Hi all,

The ask: I would like to speak with traditional searchers who have used a dual-class preferred structure as described in the Stanford Primer. If you are a post-acquisition or exit searcher who can speak to the knock-on effects of the above structure on things like risk-taking, investor perception, alignment, or scenarios where this structure is not optimal, I'd love to chat.

Why: I am fundraising for a traditional search for a B2B SaaS business aiming to launch in January (Looking for only 4 more investors!) Though I have spoken with many searchers, I have yet to meet anyone who used the dual-class preferred structure. In the Stanford search primer, there are two scenarios described in the "search fund economics" section where traditional search investors would receive:

Structure 1: preferred equity at a 6-8% coupon
Structure 2: a split of redeemable preferred equity at a 15-17% coupon and nonredeemable participating preferred stock at 0%

The Stanford primer even says that 75% of searchers in recent times have chosen structure 2. Not only have I failed to meet any searcher using structure 2, I also see no financial models with this structure included by default. How often this structure is used by searchers? What has been your experience if you have utilized this structure?