26-Year-Old Full-Time Searcher – Just Made the Leap

searcher profile

January 21, 2026

by a searcher from Louisiana State University - E. J. Ourso College of Business in Nashville, TN, USA

I'm 26 and my partner and I just went full-time on our self-funded search about 3 weeks ago. We recently exited our logistics/transportation management startup that we grew from 3 employees and $500K in revenue in 2021 to $26MM in revenue and 20+ employees last year (2025). We spent 5 years operating that business-hiring, managing, dealing with all the day-to-day pains of running a small company. We know what it takes to scale and operate, but we also understand (and do not underestimate) that we have a lot to learn in new industries and in searching. We were searching part-time initially (6 months), but realized it wasn't cutting it with our workload. We had to make a choice: stay comfortable or go all in. We chose all in. Now we're looking for general advice and wanting to connect with anyone who has been in a similar situation. Please reach out and I would love to set up a call.
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commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Lake Forest, CA, USA
Thanks for the tag ^redacted‌. Congratulations on your exit! After 16 years in the corporate world I left my W2 to pursue business acquisition full time. Feel free to DM me - I'd be happy to jump on a call and share my journey.
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Reply by a professional
from University of California, Hastings College of Law in Petaluma, California, United States
This is a great decision, and your background is actually a major edge. What I’ve seen consistently with first-time, self-funded searchers is that the hardest transition isn’t learning a new industry. It’s shifting from operator mode to buyer and platform-builder mode. It sounds like you already know how to: • Hire under pressure • Build systems from scratch • Deal with messy execution realities • Scale with limited resources The new muscle is learning how to diagnose execution risk before you own it (what breaks post-close, what hires are mis-sequenced, and what growth assumptions are fragile). Happy to compare notes if helpful. I love this space! There’s a small set of patterns that matter a lot in the first acquisition. Best of luck!
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