors: Avidbank https://www.avidbank.com/ Boulay – Contact Boulay's Search Fund Team: https://lnkd.in/eFF88SVf Mayer Brown https://lnkd.in/gU7sPPSg Oberle Risk Strategies https://oberle-risk.com/ Plexus Capital, LLC Capital https://plexuscap.com/

    38 min

  8. 09/16/2025 ·  VIDEO

    Search is an 'Entrepreneurial Journey,' Not a Career, Says ETA-Backed CEO from Brazil

    Entrepreneur Henrique de Freitas is barely a year into his ETA journey, and he's already the CEO of a lower-middle-market business-process outsourcing company called Reliable Premium.  De Freitas tells Search Party the founder of Reliable Premium " built the business over 20 plus years. It had grown into something bigger than he probably ever imagined it could, and it turned out to be a win-win - a liquidity event by somebody who would take care of the people and the culture and the legacy." De Freitas, a native of Brazil, says he worked in investment banking and private equity after moving to the US. But then he "started learning about search, about the model. I was tremendously impressed with the world-class people who were doing it, both CEOs and investors, and how welcoming they were." When de Freitas came across Reliable Premium Management after a six-month search, he realized it checked all of his search boxes: it provided a solution for small businesses, and it was growing more quickly than the founder had anticipated. Bringing his expertise in technology, de Freitas knew he could help it scale up. Now, seven months into his role as CEO, de Freitas has helped Reliable Premium Management reach about 10,000 small businesses. In this episode of Search Party, de Freitas explains the mindset that has helped him succeed on his “entrepreneurial journey.” Follow the Search Party video-podcast on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gPiiSkDR Search Party Lead Sponsor: Next Coast Legacy https://lnkd.in/eSAuRW5p Search Party Sponsors: Avidbank https://www.avidbank.com/ Boulay – Contact Boulay's Search Fund Team: https://lnkd.in/eFF88SVf Mayer Brown https://lnkd.in/gU7sPPSg Oberle Risk Strategies https://oberle-risk.com/ Plexus Capital, LLC Capital https://plexuscap.com/

    7 min
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About

Search Party is a video-podcast dedicated to elevating knowledge of the Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) strategy, an increasingly popular model for private investing and wealth creation. The thought-leadership series is hosted by private capital journalist David Snow, and features expert commentary by Next Coast Legacy’s Dustin Sellers and Anthony Walker, two veterans of the ETA strategy. Search Party explores the ”searcher” model for wealth creation in the lower-middle-market, and offers expert guidance about career building, investment sourcing, due diligence, deal structuring and operating value-creation techniques. Search Party is produced by Elatromme. Season 1 of Search Party is sponsored by Next Coast Legacy, Avidbank, Mayer Brown and Boulay.

Information

  • Creator
    searchparty
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Search Party

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